Level 1

14 points

WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

I am about two weeks in to my new Macbook Air and love it except for the wifi. I have had five or six other Mac laptops in the past five years including the original air. I can confirm that there are some wifi issues with the Macbook Air. Based on the messages posted here and my experience here is where I am. I think if it is a "N" network it seems to work fine. I have never had an issue with my Airport Extreme at my house or my Dad's Linksys at his house which is also an N. This also I think resolves the "is it an ISP" issue, since they are distinctly different ISP's and these both work perfectly.

My problems are on non-N's it seems. I travel a lot so I hit a lot of guest networks which are almost always "g". These networks I can generally find and attach to them but not get a consistent internet connection. With these networks I have found that turning the airport on/off and refreshing the IP address does not work. Again I can connect to the browser, in most cases get what appears to be a valid IP but not gain any internet access. I have found that a power down and reboot AFTER attaching to the network (but not getting the internet connection) will then give me a steady and consistent connection.

I need to do some more testing and I guess traveling to pin down some of these things but I wanted to share what I have found thus far, but I definitely think there is a problem with the wifi on the new MacBook Air's.

Thanks,

Macbook Pro and iMac 27" and iPad and iPhone and MacBook Air 2010, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Nov 28, 2010 6:10 AM

948 replies

tipitapp

Level 1

0 points

Jul 13, 2013 6:08 AM in response to peverbian

Hi Guys!

I just little bit speak english, I hope, you will understand me. I have bought a MBA 2012 MID the last black friday. My issues was absolutly same like Peverbian wife's MBA. All the other OLD thing (PCs, phones etc are working fine in the house, but the new really expensive laptop can not working of course....) I took my MBA back to the Apple Store, they exchanged two parts in this ..... and the problem is stayed with me. (it worked fine in the store, but at my house it does not working ) I was so mad and sad beacuse I dont have a thime for this ( go back again, etc), so I bought the airport express $99 and now it is working. I dont think so it is fair from the apple, because they has to know about the issue, all the forums are full with that and WOW!!!... the newest MBA has the same issue! (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5100655?start=0&tstart=0)

So, now it is working in my house, but If I go somewhere, I have to pray, because it is not working everywhere.... and I dont want to bring my airport express with myself everywhere, it is nonsense!!!!

I was thinking, I change my MBA for the new MBP. I checked the recycling program. I have bought that half year ago $1700, and now in the the recycling program, the can send me $831 gift card about that Macbook..... Khmm....

So I think, the only solution YET!!! is maybe a new router (which is able to work on 5Ghrz), or an Airport Extreme... :(((((

I hope i could help for Somebody!

Aug 21, 2013 12:22 AM in response to gcrump

Another frustrated MBA user.. the Wifi dropping constantly is driving me to drink..

I visited the apple page that suggests there is a fix, <<http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1672>> and the apple webpage 'could not be found'.. what's going on here? Like all other frustrated customers, we paid good money for what we hoped would be a top class experience..

des325

Level 1

9 points

Oct 2, 2013 4:20 PM in response to gcrump

My WiFi dropping is back again. Not as bad, but still doing it. It has been a while since Apple has done anything to acknowledge their customers, so I have no illusion that they will resolve this problem (as it is rare according to their patch, which did not resolve all the problems). Now the camera will not work on Skype, Google +, etc. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5216). Their solution to that is for me to spend more money on an external camera until they resolve their problem - like they have any intention of doing that.

I am just waiting for the term "class action" to start up, and then maybe, just maybe....okay, I can dream.

myriapod

Level 2

195 points

Oct 3, 2013 3:44 AM in response to des325

you don't need to buy an external camera, if you cannot wait for a patch you'd follow this trick to rollback your iSight 32bit compatibility

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5311252?answerId=22986701022#22986701022

About WIFI dropping, i never ever experienced it during my travels in Europe and Asia with differents APs.

My MBA works well before and after WIFI patch. All APs joined successfully in my case were WPA2 encrypted on G/N (channels 1-11).

