Wireless N and County Code mess with SL

It took me a while to find out what was causing my Wireless N connection problems using 10.5.8 Leopard, and now with Snow Leopard. It seems that somehow the Airport Card Country code (and therefore the supported channels and frequencies) changes with the associated MAC Address (or some other serial number that Apple can tell where the AP should be from) of the Connected Access Point. I know this because when my Airport is disconnected it shows me no Coutry Code. When I connect in my wi-fi college it shows me US country code, and at home (using a WRT610N), a different one that's unable to use wireless N frequencies. Am I the only one having this problem? I don't want to use Wireless G, and I have no idea how to fix this!

Here's what appears in my 17" mid-2009 MBP info:

PS: My WRT-610N is set to work with .N connections only, both 2.4 and 5GHz. So my MBP won't connect at home because the Country Code it sets doesn't support .N.

@ Home (WRT610N)

Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.0 (600.22)
configd plug-in: 6.0 (600.27)
System Profiler: 6.0 (600.9)
Network Preference: 6.0 (600.22)
AirPort Utility: 5.4.2 (542.23)
IO80211 Family: 3.0 (300.20)
Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x8D)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.91.19)
Locale: FCC
Country Code: ZW
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Wake On Wireless: Supported
Status: Not Associated

@ Airport without any wi-fi connection

Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.0 (600.22)
configd plug-in: 6.0 (600.27)
System Profiler: 6.0 (600.9)
Network Preference: 6.0 (600.22)
AirPort Utility: 5.4.2 (542.23)
IO80211 Family: 3.0 (300.20)
Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x8D)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.91.19)
Locale: FCC
Country Code: X0
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
Wake On Wireless: Supported
Status: Off

@ College

Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.0 (600.22)
configd plug-in: 6.0 (600.27)
System Profiler: 6.0 (600.9)
Network Preference: 6.0 (600.22)
AirPort Utility: 5.4.2 (542.23)
IO80211 Family: 3.0 (300.20)
Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x8D)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.91.19)
Locale: FCC
Country Code: US
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
Wake On Wireless: Supported
Status: Connected
Current Network Information:
USPnet:
PHY Mode: 802.11g
BSSID: 0:5:9e:8c:b4:ed
Channel: 6
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: None
Signal / Noise: -72 dBm / -89 dBm

Message was edited by: andre.mengatti

17" 2.88 Ghz MBP 5.2 500GB 5.4K Hitachi, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Aug 31, 2009 10:59 AM

58 replies

Feb 10, 2010 4:50 PM in response to putnik

I agree it's a 10.6 bug. Not a problem with my phone, or the other devices that connect to my router.

When my macbook pro is set to location "Automatic" at boot, my country code is "AU".

I also travel for work, so have set up a "Home" location with my wifi details. When using this location, my country code is ALWAYS "US" - unless I boot in location "Automatic" and change it when I get to the UI.

Whether the device acts on the first recieved beacon signal or not, IT IS WRONG, and is preventing me accessing my own network.

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,821 points

Feb 10, 2010 11:24 PM in response to TheGriffyn

The country code is set by the first received 802.11 beacon packet, not by your location setting.

ctmurray

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2010 6:32 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

So my MacBook says country code XO, which has been stated here is the code you get when it is waiting for a real code. Now I only have a g level router - is this the reason? Do only n routers give out country codes?

When I was having some network issues I downloaded a visual trace program that shows you every hop between you and some destination. So you can see all the hops to google for example, along with the latency and location of the hop. This software was seeing my router as being in Turkey (from its IP address). So it seems my Belkin router has an IP address that this software thought was reserved for Turkey. Is this an issue?

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,821 points

Feb 11, 2010 7:49 PM in response to ctmurray

The 802.11 country code is unrelated to IP addresses.

It's actually transmitted in the beacon packet of various routers.

If yours is the only router around and does not support 802.11d regulatory domains, it's conceivable the driver could default to a country code of X0 rather than defaulting to US or some other domain.

In this particular case that shouldn't make a difference in terms of actual functionality.

