WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

Problems still in full effect when I use the machine in clamshell state, connected to an external monitor and with Bluetooth peripherals. I haven't even bothered using my home office in weeks due to the annoyance and frustration. Guess it was too good to be true that it might be working now.

On Twitter:

#mbawififail

Lion 10.7.2 addresses some of the wifi issues, as explained at http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20120069-263/os-x-10.7.2-what-it-fixed-and- what-it-didnt/?tag=mncol;3n

After the upgrade my connectivity has been a lot better! Initially the upgrade caused the auto-reconnect to fail, but this I managed to fix by following recommondations 2 and 3 from this article http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20095988-263/fix-wi-fi-autoconnect-problems -in-lion/?tag=mncol;txt

Now it works most of the time, with accasionally much packet loss and reconnections. Practically speaking, web browsing works well enough, but a large download will be ever so slow and when watching something on youtube playback will halt every 5 minutes or so and then I have to reload the page.

10.7.2 has given me hope, Apple does seem to be working on these things. I'll continue trying out what others post here. Thanks for the help so far!

The problem at my house on a single network has definitely improved. I get faster and more consistent reconnects on wake. I also am getting better average speeds. I do need to travel a bit more with the laptop sleeping, waking and switching networks for a complete opinion. The problem certainly is not longer unbearable for me. Long overdue and the Lion/MBA should have never been released with this pretty major flaw, however, begrudgingly, thanks Appple.

Hi there,

here the same. Macbook Air 3,2 Nov 2011, Lion 10.7.2 tried all the workaround read on the net and forum, but I'm still having drop issue. Problem is that at home I can deal with router settings and try to get things working, but at Office isn't possible. I don't think it is a router issue, but a driver problem. We all need URGENTLY a fix for that.

Same problem here. No wifi reconnect after sleep unless Bluetooth is turned off. Latest Macbook Air with Lion preinstalled and all the latest updates (Lion 10.7.2). Had the problem from the beginning and none of the software updates fixed it.

I tried it many different wifi environments incliding an Apple Store, its all the same, so I can exclude any router issues.

The only bluetooth device I use is an Apple Magic Mouse, the funny thing is that the wifi actully reconnects when the mouse is turned on (albeit it takes a little longer then with Bluetooth completely off), but when I turn off the mouse the Air fails to connect to wifi after sleep.

Went to an Apple store and they did some things like clear the PRAM and delete plist files, which fixed the problem temporarely, but it came back I suppose as soon as I reconnected the Magic Mouse.

The irony, in bootcamp the wifi reconnects like a charm.

eponym wrote:

"...The irony, in bootcamp the wifi reconnects like a charm."

This is pretty clearly a problem with Lion. I wonder if anyone has gone back to 10.6.x. If I had unlimited time to labor unpaid doing that kind of tech work, perhaps I'd try it, but since I bought my new Air to _facilitate_, and not stall, my workflow, that sort of job is really out of the question. I should add that I've already spent countless hours on this problem - tracking down its nature, researching it, documenting it, trying various fixes (none of which have worked long-term), posting here and elsewhere, etc., so I'm already resentful about spending any more time with it.

I find my worse scenario with the machine I have is when it's in clamshell mode, plugged in via HDMI to my external monitor and using Apple's wireless keyboard and trackpad via Bluetooth. It usually is rendered unusuable in this state for anything requiring network connectivity.

Pretty outrageous.

I encourage anyone who posts on this thread to also vociferously Tweet using the hashtag:

#mbawififail

That's MacBook Air Wifi FAIL.

It's still my hope that some high-profile tech bloggers or other sites (e.g., MacRumors; ArsTechnica) will pick up this story.

same problem here. before 10.7.2 I install driver of 10.6.4 and all go very well

after update 10.7.2 problem of slow network and of no wifi after sleep are common here.

very very strange for a mac that after 3 month a so big problem is not solved... bad apple support.

Despite some improvement with 10.7.2 at a single location my foray into other WiFi networks today was not good. Complete failure to rejoin the new network I had just joined after waking from sleep. It would allow me to join manually. Come on Apple this is ridiculous.

