HT203198: Wi-Fi base station: Understanding and resolving a blinking amber status light

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forge20

Q: The WAN Ethernet cable is unplugged from the Wi-Fi base station.

I just bought the airport extreme from jb-hifi australia, to replace my modem from TPG which is NetComm.

Basically, I unplugged my Netcomm then plugged on Extreme. Then I encountered this The WAN Ethernet cable is unplugged from the Wi-Fi base station.

Hmmm... but I did plugged the cable from my old to extreme. Can anyone please tell me why is the extreme not recognising the cable.. my service provider is TPG.

iPhone 4S, iOS 6.0.2

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 4:55 AM

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Q: The WAN Ethernet cable is unplugged from the Wi-Fi base station.

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  • by Bob Timmons,Solvedanswer

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jan 25, 2013 6:56 AM in response to forge20
    Level 10 (105,008 points)
    Wireless
    Jan 25, 2013 6:56 AM in response to forge20

    The AirPort Extreme is a wireless router only. It does not have a modem on board. If you do not have a separate modem, you will need one.

     

    You said that you replaced your "modem" from TPG which is NetComm.

     

    You might have had a modem/router or gateway type of device that combines a modem and router in the same package.

     

    You cannot connect a phone cable directly into the AirPort Extreme.

  • by forge20,

    forge20 forge20 Jan 25, 2013 7:06 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 25, 2013 7:06 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Thanks a lot for that Bob, now what I did is connected it to my NetComm modem router and had two wifi under different names. But they are too close to each other. Is it alright to just use this as extender? If so, will it be able to use its full function? Like the dual band because my netcomm is not dual band?

  • by Bob Timmons,Helpful

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jan 25, 2013 7:27 AM in response to forge20
    Level 10 (105,008 points)
    Wireless
    Jan 25, 2013 7:27 AM in response to forge20

    If the routers are in close proximity, I would recommend that you turn off the wireless function on the NetComm device. There is no advantage to having two routers in the same area both broadcasting the same network. This can also create interference effects that will affect the performance of the wireless network.

     

    If you need a second wireless network, you could configure either the NetComm or AirPort to use a different wireless network name.

     

    But, you would still want to separate the devices by at least 6-7 feet or a few meters to help eliminate interference effects. More distance would be better. The channels on the wireless networks should also be separated by at least 5-6 settings as well.

  • by forge20,

    forge20 forge20 Jan 25, 2013 7:46 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 25, 2013 7:46 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Thanks again Bob for spending time, it really helped massively.

    I will then switch off the wifi capability of NetComm to avoid interferance.

    Would you reccomend if I use this as extender instead for Netcomm? Will the Extreme lose its dual band capability?

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jan 25, 2013 7:58 AM in response to forge20
    Level 10 (105,008 points)
    Wireless
    Jan 25, 2013 7:58 AM in response to forge20

    It would really make no sense to try to configure the AirPort Extreme to extend the signal of the NetComm device unless you plan to locate the AirPort Extreme on the other side of the house away from the Netcomm. 

     

    Remember that the AirPort Extreme will still need to be connected to the Netcomm with an Ethernet cable.

  • by Allex2501,

    Allex2501 Allex2501 Feb 2, 2013 2:31 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2013 2:31 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    FIxed my problem!

     

    After years the problem was solved somply!

     

    Go to System preferences

    Go to Ethernet
    Go to Advance
    Go to Hardware

     

    The just make the changes like in the pictures belowScreen Shot 2013-02-02 at 8.18.21 PM.png