WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

Some more information regarding this issue:

I am curently staying at a hotel where my MBA 11" has problems with the WiFi network. It can see the network, can make a connection, get's assigned an IP address (which the hotel's IT people tell me is valid), but when I try to use the connection it doesn't work - Safari tells me that my computer isn't connected to the Internet.

I can see the router which the WiFi network is connected to (I can ping it from a terminal), but DNS lookups do not work.

This machine happily connects to other WiFi networks - I have a 802.11n (Belkin) network at home, an 802.11g (Netgear) network at home, an 802.11g (Huawei) mobile broadband device, and I have successfully used several other public WiFi connections.

Now the interesting part: In an attempt to get round the problem I bought a USB WiFi dongle (Amped UA150C), but this did not solve the problem (behaved exactly the same as the computer's built-in interface), but whilst playing around with it I discovered that running a Windows 7 or Ubuntu 10.10 virtual machine with networking set to "bridged" did work - the virtual machine can connect with no problems (I am typing this on a Windows 7 VM running on my MBA at the moment). I then removed the USB WiFi dongle and tried the same thing with the MBA's built-in WiFi adapter, and sure enough that works fine too - so there clearly isn't a hardware problem, but an issue with the drivers under MacOS (10.6.6).

So come on Appple - Microsoft and Canonical can write drivers for your hardware which work, why can't you?

I picked up my new Macbook Air a couple of days ago and I too have had appallingly unreliable wireless performance.

Today I solved the problem.

My iphone and PCs all work fine so the problem lies with the Mac. The Mac worked fine some of the time so it did not seem to be an intrinsic problem in the machine.

The cause is Airport is constantly searching for networks and it looses the current connection while doing it. It does the search every 10 seconds.

The solution is in two parts:
1. In Network Preferences clear the check box for Ask to join new networks. That stops the searching and solves the problem.

2. Don't click on the Airport icon on the menu bar. If you do that it tells Airport to search for a network and you will lose the current connection.

Had my MBA 11 for just over a week. There is definately something up with the Wireless on this machine. Right now I've got a Cisco 1142 A/B/G/N AP. It does 2.4 and 5G. If I connect to Wireless N at 2.4G I get packet loss and alot of latency. Flip over to Wireless N at 5G and its fine. My PC also shows slight latency but nothing as bad as the MBA. About to reboot the AP to see if that solves the problem (it is cisco after all 🙂

With another Cisco AP in my office with a hidden SSID the MBA would refuse to connect until one morning it just started working?! ***?!

Regards,
Neil.

I have been having connection problems with this beautiful machine for the past 3 days or so. The internet connection comes and goes randomly. I just got off the phone with Apple and I was given a solution which I hope it works:
Go to Network in System Preferences.
Click on Location and add new one call it Internet
Click Apply and restart.
After restart, click on Airport and join your network.

It's working ...... meanwhile

I've just about had it with my MacBook Air. The issue is so random. At home we discovered rebooting the ATT Uverse router SEEMED to solve the problem...but who can be sure? And why the heck does rebooting the router have to be done in the first place, when my wife is happily surfing on her Toshiba PC without the needed reboot (I've had to do it twice now)?

The local independently owned coffee shop was my go-to place but now for some reason my MBA won't connect up with their wifi. Should I ask them to reboot it as well (rhetorical question. The answer is no)? Rebooting my MBA four times did nothing to fix the problem. In the meantime, my iPhone, my Android Phone and even my crappy OLD iPaq 210 PDA will connect up to it! Not to mention the other patrons who seem to be able to connect to the coffee shops router. ****, even those with NETBOOKS are able to get on with no problems. My $1500 MBA is being shown up by a $250 netbook?

The MBA is billed as a light minimalist machine mainly relying on WIRELESS capability....and Apple can't get it right? I have a lot of trouble understanding this.