Is your router running the latest firmware available from its manufacturer?

ctmurray

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2010 7:56 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

William Kucharski wrote:
The 802.11 country code is unrelated to IP addresses.

It's actually transmitted in the beacon packet of various routers.

If yours is the only router around and does not support 802.11d regulatory domains, it's conceivable the driver could default to a country code of X0 rather than defaulting to US or some other domain.

In this particular case that shouldn't make a difference in terms of actual functionality.

Is your router running the latest firmware available from its manufacturer?

Thanks for that explanation. I am not sure the router does the 802.11d thing. I probably do not have the latest version of the router software but I am truly scared of changing anything. All my computers are working well. I am following several threads where upgrading to Snow Leopard is related to significant problems with WiFi (dropping connections, slow speeds). Most people have not solved the problem by getting the latest wireless firmware and a few have caused the problem by a firmware upgrade. I am at 10.6.2 now and am counting my blessings. You are correct that I don't seem to have issues with the X0 country designation. Again thanks for the explanation.

Feb 20, 2010 6:34 PM in response to andre.mengatti

André, I'm also in SP and was having the same problem you were until I used the script on this page. Thanks for posting about it or I would still be pulling my hair out! Hopefully Apple is listening to this and will change their 802.11d interpretation back to what it was in Leopard, instead of making us go nuts.

mgbsheep

Level 1

0 points

Apr 14, 2010 10:34 AM in response to David Portela

I've also had this problem. Frustrating to have to move my channel to one which is acceptable to the US when I'm in the UK. Seems to be that my airport frequently thinks its in the US.
Could be that other peoples routers are set incorrectly.... could be a bug. Either way it didn't happen with my old G4 on an older version of OSX.. so I say it's a bug....

Jun 11, 2010 1:18 PM in response to andre.mengatti

I also have this problem. I found that when my router was in N-Only mode, I could not connect! But in G or mixed mode, it was fine.

Then, I realized that while in N-Mode, it does connect some times. I'm located in Canada, and router is on Channel 1. My console reports my computer often using the ZW country code.

The theory that there is a router from Zimbabwa in my vicinity is ludicrous. This is certainly a bug. bottom line is, the airport is not choosing the right country code for some reason. And I can guarantee it's not because there is a router from ZW close by.

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,821 points

Jun 11, 2010 11:57 PM in response to danimaltron

Please update your settings to reflect the version of Mac OS X you're using - I assume it's not 10.5.6.

rhand

Level 1

9 points

Jul 26, 2010 8:40 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

Every now and then it takes me 20 minutes or so to get a proper wireless connection. The connection keeps on getting made and then dies again. In the logs I saw the country code changing from US to X2, to GB and X2 and then NA before I got connected properly. I did disconnect Airport several times mind you. This is very frustrating, especially if there seems to be no solution. Here is a part of my logs: http://pastebin.com/UrwUkr7c .

FYI I have a about 10 wifi networks that are reachable from my location. My Fonera wifi has been purchased from the ISP

rhand

Level 1

9 points

Jul 27, 2010 11:35 AM in response to rhand

Just had the same issue again. Endless disconnecting and connecting. Going from X2, GB US to finally getting a stable connection using country NA (Not Available):
7/27/10 10:25:19 PM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'NA'. Really starting to bug me.
FYI: I use WPA on a Fonera wireless box(Fon Router). Wireless Router has a static ip and I use channel 6 (B/G). Wireless router has DHCP enabled and has a private wpa and public open wireless connection.

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,821 points

Jul 27, 2010 1:50 PM in response to rhand

I know this doesn't help, but "NA" is not "Not Available" but rather is Namibia.

You can see the full list of country codes here:

http://www.iso.org/iso/englishcountry_names_and_codeelements

rhand

Level 1

9 points

Jul 28, 2010 1:23 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

@ William Thanks. Did not know that. And yes, this does not help me to solve my problems. Just got kicked out again and it took me another 20 minutes to get connected again. God knows how long it will last. I added the latest logs here: http://pastebin.com/d9VmU1Bp
More different errors besides the country code issue are indicated now.

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Wireless N and County Code mess with SL