Wifi and HIGH SIERRA

So many things it could be.

RichardFoo User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Feb 15, 2019 4:24 PM in response to TimsTech

I've been debugging a problem with my VPN client constantly reconnecting, along with poor WiFi performance. After much digging, I came across an excellent article - although written for Yosemite and iOS8, it still seems to be relevant to Mojave, especially with a newer WiFi chip in the 2018 MacBook Pro. https://medium.com/@mariociabarra/wifriedx-in-depth-look-at-yosemite-wifi-and-awdl-airdrop-41a93eb22e48

The author wrote a program that essentially just issues a command and keeps it enforced. You can try it manually in a terminal window: sudo ifconfig awdl0 down

To reverse the command, type: sudo ifconfig awdl0 up

He gives a great technical explanation, so I won't repeat it here. The command disables a virtual network interface that's used for ad-hoc WiFi by features like Airdrop; I personally won't miss them. So far, I've gone from losing my connection 20 times an hour to being stable for 3+ hours.

How far are you from your WiFi modem? Any problems I had with MBP/10.13 wifi were the fault of the router.

• First, unplug power from your router for 10 seconds and plug it back in. This will reset its IP address with your ISP.
• You may need to go to your router, plug into it using an Ethernet cable, and change its settings. You'll need the manual for your router for this. Try a different channel; the one you're on may be crowded.
• If the problem goes away when you're closer to the router, buy a WiFi extender and plug it in half way between where you want to work and the modem.