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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

Dec 12, 2013 8:20 AM in response to kevinlh22

I ask because of the current issue with the MBA not waking up from sleep mode issue. It is only similar on the basis that Apple has refused to acknowledge the severity of the WiFi issue, and is only now acknowledging the sleep issue. The claim on that thread is that Apple has finally acknowledged it because a Facebook thread started on it, and they can't delete those like they delete these. I don't know if it is true, but there it is. So, if really annoyed, start a facebook page on it (or some other social media they don't control).

Dec 12, 2013 8:53 AM in response to des325

I called support and the first line admitted there have been people experiencing problems. I'm on hold for a 2nd tier support person now. We tried deleting the systemconfiguration folder, doing the 4 finger salute when the machine was off to reset something or other, and removing all the wifi networks.


The problem is fixed by pinging 5 times a second, but that seems excessive to say the least. He agreed so I'm on hold. We will see what happens from here.

Dec 15, 2013 3:07 AM in response to gcrump

Just wanted to say that I have had severe random latency issues on my Macbook Air right up until the time I disabled power nap on both mains and battery power, not sure if that will help you guys. I hope Apple patch the issue soon but until then for me good wifi performance is far more preferable than having it check my emails while I'm away. Others have had success disabling Bluetooth but mine appears happy with Bluetooth on.

Dec 23, 2013 3:49 AM in response to gcrump

I tried many of these solutions for the MacBook Air, as it would be continuously "Looking for Network" after waking up. The solution that worked for me was:


System Preferences

Energy Saver

and then clear the box: "Enable Power Nap when plugged into a power adapter"


that seemed to stop the endless searching, at least for now!

Dec 30, 2013 10:33 AM in response to gcrump

I have been trying to resolve an inconsistent ping time issue with the new macbook air. This causes the airbook to disconnect from the wireless network. The ping times to the router will be from 1ms to 120ms. I duplicated this with another new macbook air and when I tried an old mackbook air 2012 model it responed correctly with 1-2 ms ping times. I have opened a case with Apple support about 45 days ago but no solution. It has to be a wireless driver / hardware issue but no one at apple will admit this. Apple support sent the case to their senior engineers. I was told I may have to live with it. Not Fun!!!

Jan 1, 2014 3:44 AM in response to gcrump

I have had my dropped connection issues for 2 years and initially assumed it was the internet connection that kept dropping.Then out of warranty.Have tried just about every trick on this forum,none of which help.Bought a £3/$5 usb adapter on ebay,the tiny ones half a centimetre thick.Since then NO problems.This sadly proves the fault is with the laptop and Apple turning a blind eye to such an inherent problem is unfair to say the least.

Buy the USB,it will save you hours of frustration.

Jan 19, 2014 6:16 PM in response to gcrump

TURN OFF BLUETOOTH!


That's the headline; here are details: Turning off bluetooth solved by "slowed down" connection speed. BT also caused crappy connection for AirPlay. I also reordered “Set Service Order” to have wifi first, ahead of both of the BT settings, in the System Prefs for Network. After all that, I was able to turn BT back on and I have maintained my fast download connection!! (Still have to see if AirPlay is now seamless without stuttering...)


Got the idea from this: http://howtoapple.com/mavericks-wifi-issues-fix/


Hope this works for some other folks as well!


-Alex

Feb 3, 2014 11:12 AM in response to muskabo

Most of us can tell you what they will say. They will act like you are the only one with the problem, do a bunch of resets, maybe reinstall your O/S, etc. Their main goal is to have you leave and eventually give up. Worst of all, they won't even be embarrassed about it. I know I sound cynical, but it has been my experience with all of the problems I have had. (sleep issue, WiFi, camera).

Feb 3, 2014 11:23 AM in response to des325

i will give it try. They really need to do something about. I mean, I pay good money for the computer and for that i expect it to work flawlessly. Otherwise i dont need to buy an apple computer anymore... whatever. Its not a tiny scratch out of the box, there is a major wlan issue. Our whole central station is filled with huge advertising for apple since months, they should spend some more money on customer satisfaction. I am really looking forward for the appointment in the store. They need to come up with something!


take a look at this:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/14/01/22/engineering.driver.blamed.for.poor.perfor mance.on.80211ac.wi.fi/

Feb 3, 2014 11:30 AM in response to muskabo

Just be prepared. This is what is going to happen.


They will of course not be able to reproduce the issue in the store. (They make **** sure they use only apple networking hardware, etc etc yada yada so everything is perfect for their products). They will basically throw their hands up and say without reproducing it there's nothing they can do. Catch 22 eh. Been over this numerous times with various issues.

WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

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