Q: MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity

I just purchased a fully loaded 17 inch mac book pro and I cannot get a steady signal. I'm running a D-Link DGL4300 router. Its a G router and I cannot get a connection over 24mbps and the 24 that I do get only lasts for a few seconds and then drops to 14, then 8 then 5.5. I purchased my apple care protection plan and I will be calling shortly, but from what I hear in these threads, it won't do any good.. This kind of issue is not acceptable in times when wireless networks are everywhere. My old Toshiba picks up my wireless at 108 because of the super g option, which makes my nice looking macbook pro seem useless. I'm a web developer that needs solid consistent access to the web at home or on the road and that means having a good wireless card. I would have expected better after having paid $4000 for this nice looking, yet useless piece of hardware.

If anyone finds a solution let me know.

Thanks,

Badsky2k,
I saw your pre-edit post in which you stated the only apparent action that will bring our long suffering to an end...there are certain key words that prompt a review by the "host" and you said them, which immediately brings out "big brother" with his/her censorship delete key to remove any and all words/comments that they don't want others to see.

My 1st gen MBP is at the Apple Store to replace the logic board (2nd time), fan (2nd time), heat syncs and Airport card. I'm on the road (and writing this on a Dell) but wife called to say that my MBP arrived from the AppleCare folks. I get home on Thursday and I'll find out if any or all of this has solved my connectivity problem. I've been very disappointed to read the posts that 10.5.3 did not solve them (which was much rumored as being the case).

So, if it's only the MBP (and no other Apple model) and 10.5.3 is not the fix, what is the solution? This issue is now in the 6th or 7th month!!! I'm sure that someone will do as you suggested (can't say it because it will be censored).

The Austin American Statesman newspaper (Austin, TX home to an Apple Customer Care Call Center) has an interesting article about this issue.

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/digitalsavant/ent ries/2008/06/03/macbookprouse.html#comments

After being gone for a month, we returned to find the updated OS. Installed it on my wifes computer but still no joy. The MBP works at some locations but not others. Get this, I can Skype between my powerbook and the MBP but the internet connection is still disfunctional - I can get a google list but clicking on a link gets nothing and typing an address into the address bar - also nothing. I tried all of the workarounds suggested in this forum (not including changing servers as the location with the problem is not my server but I do have password priviledge and that server has a recent firmware update. I called Apple Support - again. Gave the tech guy my case number. He immediately transferred me to a "wireless specialist" a smooth talking and calm voiced individual who told me in no uncertain terms that if the MBP worked in one wireless location, then that proved it worked and any connectivity issue was not Apple's problem. He suggested I go to an Apple store but told me that if the MBP worked on the wireless in the store, then again Apple will say the MBP is fine and and that Apple has no responsibility. I mentioned the numerous people who have written on this and other forums, but his response was that each user configured their MBPs differently and so Apple was not responsible. So I asked if there was anything Apple could do to help solve the problem. He said they had already done everything they could do. His attitude irked me more than the disfunctional MBP. His crappy attitude, and implicit denial of an overriding problem with wifi connection and MBPs leaves me cold. Unless Apple changes its approach to problem solving and customer relations, I cannot in any good conscience recommend their products. This from a Mac User since 1987. Will I receive the same crappy attitude if I have trouble with my iPod? Do I dare consider buying an iPhone? I think I will look closely at any alternatives first. What happened to "Macs. They just work."?

Just wanted to add my experience to this thread as well. I just got the absolute top-model of MBP - 17", 4gig RAM, 7200 HD and so on - and what do I get? Wifi connections dropping all the time on a £2000 computer. It is obvious from this thread that I am not the only person with this problem, and it is unacceptable that no solution has been found after 6 months of customers having this problem. Could we please get some statement from Apple about this issue?

I can only say that for the past week of having had this new laptop, I have had more problems with it than I have had for fours years with my old G4 PB.

It appears that the problems most frequently occur when:

1. Transferring files via wifi over a local network, e.g. Airport connected HDs.
2. Waking the computer from sleep.

Sometimes a restart or on/off switching of the network will help, but not always. I have tried all suggested solutions, including formatting my HD and installing a completely fresh copy of Leopard, but to no avail. Also, I have noticed that sometimes these wifi problems will actually cause the computer to do a hard lock, with me having to reset the computer (I can't ever remember doing that on my old G4) in order to get out of it.

Please Apple - give us a solution to this one.