I hate to say this, since I really like my MBA, but if you want to use public wifi and such, maybe, just maybe the MBA is not the solution. I for one don't like lugging my MBA (as light as it is) only to have to fish out my iPhone to have to surf. This is just happening too many times.

Boot from your USB. Run Disk Utility and repair permissions. Also run diagnostics (hold down the D) to verify everything is OK. If it still does it, call Apple Support and create a case number. They will probably have you try a few things, like delete plists etc. Get on record with them about the issue. They have to resolve it, one way or another.

I have been having connection problems but not the same. I will powerup the MBA and be connected immediately. After about 10 minutes the connection is dropped. The only way I can get the connection back is to turn AirPort off and then back on again. This will happen occasionally for about 30-40 minutes and then the connection stays. I am connecting to a new 2Wire from AT&T. My wife has an older MBP and never has a problem staying connected. Is there anyone out there having the same problem? Is it an AirPort problem?

I am having the same problems as you and it appears to be the same config as yours. I don't know what to do...this is ridiculous for an $1800 "netbook" that I just got two days ago. Is this only on a single network? Does this happen to you on other networks? If this issue continues I'm going to have to return it. 😟

This appears to be an ongoing problem and one that can really slow down the MBA. I have Linksys g speedboost WiFi and it drifts in and out of connection causing many error messages. At best, web pages can be reloaded. At worst it just hangs on a page. Other Mac's and a WinXP work great so the Linksys WiFi is configured correctly. Since I have upgraded to latest version of OS X Version 10.6.6, there is no fix. That said, I have a work-around solution - I tried connecting a Belkin 54G WAP to a spare input to the Linksys router and configured it using different SID and channel. Since this works and maintains a good connection, one can assume that the problem is with the firmware on the MBA. Maybe Apple can fix this. If not your best bet is to try a different WAP.

The Robby wrote:
Go to Network in System Preferences.
Click on Location and add new one call it Internet
Click Apply and restart.
After restart, click on Airport and join your network.

I've been spending hours dealing with flaky Wi-Fi issues for the last several weeks. Only after tearing apart my entire home network, disconnecting video monitors, pulling batteries out of cordless phone handsets, etc., did I come across your post. It seems to have fixed my problem.

Thanks.

Hi
I have exactly the same problem with ttalarico. My Air mac is only 2 months old yesterday suddenly lost internet connection, i obseve better and i saw that after 10 min exactly the internet not working and i have to turn off the AirPort and turn on again inorder to be connected again. i am using this internet since i bought this mac without any problem before

is anyone out there who can suggest or help me what to do??

Dear All,

I am new to MBA, but I am having the problem only since few weeks.
The funny thing is that email and Safari have problems where Skype does not have any problem at all.

I downloaded now the new OS X, hope it will improve, but have the feeling that was I read in a previous post, regarding App Store may be correct.

I cannot recall precisely, but seems that my problems started after downloading the 2nd app.

After cancelling cache, renew lease,...for a couple of times it usually works again but it is a nuisance.
And it cannot be a problem of any of the 2 routers in different location I am connecting because they are different, pretty new and Internet works on any other computer.

Anyone can help?

Thanks
Susy

Success using The Robby's post. Many thanks for that mate as I am travelling and been having issues. Curious to see if I have to create a new Network location each time I change hotels or wifi/s.

I can suggest all having trouble try this easy answer first.

+I just got off the phone with Apple and I was given a solution which I hope it works:+
+Go to Network in System Preferences.+
+Click on Location and add new one call it Internet+
+Click Apply and restart.+
+After restart, click on Airport and join your network.+

this was an instant fix, but worked event without reboot. Just went into network, added new location, select the wireless network I wanted to connect to and worked instantly. This after Airport searched and searched, and gave up on many previous occasions. Thanks for the tip.

I compared my MBA rev3.2 with other macbook pro and the wifi seems "weaker", it often disconnect from my home network. it also has hard times connecting to new network when i'm around.
Maybe the WIFI antennas are too small on this one!