I have working wifi at home using old Apple gear: two AirPorts and a Time Capsule (which I also use to backup my Mac). So old that the last Apple store person I spoke to didn’t even know Apple ever made wifi gear!
It all works fine in general but I’ve had to replace the Capsule twice when the disk or fan died. Of course it won’t last forever, and I assume newer equipment will be faster.
My setup is to use one AirPort as the base and the other two devices meshed from it to make one wifi network across the whole house, they are all connected via ethernet. This is necessary as it’s an old house with stone walls that wifi does not get through very well so amplifiers or extenders are out of the picture. And the newer and older parts of the house are on different power networks, so wifi-via-power is out.
My ISP’s modem has dual band wifi (2g/5g I believe?) capability which I’m not using.
I’m basically just after general advice on what I should be looking at to replace this gear should the worst happen … or indeed should I anticipate that and just do it sooner rather than later!
You will probably just replace what you have with a more modern mesh network. Since you already have the Ethernet wiring in place, look for a system that can make use of a wired backhaul.
More devices seem to be using the 5 GHz channels for speed. Even if you don’t have anything that uses it now, you probably will at some point. At any rate, new mesh systems will have 5 GHz anyway.
As for when to do an upgrade, I would look at the security features of your current equipment vs what new equipment has. I hate to retire perfectly good equipment, but increased security would be a good reason. Unfortunately I can’t speak about if your existing equipment is good enough in that respect, but it is probably worth investigating.
Isn’t the time capsule similar to either cloud backup or network attached storage?
Just buy a new mesh network. There are many to choose from. I see AmpliFi Alien Router from Apple on their website. Dunno about it but it seems needlessly expensive.
A good mesh network will allow you to buy individual units to add to the mesh in case you find some spots in your house that struggle with a good WiFi signal (and still cheaper than that thing Apple sells).
It can be a bit expensive but, once setup you can pretty much forget about it and it just works. That has some value.
You only need the one router hooked to your internet provider. You can then buy a half dozen remote units and mess around till you find what works. Then return the ones you do not need. A bit of a hassle but again…a little upfront pain to get it sorted and then you can forget about it pretty much forever. The modern ones configure themselves. Your only real job is finding the best places to put a few remote units. They’ll sort themselves out.
There is no need to use what Apple sells to work with an Apple computer or iPhone. Routers are agnostic. Each works with everything.
ETA: Your bottleneck will almost certainly be the connection to your ISP. Internally the network will be a lot faster than what you can get from your ISP.
As for a Time Capsule - either keep your old one running (I’ve pulled mine apart to clean and lube the fan numerous times), or buy a NAS that supports Time Machine. I have a Synology 2-bay unit that works pretty well. Not cheap, though.
I bought one for a co-worker (company bought one but it was up to me to figure it out).
They are a bit expensive (remember when looking at the price they do not include the hard drives) but are really nice machines. Very slick. Can do loads of cool things. If you want a backup solution in your home that is not too expensive this is a great choice IMO.
Of course, there are competitors. I have no stock or interest in Synology.
Yeah I’m aware of that, thanks. I actually did network support back in the day, transitioning folks from Token Ring to ethernet, and Vines to NetWare! I just liked the way the Apple gear worked, pretty much plug’n’play - I did expect to have to move off it this time though.
We do have a decent electronics store nearby, I might start with them.
A question I forgot to ask before: I see these wifi units come in packs, which I assume are set up to mesh by default. But will they work (ie mesh) okay with the wifi build into my router, most likely? Or I should just turn that off and use the pack of devices I buy? I would envisage there being 3 of them.
I have the router from my cable provider, Cox Communications. It has its own wifi.
Then I have a 3-unit mesh Orbi wifi, made by Netgear. That’s my default network; I named it the same as my old network, with the same password, so it would be seamless for all my devices. I connected the main Orbi router to the Cox router via Ethernet.
I don’t believe one can connect Orbi to another router via wifi, but other installations may be different.
You will have the wire coming out of your wall and it will plug into a box. Presumably one provided by your ISP.
You then connect your mesh hub to that box. Then, once set up, plugin your mesh hubs somewhere else in your house and connect them together (usually easily done via your cell phone which is, presumably, on your home network).
I would strongly recommend ditching the router your ISP gives you and, instead, buying your own and use that to connect to the outside world. I use an Arris Surfboard cable modem. IIRC ISPs are legally required to let you use these (but, of course, check to be sure). One-time up front cost and way less than the monthly rental fees. And they work great. My ISP gave me no fuss. Went through the setup, called them as part of that and no pushback at all (YMMV). Connected that to my mesh router and also zero problems. All works like a champ (again…YMMV).
I believe that @Askance is asking if the mesh devices can share the same wifi as the wifi that’s built into the router. And I think that this answer is no.
As I indicated, I actually have two wifi networks in my house: the one broadcast by my Cox router, and the one broadcast by my 3 Orbi mesh devices.
You really should turn one off (probably Cox). More WiFi is interference. Two is no benefit. No harm in trying. You can turn things back on if it gets worse.
Not sure that I can, although I certainly haven’t tried.
Leaving both on makes it easier to troubleshoot. If the Orbi wifi isn’t working, but Cox is, I know the issue is in Orbi. If neither are working, then it’s the internet feed from Cox.
Another possibility is to put your Orbi on the 5 GHz band only (I think they are multi-band nodes) and have the Cox router on only the 2.4 GHz band. That will eliminate any interference between the routers, though your 2.4 GHz band will experience interference every time you crank up your microwave.
Exactly! So meshing is fairly hardware-specific, not a standard across vendors, I guess we are saying here. Not a problem, saves me trying to make that work!
Current mesh systems are meant to work together with their own kind so they can sell more stuff. I don’t think you can make them play with anything else.
Maybe you could figure a way to make your own mesh but good luck. Even if possible it’d be a super hassle and probably more expensive. Best to pick a product and just go with that I think.