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,452 points

Nov 16, 2011 7:20 AM in response to feranick

feranick wrote:

Does anybody know (or have tried) if the 10.7.3 update released yesterday to developers fixed this issue?

That isn't something that can be discussed per the Terms of Use on these forums. Even if it can the developers and other testers that were able to download it cannot discuss per the Confidentiality Agreement they all signed. The Terms of Use we all agreed to say:

Submissions

Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about nontechnical topics, including:
1. Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.
2. Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

eponym

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2011 3:39 PM in response to gcrump

For the testers. Here is a test case that fails every time for me.

Turn on Bluetooth
Turn on the Magic Mouse and connect it to the laptop.
Turn off the Magic Mouse using the switch at the bottom of the mouse

The wifi may still reconnect after sleep past step 2, but once I complete step 3 it fails every time.

I went to 2 different Apple stores in Chicago and had no problem reproducing the issue inside the store with a genius looking over my shoulder by using the “Apple Store” wifi signal.

Left my MBA at the genius bar for 2 weeks where they replaced the airport card and did all possible checks without being able to fix it. They opened a case with engineering and are waiting for their resolution.

Dec 20, 2011 12:40 AM in response to gcrump

just wanted to give an update on my case.

MBA, July 2011 with Lion pre-installed.

I live in Australia, and have been suffering from random wifi disconnects since day 1. My two other computers (a Dell Latitute and a Dell Inspiron), running Windows Xp have no problem.

I have called Apple Care twice, they went through some basic network reset but did not improve things.
I went to the Apple Store and they replaced the airport card, no improvement. Both the Apple Care & Store guys said they are aware that a lot more people are struggling with WiFi.
Headed to Europe for Christmas. Stayed one day in an Abu Dhabi hotel, then in Belgium and now in Italy. Thus, I have been on 3 different networks and I did not experience wifi disconnects, not once.

I don't know whether this is of any help. If it is because of my router/interference/something else at home, then why my other computers work fine? But still, it seems to suggests that there is some conflict between the MBA hardware/software and some router/settings.

If I can be of any more help, gathering info etc let me know. But please also explain how to do so. I am no tech guru.

Mario

Jan 3, 2012 1:11 AM in response to Montelimar

hi Montelimar,

I don't think the problem is with the wifi chip. I live in Sydney like you and have been having wifi drops all the time (while 2 other Dell PCs have no issue on the same network). I went to the Apple Store and they replaced the chip: nothing changed. I have now spent 1 month Europe (vacation), using 2 different networks, and I haven't had a single drop with the MBA.

To me, but I am not tech guru (or Apple genius...) this indicates that

it's not just a hardware issue, or it would not work anywhere
it's not just a software issue, or it would not work for anyone with Lion
it's not just a router issue, or it would not work with any computer (while in Sydney my Windows PC are fine)

it sounds like the MBA software/hardware struggles in a particular setting. but yet, it could be because of a particular router, network intereferences, something else.

Now, we have a number of rather well documented case. If Apple has not found the source of the problem yet (and maybe they have) why don't they send their techs to our places so they can run a nice set of network diagnostics and figure it out? this way they can reproduce the problem, test different hardware/software settings, etc.

Mario

Feb 24, 2012 8:06 AM in response to gcrump

Please try following - I have found this advise on macrumors.com, written by mobius1ski:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1210649

It may be a problem with the connection information stored in your network profile.

Go to System Preferences > Network.
Click the Wi-Fi connection.
Click the Advanced... button on the bottom right.
Click the Wi-Fi tab.
Under Preferred Networks, select your wireless network.
Click the - (delete) button.
Turn off your Wi-Fi connection.
Turn it back on.
Select and login to your wireless network. This will re-save your connection under Preferred Networks.
Close your laptop and reopen it to test whether it worked.

Apr 6, 2012 2:40 PM in response to gcrump

My issue was that after pairing the magic mouse to the macbook air, I wasn't able to auto connect to my prefered networks.

With bluetooth off, the MBA connects flawlessly.

