Apple’s Time Capsule plays nice with Verizon’s FIOS

Apple’s new Time capsuleWow, that was easy. Sometimes Apple’s auto-magic, self-configuring stuff works just as advertised. Sometimes, it’s Apple’s penchant for knowing how to simplify the front-end to hide the wacky back-end that carries the day. In the case of the new Time Capsule wireless base station with hard drive, it’s both. Phew.

I’ve been using OS X 10.5’s Time Machine program to do constant back ups of my iMac, which is pretty easy since the 60 lb behemoth doesn’t travel much. It’s hooked into a Western Digital external hard drive via firewire and Time Machine just does its thing whenever it damn well pleases. But my Macbook Pro is constantly running all over the place so backing up to an external drive happens much less than it should. A hard drive with wireless access seemed like just the ticket. I wandered over to the Natick Mall’s cozy Apple store and picked up a Time Capsule 1 TB version.

Then it sat in the box. We have Verizon’s spiffy FIOS broadband Internet service, which requires use of a Verizon-supplied wireless router, and I was worried that svelte, suave Mister Time Capsule wouldn’t play nice with Mister Ugly Black Box Actiontec Router from Verizon. Luckily, my fears were misplaced. Apple’s new Airport setup software walked me through a variety of scenarios and within literally 5 minutes, I had connected the Time Capsule via an ethernet cord to the old router and set it up to run a parallel wifi network at 802.11n speeds. The old router is still king of Internet connections and assigning network addresses 9it’s still the DHCP server in geek speak). Nifty.

As you can see from the photos, the Time Capsule is compact and all-white with a shiny silver Apple logo on the top. It’s also whisper quiet even when the hard drive is active. I have found file transfer performance acceptable. I copied an 841 MB file (the latest patch for Civilization IV: Warlords, if you must know) from my iMac to the Capsule in under 2 minutes via ethernet and then to my nearby Macbook Pro via Wifi N in about the same time. Hopefully, they won’t come out with a greatly improved edition in six months.

Minor additional data point: I ran some file transfer tests using AJA Kona System Test. Files were written to the Capsule pretty consistently at just under 6 MB/s and read at about 8 MB/s when connected over a 5 GHz wifi “n” channel. At that writing rate, you’d be able to transfer over 21 GB an hour, according to the Forret bandwidth conversion calculator.

p.s. Check eBay if you want you want to buy my old Airport Extreme base station or an original issue iSight camera.

Time capsule in situ


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13 responses to “Apple’s Time Capsule plays nice with Verizon’s FIOS”

  1. Mark Lilienthal Avatar
    Mark Lilienthal

    Thank you for this. I already have a similar setup with the FIOS Actiontec router serving IP addresses and an Airport Extreme on the inside. I am still using an Airport Express to connect a G4 MDD desktop and printer in another room–tomorrow a Time Capsule will replace that AExpress to provide a backup and to allow that link to work at 802.11n 5GHZ wide channel. In addition to allowing the Actiontec to broadcast its own 802.11b/g network, I was able to connect a different Airport Express to that side for use by AirTunes…

  2. Robert Avatar
    Robert

    I am trying to do same thing, but having some performance troubles. Did you have to (1) force the Actiontec into release mode or (2) use TimeCapsule in Bridge Mode (tab Internet Connection Sharing)?

    Thanks,
    Robert

  3. AMP Avatar
    AMP

    I set the time capsule in bridge mode. Through some of the recent Apple 10.5.x updates and other patches, the set up got unstable for a short time. But running all the most recent patches and updates it’s been rock solid of late (knock on plastic).
    -Aaron

  4. Tony Heywood Avatar
    Tony Heywood

    Just get to grips with the jargon around fast ethernet. Thanks for the post, keep up the good work.

    Fast Ethernet Network

  5. dg Avatar
    dg

    Fios was just installed today, connected to my mac mini, plugged a cable from Fios wireless router to my TimeCapsule and poof my old TC highly encrypted wireless network for my laptop automatically connected. Fios router to the Mini and Time Capsule, and TC to my laptop and printer, and got the Wii connected as well. simply simple.

  6. games Avatar

    This article I so true, keep on writing like this, enjoyment to read :) 220

  7. mnik Avatar
    mnik

    Thanks for posting. I have FIOS and a TC on the way tomorrow -and was wondering what I had in store for me after it arrives tomorrow night. Glad to hear that it sounds like I won't be on the phone w/ Verizon all week…..

  8. ampressman Avatar

    Hope your installation went well. While the FIOS Actiontec and TC
    continue to play nice together, I've been having annoying problems
    getting Time Machine on my Macbook Pro to recognize the TC the past
    few weeks. The Apple store genius recommendation has been to reinstall
    my OS which is no fun at all.

  9. John Avatar
    John

    did apple pay you to write this? Because I've got FiOS and I don't see the ease you are describing…

  10. ampressman Avatar

    Dunno what to tell you. Haven't had any problems in several years.

  11. ampressman Avatar

    Dunno what to tell you. Haven't had any problems in several years.

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