mattormond

Q: wifi keeps dropping since Yosemite upgrade

Since upgrading to Yosemite, my previously-stable (with Mavericks) wifi connection keeps dropping. I have to click the wifi icon and re-select my network every minute or two. I have turned off bluetooth and uninstalled/reinstalled wifi and my networks. I have rebooted multiple times. No luck so far. It appears that others are having similar problems. Any solutions at this point?


Early 2013 MacBook Pro Retina 13" running OS X Yosemite 10.10

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 16, 2014 11:23 PM

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Q: wifi keeps dropping since Yosemite upgrade

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  • by Stan in London,

    Stan in London Stan in London Nov 23, 2014 4:09 AM in response to BeachBelle
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Nov 23, 2014 4:09 AM in response to BeachBelle

    I have found that upgrading to Apple's router at home helped and then the latest patch of Yosemite helped a bit more so that now I find that my MacBook Air is performing well and dropping out largely gone both at home and at work. Sometimes initially it does drop and then is stable. My experience is that Yosemite wifi is less tolerant than Mavericks so that if the wifi network is strong, it is fine, where it is weak, old standards etc, it is more problematic than was the case with Mavericks. If you can get some tools to check your signal. The cheapest is holding down the alt key whilst clicking the wifi icon top right hand side of the screen. That reveals a lot of data about the connection  - the long list greyed out. Look for the TX rate, transfer rate and the PHY Mode, If the TX rate is poor (say less than 50) and or the PHY is an old standard (say g); you have in my uninformed view a weak signal. If the TX mode is fast and the PHY is N or AC than you are getting a good signal. What I find is in my office the TX is 12-30 and it is just not good enough. Then I go places with 540 or even 860 and I get very fast downloads and stable connectivity. Hope that helps a bit. Good luck

  • by kezgez,

    kezgez kezgez Nov 25, 2014 3:14 AM in response to Stan in London
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 25, 2014 3:14 AM in response to Stan in London

    Since upgrading to 10.10.1 my Wi-Fi/Bluetooth problem was working fine for well over a week then suddenly for no reason it started yesterday, magic mouse started jumping and stopping then the Wi-Fi looses signal until I connect it again, this is happening every 2/3 minutes, checked my tx rate and it was 245 and phy is n so no reason at all to happen. This is effecting my business and I'm not happy, thinking of going in to see my business manager in Apple store to see what he says. Really not happy at the mo.

  • by PFJ30,

    PFJ30 PFJ30 Nov 25, 2014 3:41 AM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 25, 2014 3:41 AM in response to mattormond

    I have tried - and succeeded for about a day each time - with most suggestions (sleep,restart,switch off; SMC reset; new network name etc) but this morning I found this on BT's Home hub:


    "The BT Home Hub 4 and Hub 5 are dual band with two wireless frequencies for devices to connect to: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. On both Hubs, the default setting has the same network name (or SSID) for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Connecting a typical 5GHz-capable device to this single SSID will automatically connect the device to both the 2.4 and 5Ghz frequency at the same time.

    However, not all dual band devices behave the same way and some device software does not cope well with a single SSID for both frequencies.

    As a result:

    • the device may not connect wirelessly to the Hub
    • it may not connect to 5GHz frequency even in the same room
    • the wireless connection might be intermittent
    • the wireless connection might be very slow

    Devices where there are known to be problems include:

    • Some Apple devices including iPhone 5 and Apple TV
    • some Android smartphones
    • Xbox

    For some devices you can solve this problem by having different network names (SSIDs) for the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz bands. To set this up, follow these steps:

    1. Open your web browser on a device connected to the Hub and go to bthomehub.home. This will open the Hub Manager
    2. Click on Advanced Settings and enter your Hub admin password when prompted. Unless you've changed it, you'll find the default Hub password on the Hub settings card
    3. Click on Continue to Advanced Settings
    4. Click on Wireless
    5. Click on 5GHz
    6. Change 'Sync with 2.4 Ghz' to No
    7. Change the 'Wireless SSID' to a new name (we recommend just adding '5GHz' to the end of the existing SSID name so you'll know which one is which)
    8. Click Apply to save the changes

    After a few minutes you should see two BT Home Hub SSIDs in the list of networks on your device. All of your devices will still automatically connect to the original SSID name, which will be the 2.4GHz.

