Ryan Burkholder

Q: Anyone else have poor WiFi reception on Mid-2012 15" MBP with Hi-res screen?

Tried a new AirPort card, no difference. WiFi reception is half, at best, of any other Mac. My wife's mid-2010 get's twice the reception. As do the hundred of other Apple devices I service, my iPhone and iPad Pro mini.

 

Is there something about the antennae in this hi-res screen? It's been this way since I bought it. Simply madding as a tech. At least I know if my laptop can connect to WiFi, pretty much anything can.

 

Mid-2012 2.7 i7 with 1GB VRAM and hi-res display.

Posted on Sep 13, 2016 6:41 PM

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Q: Anyone else have poor WiFi reception on Mid-2012 15" MBP with Hi-res screen?

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 13, 2016 7:31 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder
    Level 9 (60,951 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 13, 2016 7:31 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder

    Hold down the Option key while you click on the Wi-Fi Icon on the MenuBar. This displays a number of important parameters about Wi-Fi performance. it will look a little like this:

     

    Option-WiFi.png

     

     

    what values are you showing for PHY Mode and channel?

    What RSSI or signal strength? How far from your Router when you are measuring this?

    what tx rate or transmit rate?

     

    and very important, how many other networks do you see listed?

  • by Ryan Burkholder,

    Ryan Burkholder Ryan Burkholder Sep 13, 2016 7:45 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (134 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 13, 2016 7:45 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Sitting 8 feet from an Asus RT-N66R.

    Screen Shot 2016-09-13 at 10.33.00 PM.png

    I have a Meraki MR-18 a MR-42 as well, each about 20 feet away and I can't see them. They can see every car passing by on the street about 75 feet away.

     

    My iPhone 6 and iPad pro mini can see all of my APs including my neighbors. As can my wife's 2010 MBP.

  • by Ryan Burkholder,

    Ryan Burkholder Ryan Burkholder Sep 13, 2016 7:47 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder
    Level 1 (134 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 13, 2016 7:47 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder

    This machine hasn't helped me sell Apple laptops, that is for sure and unfortunate. I demo wireless access with an older 2010 MBP.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 13, 2016 8:17 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder
    Level 9 (60,951 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 13, 2016 8:17 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder

    Within 20 feet of the Router, you should have an RSSI (raw signal not discounting noise) of -50 or better (closer to zero), provided you have clear line-of-sight, not through a masonry chimney. Your signal at -71 is almost indistinguishable from noise at -88. The difference gives you signal-to-noise of 88-71 or -17, which is poor.

     

    If you had not already swapped the Wi-Fi board, I would say you had a disconnected antenna. The actual antennas on these Macs are in the metal surrounds of the display, so reception is much better with the display up and open. BUT -- the antenna lead goes through the hinge area, and is subject to abrasion. You should check for busted antenna lead(s) or shield (or a short between leads and shield) where it passes through the hinge area (or have the guys at the Apple store do so).

  • by Ryan Burkholder,

    Ryan Burkholder Ryan Burkholder Sep 14, 2016 6:32 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (134 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 14, 2016 6:32 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Checking the antenna wires was the first step. That's why I bought a new AirPort card, because there were no loose wires, no frayed wires.

     

    When I got the same poor reception with the new card I put my original back in, again with no loose or frayed connections.

     

    Of the hundreds of Apple laptops I've sold/fixed/used, this has the worst WiFi. I don't have any clients or friends using a Mid-2012 (non-Retnia) with the hi-res display.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 14, 2016 7:27 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder
    Level 9 (60,951 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 14, 2016 7:27 PM in response to Ryan Burkholder

    I do not believe the problem you are experiencing is common, and it does not appear to follow this model or any model in particular. I think your Mac has a sample defect, not an engineering problem or a pervasive defect.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 15, 2016 7:13 AM in response to Ryan Burkholder
    Level 9 (60,951 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 15, 2016 7:13 AM in response to Ryan Burkholder

    The baseband speeds (attainable with one antenna) for 802.11b/g/n are at most 150 M bits/sec using a 40 MHz channel width. In 2011, Apple started saying that their newest MacBook Pro could do 450 M Bits/sec. This requires three antennas, because the signal is sent on the differences between antennas. So it appears that the antenna design and the number of wires going through the hinge area changed at about that time. likely the way they are attached to portions of the frame around the dimply changed as well.

     

    In the late 2012 model, they referred to it as three stream, but it is not clear to me whether that is just a marketing change, or a real technical difference such as a different number of antennas.

     

    In the late 2013 model, they introduced 802.11ac, which could have a baseband speed on a 40MHz channel as high as 200 M bits/sec, but requires either a very wide channel or even more antennas to get the really fast speeds it is famous for.

  • by Ryan Burkholder,Solvedanswer

    Ryan Burkholder Ryan Burkholder Sep 19, 2016 4:54 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (134 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2016 4:54 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Took the screen off and looked under the clutch cover. All 3 antenna wires were severed in the same spot. Looking at where the strain points are and based off the many other mid-2012 unibody's having the same problem, it appears to be a design defect.

     

    I bought 2 new antennae with wires, used one to replace my defective one and all is good. The other I'll keep for when the antenna wires will undoubtedly sever again.

     

    The unfortunate bit of the whole thing was upgrading to El Cap as part of the troubleshooting. Got sick of waking to black screens so reverted back to Yosemite.

    Screen Shot 2016-09-19 at 7.49.06 PM.png