Can an Airport Time Capsule (7.9.1) provide reliable wifi connectivity for a 2024 MacBook Air M3?

Don't let my personal bias against Synology affect your decision. It was a very long time ago. I just happen to have a very long memory.

For all I know they fixed everything by now, but it was a very common and frequently reported problem back then. Those reports are all over this site if you want to search for them.

Its manifestation was that TM backups would run perfectly with no apparent faults for months or years on end, but attempting to restore failed. Users were understandably upset, because were relying on those backups, believing they were intact, and they blamed Time Machine for their failures. So did Synology.

Meanwhile my TM restores from Time Capsule or other supported methods were 100% flawless. Contrast that with 100% restore failures from Synology, and it didn't take much for me to give up on them. It did however take a lot of time to troubleshoot and arrive at that conclusion.

One more thing... those failures were strictly attempting to use the Synology NAS with Time Machine. To my knowledge you could use Carbon Copy Cloner (or something else) and they would work. I had used CCC in the past but not with NAS devices. CCC is a fine program.

John Galt wrote:

You’re buying decade-old or older gear, long unsupported, ...

I'm sure you are aware that the most recent AirPort models remain fully supported. Those are the ones I'd advocate looking for.

AirPort and Time Capsule Wi-Fi gear are all considered obsolete:

Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support

Your experience with Synology and Time Capsule, and mine, do differ.

Yes. Mine are all working perfectly ok. 800 - 1000 Mbps a room or two away. 4k video streaming works fine. Don't know about gaming.

I think it's a great idea.

Or would you rather opt for another device considering that the Airport TC is dated and no longer supported?

I wish that I could recommend a comparable product, but I just don't know of anything that was as good or as trouble-free as the Apple's Time Capsule and wireless networking line of products in general. Nothing is or was as easy to set up and use, and nothing is as reliable with Time Machine. Their inexplicable decision to discontinue that entire product line remains a mystery. I surmise that unless Apple can sell millions and millions of something, they're just not interested.

No, I don’t consider selling tht factory-sealed TC. Two reasons: I don’t want to deal with packaging and shipping and then potentially dealing with an unhappy buyer that got a factory-sealed flaky or failing or failed device (see my previous reply here), and because Apple frowns upon posting offers to buy or sell products or services around here.

As for alternatives, the Synology NAS boxes I’ve dealt with have all worked well, and the Synology NAS, and the Synology storage-connectable Mesh routers are all quite capable. (The Time Machine server setup was a Synology support article.)

Though it will be much more capable than what most here might need, I expect to prototype Ubiquiti UNAS NAS gear over the next year or so, as Ubiquiti is one of the locally-preferred networking vendors. UNAS supports Time Machine server, which is one of the prerequisites. (Ubiquiti hardware and software options and capabilities are far past what Apple had offered. Apple didn’t offer even a fraction of the networking gear that Ubiquti and a few other vendors now offer. Apple focused elsewhere.)

You’re buying decade-old or older gear, long unsupported, ...

I'm sure you are aware that the most recent AirPort models remain fully supported. Those are the ones I'd advocate looking for.

I would not be averse to buying used ones either. Lots of people part with them for no other reason that "they're old." You can tell those sellers are not particularly knowledgeable when they never changed device passwords from the defaults, or their backups were completely unencrypted 😳

If the TCs cease to function or become unsupported I would strongly consider Ubiquiti though. I seem to recall the company was founded by former Apple engineers.

You're probably also aware of my previous failed attempts to use a Synology NAS with Time Machine — a miserable experience I would not wish upon anyone.

So, indeed, if I lost it all now, it would not be a devastating blow to me.

👍

That is a refreshingly sound attitude.

I surmise our sensitivity to backups is due to the fact so many people post questions here along the lines of "my Mac crashed / got stolen / lost all my work / data / music / movies / pictures / etc which meant the world to me and how do I get it back" etc. Upon asking, we don't like hearing they had no Time Machine or equivalent backup only to tell them no, in all likelihood, it's gone forever and there is no recourse. This happens every single day on this site, multiple times a day. It's sad.

Sadder still is when we learn they may have used Time Machine in the distant past, but read somewhere on the Internet that it's no good / trash / Apple s*çks / so they stopped using it. That is by far the biggest problem with Time Machine — not using it.

But even one backup is better than none, accepting the fact if everything becomes lost anyway, it's not the end of the world.

Late 90s? Steve Jobs learned twenty years before that: https://corecursive.com/remote-developer/#ammo-can-backups

Tom Clancy learned a few years later.

I surmise even Herman Melville wasn't the first. Back then they probably used punch cards though.

That would be a red flag for me too. Probably a show-stopper.

My research has been very cursory. As much as I would like something as reliable as Apple's networking equipment, there simply isn't anything.

Whatever I eventually decide upon would need to be a mesh network, but mine can be primarily wired since that's how most of its access points are connected anyway.

Zurarczurx wrote:

I just had a look at the Dream Router. There's bugger-all information on the site with superficial tech-specs and no downloadable manual - indeed there's no manual at all apparently. Contrast that with the 760-page manual that's online for my Draytek router. Also, it's not clear from answers on various websites whether or not a Ubiquity account is needed to operate the router. That's a huge red flag for me. So, no manual and possible mandatory account means that I wouldn't buy anything from Ubiquity.

Red flags? Don’t look at Apple, then. (Either around requiring vendor accounts, or around the increasingly-superficial docs. We’re not in the same era as the old Apple Mac OS X Server detailed docs and the Xserve DIY repair docs, either.)

As for Ubiquiti gear and docs, the Unifi Portal app provides some online doc (via GPT), and the /r/ubiquiti subreddit (where Ubiquiti participates) is useful, and an immense number of UI YouTube videos. And the user interfaces are usually pretty good, same as Apple.

As with many (most) other vendors, UI also has online support, as well as support plans, as well as in-person classes. And the usual zillion articles and postings from ~everybody.

One of the sections I’ve just noticed in the Portal app is a “what equipment do I need to get started?” section. Which then uses that as the GPT prompt. Not sure how useful the Portal app might be past that, though.

One of the earlier installation roadblocks deploying Ubiquiti gear involved MAC impersonation. I asked about that apparent omission, and a month or so later the feature appeared in a new build. Coincidence? Or responsiveness? Donno.

Remote network access is available, but is configurable and is not required. And yes, remote access is tied to a Ubiquiti account.

You’ll need the UI account for updates, for remote access, and it makes purchases and related details easier.

Once I got past the MAC impersonation, it’s all been solid. Incrementally adding gear has been easy, as well.