Bpasdar

Q: Macbook Air Extremely Slow Wireless

Hello All,

Got my brand new MB-Air and from the get-go noticed extremely slow wireless performance. I did a bit of digging and here is what I found.

The MB-Air works OK with cheap (consumer) wireless APs, however when used in conjunction with the commercial APs most of which use the Atheros chipset the performance is horrible. I found that when connecting to APs that use Atheros' commercial chipset, the MB-Air connects with 802.11 G specs instead of N even when the signal metrics are excellent such as -39 RSSI.

Moreover, even With the 802.11 G connection at 54Mbps the performance is both sluggish and latent. Small file transfers have a 50/50 shot at working and large file transfers seem to die reliably. Albeit this could be an issue with Apple's implementation of SMB / Samba which is rather poor.

I have tried to turn off Bluetooth to see if my experience is different. We'll see.

I would be interested in feedback from people who are also experiencing the same poor wireless performance to learn the chipset of the AP they are having issues with.

By-the-way -- I will take a fix, if someone has come up with one. However my guess is that this is an engineering issue that Apple has to fix.

BP

Macbook Air Late 2010, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Nov 6, 2010 4:14 AM

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Q: Macbook Air Extremely Slow Wireless

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  • by Rakuji,

    Rakuji Rakuji Dec 2, 2011 7:12 PM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2011 7:12 PM in response to Bpasdar

    I figure ill throw in my 2 cents after my 2hour battery of tests including 75 speed tests and constant checks on myRSSI.  I experienced the same problemswith BT causing a massive lag in my internet speed. 

     

    I didn’t want to have to compromise withdisabling BT just to get internet speeds, so I tried find the root cause. 

    I looked at:

    The RSSI values: About this mac/moreinfo/System Report/Wifi

    Internet Speed:  www.speedtest.com

     

    Here are my tests and results:

     

    BLUETOOTH ON vs OFF

    My initial RSSI was: -78/-91dBm.  Toggling BT on/off had no affect on the RSSIreadings. 

    BT on: Internet Speed:  0.5 Mbps down,0.3 Mbps up

    BT off: Internet Speed:  6.0 Mbps down,1.7Mbps up

    Clearly,  Bluetooth was screwing something up as I ranthis test many times toggling it on/off.

     

    FIRMWARE UPDATE

    I tried downgrading the firmware from http://thoughts.maayank.com/2011/08/wireless-problems-with-macbook-air-and.html as it had worked for some. 

    With the Bluetooth OFF: 

    Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.18):  6.0 Mbps down, 1.7Mbps up

    Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.16.1):  3.6 Mbps down, 1.5 Mbps up

    Since this was based on current internet speeds and I ran thistest only for 5 minutes, I saw a decrease in speed, but I cant say forcertain. 

    With the Bluetooth ON:

    Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.18):  0.5 Mbps down, 0.3 Mbps up

    Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.16.1):  1.1 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up

    Problem still not solved. Bluetooth is definitely still slowing things down. I reverted back tothe original firmware, Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.18): 

     

    Tried disconnecting the power supply, secondary monitor, audiocable.  No affect. 

     

    PROXIMITY TO ROUTER

    I moved my laptop right next to the router.  BAM! Things started cooking. 

    RSSI:  -43/-89dBm

    BT ON:  20.8 Mbps down, 4.6Mbps up

    BT OFF:  20.0 Mbps down, 4.6Mbps up

    Clearly, the Bluetooth didn’t have an affect on the speed when thesignal strength great. 

     

    Eventually, I moved the router closer to the center of theapartment and now have acceptable internet speeds. 

  • by 12c,

    12c 12c Dec 10, 2011 9:28 AM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2011 9:28 AM in response to Bpasdar

    Same issue here on MBA purchased around Thanksgiving time.  Turning off bluetooth only increased my download speeds marginally, uploads remained the same.  Use very fast home internet and still am not experiencing speeds up to capable as found on home imac.

     

    Interested to try the "reverse" firmware update for MBA, but don't want to waste time if a new firmware or some type of lion update is forthcoming.

  • by Richard Burrows,

    Richard Burrows Richard Burrows Dec 29, 2011 5:47 PM in response to 12c
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 29, 2011 5:47 PM in response to 12c

    Glad I found this thread. I've just redone the wireless layout and thought I was going mad.  Sure enough the air was only getting 25% download speeds of the other devices, and switching off the bluetooth returned it up to 100%!  (both over 5ghz and 2ghz).

     

    I hope this is something 'fixable', but it smells of hardware interference..

  • by William Kucharski,

    William Kucharski William Kucharski Dec 29, 2011 5:51 PM in response to Richard Burrows
    Level 6 (15,211 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 29, 2011 5:51 PM in response to Richard Burrows

    As I mentioned, that's exactly what it is.

     

    Wi-Fi and Bluetooth both use the 2.4 GHz band; interference is all but unavoidable no matter what the platform.

  • by Richard Burrows,

    Richard Burrows Richard Burrows Dec 29, 2011 7:29 PM in response to William Kucharski
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 29, 2011 7:29 PM in response to William Kucharski

    I agree completely - however I am using a 5Ghz access point SSID in this scenario. The AP is a Netgear, but has the same simultaneous 2.4/5Ghz feature as an Airport Extreme.  I've confirmed I'm connecting to the 5Ghz radio, and disabling bluetooth still 'solves' the problems under discussion.

