Switching between WiFi and Display Ethernet

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Level 1

22 points

Switching between WiFi and Display Ethernet

After connecting the Macbook to Thunderbolt Display I'd expect it to connect to the much faster cable connection, or at least have some UI to do that with a click, but the situation is a little bit different:

To swap the connection from WIFI to Display Ethernet I have to:

1. disable the WIFI on macbook

2. disable the Display Ethernet as it won't automatically connect even if it has the DHCP correctly configured.

3. re-enable the Display Ethernet

Shouldn't that be a bit more of a 'streamlined' operation, or am I missing something?

my hardware:

Apple Airport Express

Macbook pro retina 15'' (early 2013), macos 10.13.3

Thunderbolt display

Thunderbolt display has a dedicated IP on my LAN, (tried without as well).

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), null

Posted on Feb 11, 2018 3:33 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 11, 2018 9:36 AM in response to req7777

Your Mac sends packets intended for the Internet to the TopMost, Working interface in the list in System preferences > Network.

With Ethernet at the top, BobTheFisherman suggestion will connect via that Ethernet port when working, and when not working, that medium will still be TopMost but will not be Working, so Wi-Fi (next to the top) will be used instead.

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To attain Gigabit Ethernet speeds, all cables in use for that link must have all 8 conductors present, and power-over-Ethernet cannot be used on the same cable. (look through the clear-end of the connector for all 8 wires connected).

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Answer 2

Feb 11, 2018 9:22 AM in response to req7777

In Network Preferences move the Ethernet connection to the top of the list of networks so that it is above your wifi network. Now your computer will default to the Ethernet connection unless you are not connected to Ethernet which will then cause the wifi connection to connect.

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