New Router ---> Apple Time Capsule

[cash]

I've installed a new time capsule on my network.
It has an Airport Extreme router built in and a 1 TB hard drive available for Mac or Windows.
On paper it looked like the perfect device.
So far I'm not very impressed with it.
It's harder to configure and needs to restart with every change.
There was a firmware update this morning so obviously they are still working on it at Apple.

[AL]

*bows low to the mighty geekiness of Cash*

frankly, i have no clue what the purpose of such a device would be...  please enlighten me, o sage

[cash]

There's a lot i don't know about networking but I'm usually able to get through most things in time.
I bought this Time Capsule from Apple because it looked like a good value and fit my needs (and wants).
It includes an Airport Extreme wireless router and a 1TB hard disk available to both Mac and Windows.
I've found the AE router to be not as full featured as I'd like and with every change it needs to be reset unlike Linksys and Netgear (I've used both).
One feature missing that bugs me most is mac address blocking.
With Linksys and Netgear routers you are able to have a list of mac addresses of allowed network devices, if it's not on the list it can't get on the wireless network. 
The Time Machine application on my iMac can't find the hard disk at times but does seem to be able to back-up at regular intervals. 
Overall, I think I'd have been better off buying a newer Linksys router for the 802.11n higher speeds and adding a high quality network drive. 

[saragei]

(...)and a 1TB hard disk available to both Mac and Windows(...)

I remember a time when at work we had a Apple Macintosh Classic II as a server, connected to a (hold breath) 600 MB external drive to fulfill our needs
1TB! 

[cash]

My 1st computer used tapes, my 1st hard disk was 20 MB.
This 1TB drive replaces 2 - 300GB NIS unit (Netgear SC101) that failed the day after i started up the Time capsule.
What a coincidence and stroke of good luck the way I see it.
Nothing was lost because it's a back up to several computers.

[cash]

Apple Time Capsule --- follow up.

I've had the time capsule running for several months now.
It mostly does what I need but with issues.
The biggest problem is any change in the router will require a restart. 
I have had several routers through the years and never one needing restarts.
The next thing is Leopard time machine to time capsule backups. 
They take much longer than they should compared with a USB drive.
Also, because of this there is a noticeable slowdown of the network, I'm sure you've all seen it during play with my hourly backups.
You can almost set your watch to it. I have corrected this by going back to USB drive backups.
Lastly over time it gets slow with web browsing. 
Pages will partially come up then hang until I reload the page in the browser. 
If I restart the time capsule the pages are almost instant.
This last problem makes no sense to me but it works every time.

I wouldn't recommend the time capsule. 
You can do better with one of the new wireless N routers and a Buffalo or other NAS drive.
My 2 Cents....

[AL]

Heres an alternative... this is touted as a free service up to 2 gigs, and then nominal charge.  You pick the files or folders you want to back up and the schedule for it - daily, 2x a day, once an hour, etc.   It backs up your files through SSL to a remote commercial server, but allows you to choose bandwidth limits.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10723728

Theres a lot more available, including some that can help you configure Time Machine to work better through free add-on GUIs.  http://www.versiontracker.com/php/qs.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=backup&srchArea=macosx%7Cmacosx-all&submit=Go

[cash]

my initial backup would be 500+ gig
It would take days to upload to an online service.
So, online is not an option.
Time Machine works perfectly with TC (Time Capsule).
It backs up and I don't even know it most of the time.
It's the networking part of TC i don't like much.
I had to reset it for even the smallest change. Also, there were dropouts often.
Right now i have this Linksys WRT610N router cabled to the TC using 1Gbit ethernet.
In fact everything here is cat 5 except my laptops.
The TC is also acting as a print server.
Wireless is turned off the TC.
It appears that the Mud pings have gone up a little with the WRT610N and I can't see why.
I'll keep looking for an answer to that problem.