Capsule dying, what do I get now?

[stubeeef]

I'm torn about getting the standard high end wireless router but want mesh, I have older tech at home.

Tons of apple devices everywhere, 5 iPads, 3 iMacs, 4 MacBookAirs, 5 iPhones, blah blah blah.

Using timewarner/spectrum and used to get 220+mb/sec down, but time capsule is dying and backups not working.

So mesh hasn't gotten a real standard and hate to spend $$$$ on mesh instead of $$ on proven wireless router and $$ on a usb ssd for backups.

Help?

PS- 2 expresses connect iTunes to home stereo and Playstation for home theater. That will break and I'll to know what to do for those....

 

[matreya]

You could keep it simple by just buying another time capsule...

 

[Fishrrman]

DON'T buy another time capsule.
Waste of money on outdated and discontinued technology.

DO begin investigating the mesh systems. They are "the future" of home wireless networking. I suggest you check reviews on amazon, and the Q&A's posted there, too.

Among those available:
- Linksys Velop
- Netgear Orbi
- eero
- google wifi
- Ubiquiti "Amplifi"

The Netgear Orbi is the only one that has multiple ethernet ports "on the LAN side", if that's important to you.

I use the Velop and it works well.

All of these can be set up with iOS (on iPad or Phone).
Orbi and Velop can also be set up using a web interface.

Be aware that Linksys has an ebay page where they sell factory-refurbished Velops at a pretty good discount. Not sure about the others...

 

[fhall1]

Time capsule technology might be old, but it is not discontinued - it's still made and sold at Apple Stores, Best Buy, etc.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Time capsule technology might be old, but it is not discontinued - it's still made and sold at Apple Stores, Best Buy, etc."

Yes, you can still buy them.
But they are no longer being actively developed by Apple -- the development team was disbanded some time ago.
The current design is 3-4 years old already? How long will Apple continue to actively support it?

There are "better ways to go" if someone needs to buy something now.

Actually, I'm surprised that Apple never developed their own mesh system...

 

[370zulu]

Look at the ratings on these devices and make sure you know what your getting into. Also, be honest about the time and effort and certainly what your technical capabilities are. If you are savvy, Ubiquiti and Sophos UTM or Ubiquiti and pFsense would be the only other way I recommend. Personally, I definitely don’t trust google and IMO, netgear and linksys have been garbage for years. I only have time capsule because it was a gift, it still works, i don’t have reboot it all the time or apply firmware for some other exploit that I wouldn’t have had if they weren’t loaded with garbage services I would never use. I would have another time capsule if it were free or deeply discounted given the current development that apple has cancelled on it, but if I wanted something more robust and definitely more powerful, ubiquiti and one of the firewall options I mentioned above. QNAP or Synology for cheap storage. Maybe even a FreeNAS. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[stubeeef]

Thanks, does anyone know if you can push iTunes to a stereo across these mesh Wi-Fi networks? Right now I use a couple of expresses and I'm guessing they do not work with mesh

 

[jeyf]

granted things likely have changed a lot but:
about 2years ago conducted a search for a new home wifi. It was impossible to fine a box that had everything on my list. The firmware in most cases was difficult to setup and out right not working. I wound up buying a craigsList AirPort Extreme.
-Buy from a vendor with a liberal return policy
-be aware this will take more of your personal time than expected
-we down sized out of the suburban sprawl and put the old airPort Extreem in the center of the house. Works great again
-I have separate firmware boxes for the cableModem, firewall, router and wifi. if one goes out no big

 

[v1597psh]

What exactly is happening with your capsule? I assume built-in HDD is dead. Just get USB HDD and plug into USB port. SSD won't make a difference since it has USB 2.0 only. Get Mikrotik hAP ac if you want something new and you are good in networking. It's got the most advanced Router OS after CISCO IOS.

 

[waw74]

mesh really isn't that different than what's been out there.
it's just a different way of handling the backend connection to the main router.

in wi-fi extending, the remote stations use their wi-fi radios to talk to the main router. So that means that radio is split between talking to your laptop and the main router.

