Q: 27" imac wifi problems (intermittant)

Massive wifi-problems here as well. Running a late 2009 imac 27". Getting random disconnects like once every 15-30 minutes, been like this for the last year or so with diffrent os x versions. When i boot-camp win7 it works like a charm and never DCs. That pretty much rules out a router or computer hardware problem. Feel free to fix this apple as I will probably spend my next $2000 on another computer rather than an imac next time otherwise.

I blamed OS X too, until I realised I'd been a cheapskate with my router, I should have stuck with my airport express. Luckily for me, all I had to do to get a decent connection was to go through a very convoluted process to upgrade the firmware on my router.

Another alternative is to drop your level of security as outlined in other posts, that worked for me in the first instance and seems to work for most people.

Just think if you were running a late 2009 PC the whole system would probably be obselete by now. No-one's forcing you to be brand loyal, but when you weigh up the alternatives, Apple ain't that bad.

Well, I had forgotten about this issue because I was using an ethernet connection and, of course, having no issues.

I disconnected it about a week or more ago and - hallelujah - I forgot about it - because I'm having no problems!!!!

One other thing I changed, which may or may not have any bearing on the problem I was having - I dumped Shaw Broadband 50 about a week ago! It's the same router but just on High Speed now, instead of Broadband. I wonder if that had anything to do with things.

I sure hope that by saying something I don't start getting problems now - hahahahaha.

So far, so good - I hope things stay ok.

Judie

Cali Pharaoh's method worked for me. I changed the channel my wifi router was transmitting on to Channel 10 from Channel 1 & then I changed the mode from AES > TKIP. Wasn't hoping for much but by golly it works. I've been testing it for 3-4 days now. No wifi drop outs while using my iMac & also when waking up from sleep (the iMac, not me).

Hope this helps.

FYI, I'm using mid-2011 27" iMac running 10.7.5 Lion.

Update...

We switched from Shaw to Telus about a month ago. I have not had any wifi problems with the new Telus modem so either it was the Broadband 50 setup or Apple must have fixed things. I'll never know, I guess.........

Last week I bought a Fritz 7320 Home Server and that took care of my problems. But I am not letting Apple off the hook here, our Windows laptops and our other devices never had a problem with the older router.

I fixed this problem by changing the setting of the wireless router, my router is tp-link, go to the setting page, click wireless setting, changing AUTO to 20MHz

I struggled with this problem for months and then a accidentally wiped the settings in my AirPort Extreme - after doing a reset on the extreme and redoing the set up (using the airport utility in ML) the problem cleared up totally. Noticed that the new utility set my channel to "automatic " so I left it at that. (Leatned afterwards that Time Warner no longer provided Dns Server addresses but implemented some scheme where they were automatically assigned to the router... So I also entered 8.8.8.8 in the space where the DNS Server goes (it's Googles DNS Server)...and problem has not recurred at all.

I have had these problems for the last year or so. Was getting 40mbs up and down on an iPad and iPhone on the same network in the same location as my 27" iMac. iMac rarely went above 3mbs. Performed a "Restore default settings … " my Airport Express yesterday and set up in the standard way (using 802.11n only 5ghz, Channel Automatic) and now the iMac is getting the same fast speeds as the other devices.

Any fixes for this yet..i been having the same problems.  My router is upstairs, my Imac in the basment, so I was going to try a wireless adapter first. If that does not work, I am going to have to hard wire it.  I am losing so much connection speed with this problem.  My Ipad is getting better connection speeds at this point.

Any ideas..i tried a couple posted solutions none have worked thus far.

And I was so happy to get my iMac..now this!!!!!

Have you checked for channel interference?  There are a number of free utilities you can use to see if you're on a good channel or if you're getting a lot of interference.  If you set up  automatically, Apple puts you on Channel 11... you might want to change this...

I'll check..but all my other devices are working great Windows Desktop (50 mbps) Laptop (50 mbps) iPad (35 mbps) iMac (20-23 mbps)

1. With my iMac being in the basement I will try a USB Wireless Adapter next or extender.

2. If that dont work Ethernet cable

Sometimes my iMac dont recognized USB devices at first start up.

But thanks for the tip.

You don't need any utilities to see if nearby connections are providing interference, just go to "about this mac" in the mac menu (top left of screen), click on "more info" and then click on "airport".

If you set up automatically Apple certainly does not necessarily put you on Channel 11 (which would defy the "auto" monicker really, wouldn't it ?).  It will scan the network and attempt to place you on the channel with least interference automatically.  If you are using a 5ghz connection rather than a 2.4ghz connection, the channel number selected is likely to be very high (Channel 149 seems reasonably common). 

Certainly, manually selecting a channel and sticking to it CAN help - slightly - but I have tried every single suggestion posited here since the start of the thread (other than buying a new router), and there has been no cure for my connection woes I'm afraid.  Other people seem to have.  There's no guarantee there will be a solution for you - you just need to try the various things which seem to have worked for some people.

I've been struggling with this issue months, and none of the suggestions on the web has worked for me. It's obvious that there's an issue with 10.7.5 Lion, but our friends at Apple don't seem to be inclined to do anything about this ridiculous problem.

I finally gave up -- I went out and spent $50 on a WiFi range extender, turned off the WiFi on my iMac and made a wired connection between the extender and the iMac. Not terribly elegant, but it works like a charm.

I just got the latest 27" IMAC and have been having intermittent outages. I will lose connection to the server temporarily, then it will come back on. I use Comcast and I have Netgear router and I have gone in and made several changes; nothing has worked.

At this point, I don't know if it is an issue with Comcast or Apple.