Can I hot swap a DSL cable from my Mac to an Airport Extreme station?

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Level 1

4 points

Can I hot swap a DSL cable from my Mac to an Airport Extreme station?

I just bought a new Airport Extreme base station to replace my slower, 4-year-old one. I also need to upgrade the operating system on my 2010 iMac which is still running OS X 10.6. I have a DSL connection to the internet through our local phone company. I use the Airport Extreme to connect three Macs to the internet and to a printer via a wi-fi network.

Because downloading an operating system takes a long time, I want to connect the DLS directly to my iMac for that. Then I want to connect the DSL to the new Airport Extreme base station to re-establish my wi-fi network.

Can I simply unplug the DSL from the old base station, plug it into the iMac, and then plug it into the new base station? Or is there some protocol I need to follow to make sure I maintain my internet connection?

Thanks for any wisdom anyone can provide. I need to get this done but don't want to screw up my internet access :-)

iMac, Mac OS X (10.3.x), eMac PowerPC G4, 70 Mhz, 1 GB Ram

Posted on Feb 26, 2015 2:38 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Feb 26, 2015 5:05 PM in response to MaryRB

It does depend on the setup.. as always happens these things can be easy or hard.. and without knowing the exact setup it is hard to say.

Lets leave the old Extreme in operation..

Unplug the DSL modem from it.. and plug it directly into the Mac.. and see if it works.. you might need to reboot the dsl modem and the mac.. but give it a go.. if it fails your modem is bridged and you must use the airport to connect..

Tell us how that experiment goes..

If it works.. Mac is on the net and you can download the new OS.. then you can plug it back into the old AE when you are finished.. everything should then work as it did.. (as long as you don't do the update on the computer straight away) please wait until you have the network back up first.

Test it works and if so you can do the OS upgrade.. and then plug the DSL modem into the new Airport and do the setup on that one.. You will need the new OS to do the setup on the new Airport. So everything has to be done in the right order.

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Answer 2

MaryRB Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 28, 2015 3:27 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for your quick reply. I will be working on this over the weekend. With luck I won't have to ask any more questions.

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Answer 3

MaryRB Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 15, 2015 12:49 PM in response to MaryRB

Sorry it has taken me so long to report back on this issue. I won't bore you with all I went through over the past weeks but it included getting a new DSL modem from my phone company. The new modem includes wireless service, so I don't even need the Apple Airport anymore.

The main thing I want to say for others who have this question is: check with your DSL service people before trying anything. My old DSL modem required a specific series of steps to follow in connecting and disconnecting the DSL cable from the Airport and the iMac. With the new modem I can do a hot swap but I would say it is always safer to check first.

As always, I appreciate the support from the Apple community and I hope my 2 cents will help someone else.

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