Mesh, just adds an additional radio, to handle the connection back to the router. leaving the wifi radios more time to talk your devices.
The connection between the repeater and your devices is still regular 802.11__ that's in every other router.
They're also a bit smarter in how they handle that backend connection, and can figure out the best path between the repeaters to make it back to the main.

an additional option is hardwiring the backend connection to the repeaters. Which will improve your setup over wi-fi extension, as wired is less susceptible to interference.
you can do this with either regular ethernet, or a lot of people have good luck with powerline networking, which uses the electrical wires in your home to connect back.

 

[kschendel]

I don't think I would characterize Netgear Orbi or Linksys Velop as garbage. The Orbi in particular might be a good choice if you don't need true mesh (the orbi satellites all talk to the base, not to each other, but orbi has a faster backhaul channel). Ubiquiti is probably the technically best choice for mesh but it's expensive and may very well be overkill for what you need. I know little about eero or the google mesh.

Mesh is largely about extending area coverage. If you don't need the extra wide area coverage, why not get a solid AC router like a Netgear AC1750. And, +1 for hardwiring what you can and leaving the wireless for phones and tablets.

 

[jeyf]

... Mesh is largely about extending area coverage. If you don't need the extra wide area coverage, why not get a solid AC router like a Netgear AC1750...

simpler is better. Consider personal time spent setting up a complex mesh wifi vs just centrally locating a single wifi access point

 

[bopajuice]

DON'T buy another time capsule.
Waste of money on outdated and discontinued technology.

DO begin investigating the mesh systems. They are "the future" of home wireless networking. I suggest you check reviews on amazon, and the Q&A's posted there, too.

Among those available:
- Linksys Velop
- Netgear Orbi
- eero
- google wifi
- Ubiquiti "Amplifi"

The Netgear Orbi is the only one that has multiple ethernet ports "on the LAN side", if that's important to you.

I use the Velop and it works well.

All of these can be set up with iOS (on iPad or Phone).
Orbi and Velop can also be set up using a web interface.

Be aware that Linksys has an ebay page where they sell factory-refurbished Velops at a pretty good discount. Not sure about the others...

Are there advantages using a Mesh set up vs a regular wireless router? I have a high end ASUS AC5300 tri-band router with all the latest and greatest. Super fast throughput, but I’m wondering if a Mesh set up would have advantages.

 

[kschendel]

I can't think of any way that a mesh beats a single router of equivalent basic capability, except in coverage and signal strength. If a single base station has the coverage you need with good signal strength, I'm unaware of anything that a mesh can do better.

I suspect that for many home users, simply upgrading to a newer router with AC, beamforming, and suchlike will give much better results than some of the older N routers (like the actiontecs that Verizon used to bundle). I put in an Orbi base station replacing an Actiontec, expecting to have to add a satellite, and it turns out I'm fine with just the base unit. (Went from zero signal in the front of the house, to full strength everywhere.) I probably would have been fine with a higher end TP-link or Asus or etc as well.

 

[Fishrrman]

bopa wrote:
"Are there advantages using a Mesh set up vs a regular wireless router? I have a high end ASUS AC5300 tri-band router with all the latest and greatest. Super fast throughput, but I’m wondering if a Mesh set up would have advantages."

What's your square footage?
Do you have any "dead" or "slow" spots?
A mesh setup with 2 or 3 nodes could eliminate them.

kschendel wrote:
"I can't think of any way that a mesh beats a single router of equivalent basic capability, except in coverage and signal strength."

Well, isn't that the point?

 

[jeyf]

another aspect:
would like to here how a new router was immediately usable after running its setup wizzard? It also offered well documented manual set up screens that satisfy the remaining 4% tech savy customers.

 

[kschendel]

kschendel wrote:
"I can't think of any way that a mesh beats a single router of equivalent basic capability, except in coverage and signal strength."

Well, isn't that the point?

The question as I understood it was: if you have coverage and signal strength without the mesh, what other benefits can mesh give you? and as far as I know, the answer is "Nothing." So yes, that's the point, I was just clarifying that that's the only point (to the best of my knowledge).