    If you have existing dual band devices you want to connect to 5GHz only, you'll need to connect them to the 5GHz SSID that you've renamed.  BUT RESTART HUB first - PJ

    Note- Even though wireless speeds at 5GHz can be significantly faster than 2.4GHz, the range of a 5GHz connection is not as good. As a result, you may need your device closer to your Hub (than you'd need to when using the 2.4GHz SSID) to get the best performance possible."

  • by Chutley,

    Chutley Chutley Nov 25, 2014 3:45 AM in response to PFJ30
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 25, 2014 3:45 AM in response to PFJ30

    This fixed my problem, thanks.

  • by kezgez,

    kezgez kezgez Nov 25, 2014 8:00 AM in response to PFJ30
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 25, 2014 8:00 AM in response to PFJ30

    Hi Thankyou PFJ30 i have tried this and keeping my fingers crossed it works we have a bt home hub 4 so it quite promising, will let you know later after i been on for a while.  Thanks again for going to the trouble of posting this.

  • by cadamy,

    cadamy cadamy Nov 28, 2014 9:35 AM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2014 9:35 AM in response to mattormond

    I've had this issue forever, and it seems to get worse right after I upgrade. I realized today if I stop dropox sync, the problem goes away.

  • by Anamcr,

    Anamcr Anamcr Nov 28, 2014 9:51 AM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2014 9:51 AM in response to mattormond

    If you take some time to read the other forums, this is an issue thats been going on since apple launched Yosemite. There is not a permanent solution to this problem. What i did after trying EVERYTHING that people suggested in the support communities, was that i reinstalled a clean version of Mavericks and BAM!, my wifi is working perfectly now. Don't bend over backwards to get your wifi to work, this issue could take months to resolve, and apple is not being helpful at all, downgrade and wait! GOOD LUCK!!

  • by niehanse,

    niehanse niehanse Nov 29, 2014 12:31 PM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Nov 29, 2014 12:31 PM in response to mattormond

    Hi I had the same problem which interrupted my time machine backups. my yousemitemachine lost the connection with internet which interrupted my time machien backups. I tried as one of many tests to lett the airport utility remain open all the time while backingup and it seems that it still drops from time to time and a yellow triangel lights up briefly out but immediately  airport utility find the network aggain and continue the Time Machine backup

  • by madatappleagain,

    madatappleagain madatappleagain Nov 29, 2014 10:49 PM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 29, 2014 10:49 PM in response to mattormond

    I have the same problem as everyone else here.  The only thing is I updated just before going to Thailand to start an online magazine and Apple again has put me in a terrible spot.  Are they turning me into the old Microsoft.  I am very mad!!!

     

    I have to keep closing my programs and restarting.  I am getting nothing done thanks to this upgrade I will never upgrade again without waiting 6 months.

     

    How disappointed I am again with Apple.  The last time recently was upgrading my iPhone only to find myself on the road and without any signal!

  • by alanplayford,

    alanplayford alanplayford Dec 9, 2014 1:45 AM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2014 1:45 AM in response to mattormond

    Just to add my four pennorth to the weight of this ....

     

    Using my Apple Mac Pro for working from home, and experiencing the same WiFi dropouts as everybody else!

    Strangely, I think mine only really started since the Yosemite 10.10.1 update, certainly never noticed it before?

    WiFi seems fine when down in the office on their WiFi, but drops out every few seconds or at most minutes on my home network with VirginMedia hub.

    Also connecting via WiFi extender downstairs, bit tried without and same problem.

     

    So, I have tried all possible fixes as detailed here, but don't currently have Timeline backups setup until I buy a new hard-drive (old one given up the ghost).

    Therefore can't backtrack to previous O/S, unfortunately, and the other methods look dangerous and cumbersome with lots of opportunity to make it worse! Anyway, would never attempt these levels of things without ensuring I have backups in place first!

     

    So I agree! Pull your finger out, Apple, and get a further Yosemite update as a matter of priority - but please, only when you've tested it first, and we can be reasonably confident it won't make things worse!

  • by allen1911,

    allen1911 allen1911 Dec 9, 2014 7:22 PM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2014 7:22 PM in response to mattormond

    I had the same problem.  After updating to Yosemite, my wifi continued to drop and I had to repeatedly click it back on with the wifi icon.

