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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

Reply
948 replies

Jul 29, 2013 1:09 PM in response to Jeff M Wood

Jeff, no offense taken. I am glad that you did not have to encounter a network that was not compatible. As for rare, it is well documented in this thread, as well as many, many reputable online technical groups and magazines. It is not rare. The issue is that you never know which network will or will not work. The wifi network at St. Mary's University is not compatible, for reasons unknown to me. It works for all non-MBA 2013 systems. So, Apple is deliberately deceiving anyone nieve enough that it was not a major problem. It is a matter of trust and integrity - and they come up lacking.


So, I stand by my words.

Jul 29, 2013 1:12 PM in response to Mathiesen1

Since the patch, with one exception (and it was quite different than any previous issue), it has been working very well. Technically, I don't think there are any more concerns. As Jeff suggested, once you buy it, test it for at least an hour, more if possible, on all networks you intend on connecting.


So, technically, I think it is safe to buy now. Apple has a lot of work before their integrity with me has been restored.

Jul 30, 2013 4:08 PM in response to des325

For me it doesn't work well.It drops the connection rather often during the day.The WIFI icon locks like as if it is connected but it isn't.


My Daytrek vigor2920nhas got the latest update and I updated all the available updates onto my air.


Seems not solved. My 2010 Air works fine and doesn't have this issue.


I have to say it's annoying. Will call Apple tomorrow

Jul 31, 2013 3:58 AM in response to BarneyCinni

Strongly encourage people with wifi issues to consider that the problem could be with the browser not the MBA itself. This is especially true if your MBA appears to be connected to the network but you still can't browse the Internet or your connection is intermittent fir no good reason. If you're using Safari it is notorious for this. Try downloading Google Chrome or one of the others.

Aug 1, 2013 5:23 PM in response to BarneyCinni

Hi all, I'm just arriving, but suffering from the same problem for about a month. Connection dropping all the time (several times per second, as by the diagnosis tool), when testing with speedtest.net I cannot even get to 1mbps, while other devices at home (ipad, windows notebook and samsung cellphone) easily reach my nominal speed of 10mbps.

I just applied the patch (yes, it's a MBA 13", 4, 256, mid 2013), but nothing changed.

I'm installing Chrome, but don't think it will help since I can observ the problem from other applications (including backup to time machine).

Any more hints?

Aug 1, 2013 8:59 PM in response to Mauricio Xavier

The, for me, obvious next step is simply to return it and demand a functioning machine. Following the many, and long, threads on the new MBAs wifi problems has stopped me from buying one until they truly solve it. But people seem to put up with a lot just to keep their MBS, buying new (Apple) routers, wifi dongles...

It is a very expensive machine with a key feature not working, it's a shame that Apple released it this way.

Aug 2, 2013 9:33 AM in response to gcrump

Definitely not a browser here. Tried two computers. The first one worked at first then was connecting intermittently (also showed not connected each time) and says "connection time out" when trying again. Loaded the patch - did not fix the issue. Returned it and tried a second computer which would not connect at all, straight out of the box - had to load the patch via portable DVD drive. Of course, no change.

Pretty sure it's not the router since, also connected to it (off and on every day) are: 2 HTC (Android) phones, 1 PC Laptop, 1 2012 iMac, and 1 Kindle. Never had any issues with them.

Aug 5, 2013 12:14 PM in response to BarneyCinni

I am on my 2nd 13" MBA. It keeps dropping wifi no matter what I do. Did the update patch on both-returned the 1st machine after 1 annoying day. The 2nd one is exactly the same. My other Macbook pro is fine as are all my windows notebooks. The icon shows its connected, but it gets stuck loading pages. I love the machine otherwise,especially the battery life, but they know about this issue for a while-released it for sale anyway, and we paid up to be the beta testers. I`m not a bit suprised after encountering bugs in some other apps they charge you money for. I actually had a high level support rep tell "what did you expect in a $20 program" after we discovered unnacceptale bugs in Imovie after sending $2500 on a 17" macbook pro a few years ago just to make educational videos on. I just want the darn thing to work!.

Aug 5, 2013 12:43 PM in response to dogschool

I have not read through the entire thread. But wanted to tell you my problem with the constant dropping of wi-fi is completely FIXED. My rep person stated that they are aware of the problem (after I warned them, there was hundreds of complaints about the same issue) The first person told me to talk to my network provider, who is Comcast and have them change my settings from WPA1 to WPA2Personal. Comcast refused to do it withought a cost. I called Apple back and the rep here helped me change the settings. Once I did that Ive had not one drop. That was about 2 -3 weeks ago! My router settings were with Netgear. We went in and changed it, and it fixed everything.

Aug 5, 2013 1:18 PM in response to maccupport71

I called Apple support 6 or 7 times with the 1st machine and even though we worked through whatever they could do it never changed. I feel like its a waste of time going through all of that again just to go nowhere. I am not the only person experiencing this problem and I do not think they have a fix for it yet.I am a bit put off by this and I guess I will jump through the hoops again tonight.....by the way-I did not respond on my new MBA-too frustrating to use....what did I expect for $1100 + dollars...

WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

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