Apple never replies on these forums. In fact, rarely do they ever read these forums. They are probably aware of this problem, but we'll have to wait until they get around to releasing a fix.

The only way to get Apple to move faster is to move the spot light on them. If anyone knows someone in the news media?

Unles that happes we wait.

By the way, if it does reach the media. you can expect this thread to be deleted. Standard behavior for Apple. I love Apple products but HATE the company's PR.

Hi, I HAVE HAD the Same problems (all my devises could connect to all the wifi-spots I tried accept my new 11" MBA 2011; the MBA could connect to the Router, but not to the Internet -> ISP failed)

My solution is strange but it workt for me:

-create a new admin user

-singin with that new user

-open system preferences -> Network then click on the "wifi" confection on the left side

-delete it by pressing the "-" button (make sure the lock isn't active)

-create a new "wifi" connection by clicking on the "+" button

-click on apply

Now you can switch to your old account and you should get instant access to the Internet.

(May it is not nesessary to craete a new account for deleting and recreating the "wifi" connection, but as far as I know MacOS X Lion has several bugs which refer to account management for example the read/write right for your data if you upgrade. So as this walk around with the creation of a new admin user worked well for 3 of my problems I suggest that it's necessary.

I'm a programmer and I'm staying in contact with some Apple tecnical support personal, so please give me a feedback if this recreation of a wifi connection helped you solving your problems.

Please take the time of no more than a minute to reply. A short response like "WORKED" or "DID NOT WORK" would be enough and could help figuring out how many of us had the problem and how many got it resolved.

I decided to go ahead and write about these issues. I'm really amazed by how many people are affected by this (myself included). Feel free to chime in or spread the word. It would be great if Apple would be kind enough to address this whole deal outside of the capacity of support articles that do not help and generic descriptions found in software updates, which also have not helped the majority of us thus far.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/dear-apple-please-fix-our-macbook-wifi-issues-love -macbook-users/61448

-Stephen

Stephen Cox wrote:

Apple never replies on these forums. In fact, rarely do they ever read these forums. They are probably aware of this problem, but we'll have to wait until they get around to releasing a fix.

The only way to get Apple to move faster is to move the spot light on them. If anyone knows someone in the news media?

Unles that happes we wait.

By the way, if it does reach the media. you can expect this thread to be deleted. Standard behavior for Apple. I love Apple products but HATE the company's PR.

I have been urging people to Tweet about this problem using the hashtag #mbawififail - that's MacBook Air Wifi FAIL. Include the hashtag #apple when you do.

Someone on this thread said he was a writer with CNET, but I don't know what became of that.

StephenChapman wrote:

I decided to go ahead and write about these issues. I'm really amazed by how many people are affected by this (myself included). Feel free to chime in or spread the word. It would be great if Apple would be kind enough to address this whole deal outside of the capacity of support articles that do not help and generic descriptions found in software updates, which also have not helped the majority of us thus far.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/dear-apple-please-fix-our-macbook-wifi-issues-love -macbook-users/61448

-Stephen

Aha, it's ZDnet, and it's Stephen Chapman. Thanks for covering this.

FranzFromFrankfurt wrote:

[...]

I'm a programmer and I'm staying in contact with some Apple tecnical support personal, so please give me a feedback if this recreation of a wifi connection helped you solving your problems.

Please take the time of no more than a minute to reply. A short response like "WORKED" or "DID NOT WORK" would be enough and could help figuring out how many of us had the problem and how many got it resolved.

Franz,

Numerous posters on this thread are, likewise, programmers, sysadmins, tech professionals, longtime computer users, etc. I'm sorry to report that your solution has been tried by us, in some cases numerous times, and does not work in a long-term capacity.

#mbawififail

"Apple never replies on these forums. In fact, rarely do they ever read these forums. They are probably aware of this problem, but we'll have to wait until they get around to releasing a fix."

Very well may be the case now, but several years ago I was surprised and impressed when an Apple engineer contacted me about an issue I had reported only on one of these discussion forums. He requested follow up detailed information. He seemed to be working on the issue and used the boards to identify users who were experiencing the problem he was working to resolve.

I haven't seen anyone report Apple engineers reaching out to them in this wifi issue in the Air, though.