What does the green led on the WAN port indicate?

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Level 1

4 points

What does the green led on the WAN port indicate?

Does it indicate that there is a PHYSICAL connection or there is activity? If you have a bad cable between the modem and the WAN, will the WAN led light up? If the modem isn't operating correctly, will the WAN led light up?

The reason I ask...I have two Airport Extremes. The green led on the WAN port started acting finicky on the first one (the internet is down whenever the WAN led isn't lit). I could jiggle the ethernet cable just right and it would come back on. I changed ethernet cables, no change. I decided the WAN port must have a bad connection internally, so I switched over to the second Extreme. Same problem. It is highly unlikely that two Extremes have the exact same problem. If I could figure out what that green led on the WAN port actually means, I could diagnose this a little better.

To make it worse, I have an ISP that loves to blame Apple for all their internet problems, so I need hard proof that something may be wrong with their modem.

Airport Extreme-OTHER

Posted on Jun 7, 2013 12:40 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

157,824 points

Jun 7, 2013 4:45 PM in response to erriott

Does it indicate that there is a PHYSICAL connection or there is activity?

Both. A solid green light indicates that there is a "live" connection on the other end of the cable. Network activity will be indicated by a flashing green light.

If you have a bad cable between the modem and the WAN, will the WAN led light up?

No.

If the modem isn't operating correctly, will the WAN led light up?

Possibly. A malfunctioning modem may still provide a solid connection and thus the light may still be lit, but no flashing to indicate that there is no activity on the connection.

I could jiggle the ethernet cable just right and it would come back on. I changed ethernet cables, no change. I decided the WAN port must have a bad connection internally, so I switched over to the second Extreme. Same problem. It is highly unlikely that two Extremes have the exact same problem.

Since you already tried multiple cables and multiple base stations, I would tend to believe the issue is with the ISP's modem.

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Answer 2

erriott Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 10, 2013 8:06 PM in response to Tesserax

I meant to check that as 'Solved My Question' and it won't let me go back. Anyway, the ISP Field Tech came out today and replaced everything from the modem, to cabling, to ethernet surge protector. Still having the same sporadic issues with the WAN port on both of the Extremes. Beginning to think we had a major power surge through the ethernet cable and took out the WAN ports. Just ordered a new Extreme today.

Thanks for your response, Tesserax.

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

157,824 points

Jun 11, 2013 9:30 AM in response to erriott

Not to worry. I am glad I was able to help out.

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