  • by RealToast,

    RealToast RealToast Jan 7, 2012 6:39 PM in response to William Kucharski
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2012 6:39 PM in response to William Kucharski

    Thanks for the simple instructions. Changing the channel in AirPort Utility took me from about .5 mb/s to 25.8 mb/s. Bonus: I am now actually able to watch my Apple TV without cursing it!

  • by lansj,

    lansj lansj Jan 15, 2012 11:32 PM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2012 11:32 PM in response to Bpasdar

    my Macbook air had the same problem as described here. I unchecked the option, "ask to join new networks" and my mac went from 1mb/second to 30mb/s (maximum network speed at home). It may not work for all but it worked for me.

  • by lansj,

    lansj lansj Jan 16, 2012 1:57 PM in response to lansj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 16, 2012 1:57 PM in response to lansj

    I am sorry to report but it did not work. The crapbook air is as slow as ever. At least in Australia we have a trade practices act where a item that does not work as promised may be returned for a full refund. Now all I have to do is wait at apple Sydney to hopefully get a refund. After all it's a Mac and they just work. And I refuse to change my certified modem router due to poor apple programming.

  • by lansj,

    lansj lansj Jan 23, 2012 12:39 AM in response to lansj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2012 12:39 AM in response to lansj

    ok so i booked it in to the local apple store, and they replaced the wireless card all great finally.

  • by theosnovis,

    theosnovis theosnovis Feb 6, 2012 11:52 AM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 11:52 AM in response to Bpasdar

    I'm not sure if this will help. I've got the same problem since i got my macbook air.

     

    1.I've got about 10 wifi networks around my room, neighbours etc.
    2.I've got two routers, one cisco and zyxel, both of them proved very bad in means of wifi, unless they're connected to my iMac or the windows laptop.
    3. My friends got a D-Link router, with a greater ADSL speed than i do and much less surrounding wifi networks, at his place it works like a charm..


    So the solution is really a simple low grade router, and a fast connection if you've got more than 5 devices like i do.

     

    Hope you get around the problem

     

     

  • by McGofy,

    McGofy McGofy Feb 20, 2012 6:34 PM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 20, 2012 6:34 PM in response to Bpasdar

    I have a new Macbook Air.  I have the same problem.  When using the MacAir straight up, I get fast web surfing speeds. (although I did notice that in Network settings I drug my wireless to the top position).

     

    When I connect to my 27" Mac Display things are fine .  However, when I turn on Bluetooth and try to use my Apple Magicpad and Buetooth Keyboard, the wireless crawls to almost unusable.  When I turn my bluetooth off, the wirelless internet speed goes back up to 12 Mbs. (Still ANY PC that I run in the same room gets 20 Mbs on the exact same router and placement).  Even my IPAD 2 is faster than my MacAir.

     

    So I am going to try using a USB Bluetooth adapter when using my magicpad and keyboard.  Since I have a Thunderbolt display, I could use a USB keyboard with the display, but I dont think they make a USB MagicPad

  • by gsem ,

    gsem gsem Apr 1, 2012 7:44 AM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 7:44 AM in response to Bpasdar

    I found that safari wasnt working AT ALL.

    So i then tried to download firefox and firefox is the one you should use!

     

    I also recomend plugging in directly to the wirless router using the "USB-Ethernet" or "Ethernet(if you have the newest version)"

  • by ZamZalmer,

    ZamZalmer ZamZalmer May 6, 2012 8:52 AM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2012 8:52 AM in response to Bpasdar

    if i put my MBA right on top of the wireless router i get 10mbs. still about half of what i get with any other device i try. the problem is, as i move farther from the router performance drops drastically. the windows laptop and android phone are still getting between 15-20mbs one room away. if i move two rooms away from the router performance on the MBA goes to less than 1mbs and surfing the internet becomes impossible. again from this distance, the windows, android device, and iphone, are still fine connecting via wireless. i have tried everything i felt comfortable trying. i didn't try this because i wasn't comfortable with it:

    http://thoughts.maayank.com/2011/08/wireless-problems-with-macbook-air-and.html

     

    things i have tried: turning off blue tooth, renewing DHCP lease, turning off ask to join new networks, purchased a new 2.4ghz router, changed channels on router, installed firefox, i even unplugged the fridge thinking that might be causing interfernce, but nothing seems to help.

     

    very frustrated.

     

    in case this helps anyone, here are the specs of the MBA and the router:

     

    MacBook Air - 13-inch, mid 2011

    mac os x lion 10.7.3 (11d50b)

    4gb 1333 MHz ddr3

     

    ASUS

    Model

    RT-N16

    IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n

  • by ZamZalmer,

    ZamZalmer ZamZalmer Jun 28, 2012 7:05 AM in response to ZamZalmer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 28, 2012 7:05 AM in response to ZamZalmer

    update on my last post from 5.6.12

     

    after talking with apple support they said they thought i had a bad hard drive. i took the mba to a certified mac repair place in town and they said nothing was wrong with the hard drive and they couldn't find any problems at all. they did replace the wireless card and run an update (something i do religiously). this seems to have done the trick. i'm now getting between 15-20mbs in a place in the house i could previously never get better than 500k. for now i'm going to remain cautiously optimistic that the problem has been solved and will not return.

  • by _harshaw_,

    _harshaw_ _harshaw_ Jul 16, 2012 8:22 AM in response to Bpasdar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 16, 2012 8:22 AM in response to Bpasdar

    I just followed the trick on updating the drivers using http://thoughts.maayank.com/2011/08/wireless-problems-with-macbook-air-and.html.

     

    This appeared to solve my macbook air wifi issues.  Let's see what happens when Mountain Lion comes out.

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