Time Capsule Question

taylorconor95

OK guys i'm seriously considering getting a 2TB TC in the next few weeks, but I have one question. BTW I posted this is Mac rather than the Com&Tec forum because the guys here will know a lot more with the TC being apple and all.

I am on eircom broadband, and the bloody thing in through DSL. I currently have the standard eircom ZyXel router that is a heap of crap, but my good router won't accept the smeller DSL telephone modem line-in (the smaller version of ethernet used in phones)

Will the TC accept this line-in, or will I have to keep the eircom router and plug its line-out into the TC's line-in??

Thanks a million

Type 17

TC, and all Airport units don’t have a modem of any type in them, so you’ll need a DSL modem of some sort to work with an Eircom connection.

It wouldn’t make sense to include a modem circuit in them, as Apple would have to cover all types of DSL/cable/satellite/other connections, and it just wouldn’t be possible.

Your choice is that you can continue to use the Eircom unit, with the TC bridged (Eircom unit provides DHCP, etc, TC provides wireless and backup functions, etc) or, in addition to the TC, get a decent ADSL modem that can be bridged, and do everything on the TC (PPPoE, DHCP, NAT, etc)

taylorconor95

Yeah thanks for your reply I think ill leave everything to the TC as I really hate that eircom box. Do you have any recommendations for a decent ADSL modem? Never bought one in my life

Type 17

It’s been a few years since I needed one, but you could take a look at the reviews on sites like this: http://dsl-modem-review.toptenreviews.com/

You only need a basic one, if you’re going to bridge it, but that doesn’t mean that you should get a low-quality one that will give trouble…

I use a bridged Draytek Vigor 100 with a TC, but the current model is the Vigor 120. I’m not sure if your budget suits Draytek stuff, but it is good quality, fully configurable, and you can update the firmware yourself, etc. Vigor 120 on Amazon.co.uk

My brother’s business uses a Vigor 2700g (now superseded by the Vigor 2710) and it gives no trouble on Eircom, and allows remote access (with a static WAN IP address).

Edit: This one is a cheaper alternative, and is available locally, but I’ve no idea if it’s any good: http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2380141

ainiseoir

I use a bridged Draytek Vigor 100 with a TC, but the current model is the Vigor 120. I’m not sure if your budget suits Draytek stuff, but it is good quality, fully configurable, and you can update the firmware yourself, etc. Vigor 120 on
Amazon.co.uk

I would very much like to know, at your convenience, how you set the Draytek/TC combination up.
The "Ladybird Book " version if possible.
I run my Time Capsule already in Bridge Mode and "Connect" using DHCP .
I came to that on a trial and error basis!
I assumed that my Draytek Vigor 120 was already configured _ I was able to put all the eircom stuff in- but i seem to be missing out on something.
I do not know if the Draytek is bridged already, or if it should be with a bridged TC. Jargon throws me a bit. I was glad to see your post.
Eircom have upgraded their Zyxel which I run with wireless off, so the need for the Draytek has waned. The firmware upgrade seemed to sort a problem that was driving half the country daft.
I would still like to get the Draytek up and going even if it's just out of interest,
I have reset it numerous times,(The only solution that their "Support" seems to know) and tried various combinations without success.
Thank you

Type 17

If you want to take advantage of the Draytek’s bridging capability, and thereby get the best use of the TC, you need to:

Return the Draytek to factory settings (it’s bridged by default) by holding down the reset button until the power LED starts to flash rapidly.
Use Airport Utility* on your Mac to configure the TC as follows:
Under Internet > Internet Connection > Connect Using, choose PPPoE, and enter the Eircom broadband details. DO NOT enter a service name, as the Draytek behaves badly unless this (optional) field is empty. Choose Always on and Never respectively for the Connection and Disconnect if Idle fields.
All the Draytek is doing is logging on to the Eircom equipment at the local telephone exchange, so you’ll need to set up DHCP (to assign private IP addresses to client devices on your LAN) on the TC, where you might have done this on the modem before.

The other aspects of the TC settings are up to you, and aren’t different from other scenarios.