    I tried every solution in this website.

     

    I then moved the computer to another home and wifi and it worked perfectly for 2 weeks.  No drops at all.

    Then I returned to the home with the dropping program and once again, I was continually dropped off the system.

     

    Thanks to my son who is a expert in technology (Rex Electric in Chicago) he changed a few things on my router including the channel that was dominant.

    After a few minutes, the system came on and has been perfect for 3 days now.

     

    My conclusion is that there may be some router issues with Yosemite.  I am now a happy camper. 

    Get someone to change the channel on your router....

  • by Joshuapotter,

    Joshuapotter Joshuapotter Dec 12, 2014 5:18 AM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2014 5:18 AM in response to mattormond

    A possible fix for constantly dropping Wi-Fi.

    I recently upgraded to Yosemite and like many others lost my Wi-Fi internet connection.

    I live on a boat and depend on my Wi-Fi connection to tether two laptops to my smart phone.

    I have two MacBook Pro’s, both were on Lion and I upgraded one straight to Yosemite (in case it is relevant, I have pasted below, the hardware/software spec).

    I changed nothing except the Yosemite OS upgrade and the second Laptop, running Lion, continued to hold its Wi-Fi connection as normal, so I knew the problem was Yosemite.

    The newly Yosemited laptop would hold Wi-Fi for only 40 seconds.

    I tried all the usual ‘tricks’ suggested on various web sites and forums and none of them worked.

    I upgraded the smartphone OS from windows 8 to 8.1 but this made no difference.

     

    I have, however, now found a fix.

     

    Fed up with the constantly dropping Wi-Fi connection, I got a bit OCD with the reconnect button.

    To reconnect, I normally click the Wi-Fi icon in the command bar at the top of the screen then from the dropdown box, select my network.

    As I say, this time I got a bit OCD and repeated this reconnect routine 30 times in quick succession ( long enough to cover the 40 second period it would normally drop out in, it may well work with less) and BINGO! my Wi-Fi stopped dropping out.

    I discovered this yesterday and it has held ever since, including a period of about 6 hours web surfing while I did some research. I have disconnected and reconnected several times and this routine, whilst not high tech, does work every time. I do have to do this every time I connect otherwise it reverts to constantly dropping out.

     

    Hope this helps someone else because I know how frustrating these problems can be, especially if, like me, you have no alternatives.

     

    By the way, I have used all sorts of OS over the last 30 years (starting with Dos) and know that it is not unusual to feel a bit disappointed when changing the interface, probably a lot of the time, simply because familiarity is comfortable. This is the first time that I actually really liked the new interface from day one.

     

    1. Cheers.

     

     

    Hardware Spec -15” Late 2011 / 2.4 GHz intel Core i7/ 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3/AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024MB. Tethered to a Nokia Lumia 625 using Windows 8.1 and a 3mobile network.

  • by hawkfb,

    hawkfb hawkfb Dec 20, 2014 12:10 PM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Dec 20, 2014 12:10 PM in response to mattormond

    For me everything worked nice until today I switched the WiFi settings to 5GHz (802.11n dual), in my TimeCapsule. Now it keeps dropping all the time I had the same settings before in the same TimeCapsule, the same MacBook pro, in Mac OS X 10.9 and I never had a problem... I don't want to switch back to 2.4Ghz because there is a lot of interference in all the channels... :/

  • by Whoosierdad,

    Whoosierdad Whoosierdad Dec 20, 2014 1:23 PM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 20, 2014 1:23 PM in response to mattormond

    I can verify that allen1911 is onto something with the Router Channel Switch.  My Wifi was dropping continuously just today.  I logged into my D-Link router and manually switched to Channel 11 after disabling the channel auto-scan.  i've now been connected to my same Wifi at home for over 4 hours without interruption.   The Channel Change Definitely made a difference.  Just not sure if it will be permanent or not.

  • by apple_1980,

    apple_1980 apple_1980 Dec 21, 2014 7:08 AM in response to mattormond
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2014 7:08 AM in response to mattormond

    It looks like running Wireless Diagnotics (hold option key -> right mouse on the wifi icon on the menu bar ) fixed the frequent wifi connection drop problem on my IMac.   Now the name of my home network appears at the top of wifi network name list and the connection is solid.

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