After several attempts I solved it (at least after some attempts and a few restarts) by doing the following:

Go to System Preferences > Network.
Click the Bluetooth PAN
Click the cog button on the bottom left.
Make service Inactive.
Apply.

I would do the same if I had a bluetooth DUN setting in the preferences.

With these bluetooth services inactive, I still have the magic mouse functionality and the wi-fi connects without any pains.

Hope this helps!

Apr 11, 2013 9:57 AM in response to yann3453

I had no problems until Monday. I was visiting a friend and, although I had connected to the Internet on his network that morning, I couldn't that afternoon. I read this entire thread but had not success getting back online. I decided to wait until I got home today and see if I was still having problems. I did, so I called support. I have typed up exactly what I was told to do in case I have additional problems. Here are the steps I took to get online again:

Click:

Finder

Computer

Hard drive

Library

Preferences

System Configuration

Delete these files:

com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
preferences.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
com.apple.network.configuration.plist (This file wasn't on my computer.)

Restart computer

I hope this helps someone.

Nov 28, 2010 3:07 PM in response to gcrump

FYI, my new 13 in MBA works fine at home with an "older" model of Airpot extreme Base Station (the flying saucer) with the "g" draft specs. I programmed it to recognize the MBA through its mac number.

However, I am unable to connect in a public spot I usually frequent, even though other people with MBs and MBP can (they might not be on 10.6 yet, I did not check).

There, AirPort scans the location and identifies some wifi connections available to the public. I choose one of the connections and enter the wifi password. I do, then, get an IP address, but no access to the Internet. A message says that the MBA has an IP address 198.168.etc, but the that internet service is not available.

I will however try to shut down and reboot after getting an IP address, as you suggested, at my next visit.

Also, on a recent visit to my brother's place, who has no wifi, I usually plug in my computer directly into his cable-modem. For my MBA, I purchased the RJ-45 - USB adaptor. I had the same type of result: I received an IP address, but was unable to have an internet access.

I am sorry I can't be of any help, except to confirm this type of problem. I do have a rendez-vous for a one-to-one at an Apple store and hope to get a workaround.

Best regards, will keep you informed.

wifiguru

Level 2

240 points

Nov 28, 2010 3:41 PM in response to Denis Giguere

Denis,
The fact that you get a 198.168.x.x ip address means your wireless is working well.
Next time you see this occur, go to System Prefs->Network and look up the router IP address and then launch Terminal and type
ping <router ip address>

eg: ping 192.168.1.1

If you get replies, your wireless is fine and you should talk to the network provider if they have some authentication scheme etc.

Nov 29, 2010 6:37 PM in response to wifiguru

I currently own a Dell XPS M1330 laptop which I have used exclusively for the past three years. My antivirus protection and extended warranty are running out soon and I am considering coming back to Apple after 10 years away from the fold.

Very interested in the new Macbook Air 13 inch model but concerned about the reports of WiFi connectivity problems (especially in public networks). I use a Verizon broadband card at home and would continue to do so with a Mac but enjoy free WiFi at Starbucks and Barnes and Noble. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Andrew

Nov 29, 2010 7:17 PM in response to gcrump

This is an update concerning wifi connection with the MBA 13" (late 2010) at a public location.

gcrump: power down and reboot after getting an IP address has nor worked for me at that public location.

wifiguru: indeed, pinging the IP address displayed in the network window does give me information that the wifi connection is working at that public location.

Follow-up with the IT guy at that public location: I was told that that the bandwith with their ISP is currently saturated, and to try to connect at some other time. I have no means of evaluating if this is true or not.

Running the Network diagnosis on my MBA does indeed show that the "ISP" button is red while the Airport, and Airport settings are green, at that public location.

Tried ANOTHER public location (just walked in another restaurant). I was handed a piece of paper with a password along with the restaurant's menu. I selected their wifi server, punched in the password, and got an immediate and quick connection. They use a Linksys router.

Will try some other public locations tomorrow, and keep you informed.

Best regards

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WiFi Issues With MacBook Air