My Time Capsule uses its own network

When I installed my Time Capsule and set up Time Machine, I was never asked which network to use – the system just set up a new network, ‘Oystein Wi-Fi Network’, which is used exclusively for Time Machine backups. The trouble is this network is not connected to the internet, or any of my other 5 PCs or Macs. This task is taken care of by ‘OP-net’, a home and WAN network.

As it is today, I have to change to Oystein Wi-Fi Network when I want backups. However, most of the time I naturally want to stay on the OP-net network, which I use for everything else.

I thought it would be easy or at least possible to set up the Time Machine to use the network of my choice, but I’ve not been able to figure out how or if this can be done. Øystein Pettersen It can be done, and it’s quite straightforward. Connect to the Oystein Wi-Fi and open AirPort Utility. You’ll see your Time Capsule there; click on it and click Edit on the pop-up. On the Network tab, make sure that ‘Router Mode’ is set to ‘Off (Bridge Mode)’.

Now, on the Wireless tab, your Time Capsule is currently set to ‘Create a wireless network’, but the setting you actually want is ‘Extend a wireless network’. When you switch it to this, you’ll see a drop-down list where you can select your main network – the one that is able to reach to the internet.

This will put the Time Capsule on the same Wi-Fi connection as everything else, but it still means that your backups might end up travelling through Wi-Fi twice – once from your Mac to the router and then again from the router to the Time Capsule. That’s a waste of bandwidth, so if space and electrical sockets permit, it’s a better idea to put the Time Capsule next to the router, connect them with an Ethernet cable, and set the Time Capsule’s network mode to ‘Off’.

Unless you actually need to extend the range of the Wi-Fi network in your house, it is better not to have two access points broadcasting Wi-Fi signals.