* Airport Utility 5.6 (5.6 for Lion, 5.6.1 for Leopard/Snow Leopard) is better than the current version (6.0), as it has settings that the newer version has lost, and can be used on older Airport devices such as the AP Express 802.11b/g units.

ainiseoir

Thank you.
I'll wait for a quite hour before launching into this.
I take it that on resetting the Draytek, I don't bother entering the eircom details, VPI, VCI etc.,into it, just hook it up to the newly configured TC and see how it goes?

There is just one other thing, at present, the Airport/Time Capsule, when not in Bridge Mode some of my appliances misbehave, AppleTV, Internet radio etc., Odd.

I have read that Draytek and Time Capsule/Airport Extreme can be a bit limited when presented with more than they can handle. I was beginning to think that in my case.
Anyway, thanks again. I will let you know how I get on.

ainiseoir

Up and going! Thank you.
I had to go back and enter eircom details into the modem.
After that the Time Capsule gave me the green light.
All my appliances seem to be working getting their addresses automatically.
AppleTV especially which seems very sensitive to amateurish setup and to which I am addicted.
I think the order in which I did things was a factor, not to mention that I had your instructions printed out.
Next thing is to decide whether it was worth it!
Thanks again. Pity we didn't do this on the Apple Mac Forum, you'd have got points!

Type 17

Yes, on the Draytek, you should just confirm the VPI & VCI are the Eircom ones (or edit them) and that the Ethernet Passthrough tickbox is ticked (to activate bridging mode), but don’t enter anything else (the other stuff goes into the fields in the TC).

PS: I found that, when using PPPoE on a Vigor 100 on Smart Telecom (I don’t use Eircom myself), the 100 would disconnect randomly. Using MPoA instead of PPPoE solved the issue. Probably doesn’t apply to Eircom, but it might help some others.

Type 17

ainiseoir wrote: »

All my appliances seem to be working getting their addresses automatically.
AppleTV especially which seems very sensitive to amateurish setup and to which I am addicted.

For the record, after having all kinds of fun with different devices over the years, I now have my DHCP range set from 192.168.1.20 to …1.90 for guest devices, and have all devices that I own set on fixed IPs in the same subnet, but outside the DHCP range.

The infrastructure (Routers, Airport devices, ATA, AppleTV, etc) is on 192.168.1.1 to 10
DHCP range is set to 192.168.1.20 to 90
The client Macs are on 192.168.1.101 to 110
The iOS devices are on 192.168.1.111 to 120

Obviously, I don’t have ten of any type of device , but I have reserved the ranges (in an Excel spreadsheet, where the MAC address and description of my devices are against each IP address) to keep things easy to follow and make troubleshooting easy. You can also set port forwarding for SIP, etc.

karlitob

Hi All,

Need to get a new external hard drive. Have been thinking about a Time Capsule rather than a hard drive. Currently use an extreme. Does anyone have any pro's/con's re: time capsule. Is it a good idea?

Thanks

karlitob

taylorconor95 wrote: »

OK guys i'm seriously considering getting a 2TB TC in the next few weeks, but I have one question. BTW I posted this is Mac rather than the Com&Tec forum because the guys here will know a lot more with the TC being apple and all.

I am on eircom broadband, and the bloody thing in through DSL. I currently have the standard eircom ZyXel router that is a heap of crap, but my good router won't accept the smeller DSL telephone modem line-in (the smaller version of ethernet used in phones)

Will the TC accept this line-in, or will I have to keep the eircom router and plug its line-out into the TC's line-in??

Thanks a million

Hi was it worth getting the time capsule or would an extreme and hard drive suffice?
Thanks

Corkbah

time capsule is overpriced compared to other external hard drives.

depending on your mac .... if you have USB 3.0 the data will travel extremely quickly.

DubTony

I've got a 1 gb hard drive connected by USB to an Apple Extreme base station. All my music and videos are stored on it and playing videos and music on the iMac or Apple TV is never a problem. Writing to it and copying from it obviously takes longer than working within the computer, but its not so slow that its annoying.

taylorconor95

karlitob wrote: »

Hi was it worth getting the time capsule or would an extreme and hard drive suffice?
Thanks

Well if you get an AE with an external hard drive, you're going to need an extra plug in the wall for the HD power. This is probably not an issue but it was for me. Also I have found that plugging an extra HD in makes the machine a bit less reliable for whatever reason