Just bought a MPB 2 weeks ago and I have the same problem with my wireless connectivity cutting out. I've noticed that as long as my system doesn't idle or go into sleep mode, the wireless connection seems alright. But if I walk away from my computer for 10 minutes or more- I generally have to re-start my computer. Reading this forum makes me think that I'm just going to have to get use to it in the meanwhile until a solution is provided. Major pain in the ...

Has anybody else noticed this when having these network problems?

When I can't get a proper signal and the internet is really slow, despite being connected to my network (I have a few lines in the airport menu bar), when I try to open up Airport Utility I can't see my base station at all - pressing rescan isn't helping either. Only once my connection gets back to normal (I guess Voodoo is involved for that to happen!) can I see my base station again. During this period the base station is visible to all other (non MBP) computers on the network, so it is specific to the MBP rather than the Airport Extreme.

This thing must be a driver issue - fix it Apple!

And I have noticed that many people here say they have a "fully loaded" MBP, so I am wondering whether this is specific to some particular modification of the MBP?!

DITT-OH. Just bought my first Mac (MBP) two days ago and the wifi drops quite frequently, whether or not it is plugged in. Never had this problem on my PC. At first I thought I had configured the MBP incorrectly, but after trolling the web it is clear that Apple is the problem. It seems like every time the machine picks up or drops a neighboring wifi signal I lose my connection?? Since this is my first Mac I still have lots 'o learning to keep me occupied for a while, but I could see this problem becoming extremely frustrating down the road. After dumping tons of dough on a 'puter that I expected to out-perform my previous clunkers this is a big disappointment. Better post this quick before I lose connection...

I found the following info over on MacFixit:

*+"Mac OS X 10.5.3: Fix for sofor Mail.app Hotmail access; moreme network dropouts -- turn off IPv6; alternative+*

+Fix for some network dropouts -- turn off IPv6. Some users have reported that a previously noted fix -- turning off IPv6 -- results in an elimination of network dropouts occurring after the update to Mac OS X 10.5.3.+

+In order to change this setting, open System Preferences then the Network pane and click on your currently used interface (Ethernet, AirPort, etc.). Click on the TCP/IP settings for the interface -- at the bottom if you see a button which says 'Configure IPv6...' click that and set it to "Off." Press the Apply Now button. "+

I found the following info over on MacFixit:

*+"Mac OS X 10.5.3: Fix for sofor Mail.app Hotmail access; moreme network dropouts -- turn off IPv6; alternative+*

+Fix for some network dropouts -- turn off IPv6. Some users have reported that a previously noted fix -- turning off IPv6 -- results in an elimination of network dropouts occurring after the update to Mac OS X 10.5.3.+

+In order to change this setting, open System Preferences then the Network pane and click on your currently used interface (Ethernet, AirPort, etc.). Click on the TCP/IP settings for the interface -- at the bottom if you see a button which says 'Configure IPv6...' click that and set it to "Off." Press the Apply Now button. "+

My MBP is 18 months old and has zero networking problems. My partners brand new MBP has all the symptoms of dropped wireless network connectivity as all the above posters have mentioned. I followed the advice on the link "http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4055609", which resolved the problem with 10.5.2. Basically, I had to revert to the older wireless drivers, not the new drivers (called io80211 extensions in mac land). After the manual update, everything was fine.

Fast forward to Leopard update 10.5.3, and my partners network is screwed again. I had to manually revert back to the original extension. <Edited by Moderator>

Contrast this with my 18 month old MBP, which has none of these problems. The new laptop has the Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0(4.170.46.7) chip, while the older laptop has wireless card firmware version 1.3.

FWIW, 10.5.3 fixed nothing in terms of my airport connections. Still unstable. What a disappointment.

*_Well the "big show" is over and we poor suckers that bought into the hype of the MBP/Leopard are still stuck without a solution to our "issue". Oh yes... tantalize us with another version of this OS... Snow Leopard... or is it another "snow job"? Come on Apple, fix the current DEFECT in your current OS*!_

Assuming that's the solution to this problem how do I change my router settings?

Just got my NEW $3100.00 MacBook Pro 17" yesterday 6-10-08. I was going nuts with this wireless problem all day yesterday. Stumbled upon this discussion while googling for help.

I tried ALL the fixes listed in this LONG thread. STILL NO HAPPINESS.

I guess I will be sending this LEMON back for a refund, I'm not going to WAIT AROUND FOR APPLE, when you can see that _FOR MONTHS NOW_ Apple has NOT come up with a REAL answer to SOLVE THIS PROBLEM (BUG).

VERY, VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED CUSTOMER.