Apple and Google, Playing Nice

-
I recently bought Google Wi-Fi for my house. I wanted better, faster, and greater coverage, as well as an easier interface to manage my network. I had heard great things about Google Wi-Fi, and with the price for three units down to $264, I decided to finally give it a try. 

With several people in the house at any given moment, I knew there would be some disruption while I installed a new system and decommissioned the old one. I was surprised to completely switch over in just a couple hours, with all three mesh nodes online.

The last thing I needed to get configured was my Apple Time Machine backups. I wasn't worried about this part since the network was up and getting good speeds. However, as I often say, "Inside every small problem is a big problem trying to get out." Let's go back in time just a bit. Prior to setting up Google Wi-Fi, I was using an Apple Time Capsule for my wireless network and as my backup device for Time Machine. I didn't turn it off, so now I have network "A" (Apple), and network "G" (Google). Both are active, but only "G" was getting out to the internet. I have a few Macs in the house which are using the Time Capsule for Time Machine backups, and I very much want to continue doing so. I could set each Mac to use network A. That would work for the backups, but then those machines would not have internet access. What I really needed was to have all devices and Macs using the new "G" network for internet, but also able to see the Time Capsule for backups. How exactly to reach that goal was unclear.

I needed to know which settings to change on my Apple Time Capsule to make this all work. I looked on Google forums, Apple forums, tech blogs, and various support sites, but nothing provided the single answer I was looking for. I applied changes one-at-a-time on my Time Capsule with no success. This is the part of my network switch which took the most time. Finally I found just the right configuration to make everything work. With this configuration, all devices on my network are able to get great Wi-Fi coverage, and the Macs are able to connect to the internet and backup to the Time Capsule with no problem.

Now there is one more problem which this configuration solves. Not only did I upgrade my Wi-Fi network, I also switched to a new internet service provider with higher bandwidth. Before the technician left, I plugged my computer directly into the modem. I connected to the internet and ran a speed test. I was getting the bandwidth I signed-up for, 150Mbps. That was enough for me to know that the service was working and the speed was good. After the tech left, I then disconnected the ethernet cable between my computer and the modem. I connected the Google Wi-Fi base to the modem via ethernet cable. After a few seconds, my computer could see my Wi-Fi network "G" - good. I could connect to the internet - good. I ran a speed test, but this time was only getting a small fraction of the bandwidth I was supposed to get - not good.

Once again, I went through the process of checking cables, reviewing settings, cycling equipment off and on, and clearing browser cache among other things. I finally found the problem. You see, for the longest time - before I switched ISPs - I had my VoIP router connected to the modem, and then my Wi-Fi base station connected to the VoIP router. I did this long ago, because when I first got VoIP, that was the only way I could get my network to work and use VoIP together. Since that time, I never had a need to question that configuration because it worked. However, things were just not right this time, so I tried connecting my Google Wi-Fi to the modem, then the Time Capsule to the Google base, and then the VoIP router to one of the open ethernet ports on the Time Capsule. Now, VoIP was working, and using any device, I was getting the same bandwidth I was seeing when I only had one computer connected directly to the modem - very good.

After using several different sites to confirm my bandwidth, I tested my network using the Google Wi-Fi app, and that too looked good.

To make a long story short, and hopefully provide a simple, straightforward answer to others who have been as perplexed by this problem as I have been, here is a network diagram, and also settings for the Apple Time Capsule. 

Happy networking!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's end the archaic management of time

-
Image
Every once in a while, twice a year to be exact, I am forced to go through the house and change the time on all the clocks, and other appliances that have clocks. The atomic clock in the kitchen doesn't need to be changed, my cell phone is ok, and computers auto-adjust, but I still have to make the rounds for the other devices. When we are an hour early or late on our first trip after such time-changing events, I also realize I need to change the clock in the car. Growing up in Indiana, this wasn't as much of a problem, as we didn't change our clocks. The only impact was that TV shows started an hour early (or late) half the year. Fellow Jolt judge, David Dossot , reminded me of "beat time" from the late 90's. It never caught on, but what a concept? Could one time zone for the entire planet be possible? I have heard all sorts of explanations as to why we have to change our clocks, but that is just half of the problem. The other half is the concept of ti
Read more

Product support - not supported

-
Image
I was looking for information, or rather details, on Visual Studio 2010. Looking at the Microsoft website, information is everywhere, but details are hard to find. It's bad enough that Microsoft changes the names of the editions with each release, but trying to find out what is in each edition, and what the differences are from one edition to another is very difficult. I have recently been on something of a quest, to champion the use of UML . Without tools, UML is just a bunch of boxes and lines that simply makes working with Visio that much more painful. I know that in the past, Microsoft has kept UML at an arms length. They have told me personally that they use it all the time when whiteboarding, but when it comes to implementing a design notation in their tools, they want to use their own standard. I can appreciate that because it does give them the flexibility to build development tools the way they want, without tying them to a set of rules defined by some external org
Read more

Watching and waiting for the competition

-
It's no secret that I am a fan of Apple. I own a lot of Apple products. I also own a lot of non-Apple products. I have owned iPhones before, but for the past few years, I have used Android phones. There is a lot of variety when it comes to Android phones. There are many companies making phones of all sizes, capabilities, and prices. The main reason I switched to Android a while back was because I wanted a bigger screen, and I wanted to know what it was really like to live with an Android phone. When Apple announced the iPhone 6 back in 2014, I was very interested. Honestly, I was nearly drooling on my keyboard as I watched the keynote announcement. I was also very interested when Apple announced the Apple Watch at the same keynote. As interested as I was however, I did not buy either of these. My Android phone was working just fine, and I could not use an Apple Watch with my Android phone. Also, I was curious to see how the Android world responded to the Apple Watch. Where Apple
Read more