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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

Aug 17, 2011 8:48 AM in response to gcrump

Yes, I think it's also better..


BUT..


If you have turned on Bluetooth (for my keyboard and mouse as well as iphone tethering) the wifi connection can't be established - for example when the macbook air comes up from a standby - if I open the macbook.

there is a timeout in selecting the already known wifi network.

After 20 seconds for example, I could choose the network and it connects - all is fine then till the next wakeup.


If I disable bluetooth, close the lid, open it to wake the macbook, the wifi network connects just im time.

no timeout, no issues - but then is no bluetooth enabled.. soo bad..


Is there someone out there with the same issue - is my new air defective, or is this a lion issue with the new air?


regards,

Christian

Aug 17, 2011 10:08 AM in response to darkmax9

Don't get your hopes up. The update worked all day yesterday but today everything is intermittent again. The only thing that works for me is to turn it off, wait a long time, turn it back on and hope... I keep getting a time-out message. weird thing is that I have had my MacBook Air since Feb. 2011 and no problems until now. hmmmm.

Can't be the router since the iPod works fine as does my iMac.

I tried turning off the bluetooth but haven't let the computer go to sleep yet. Seems to happen upon re-connecting.

Aug 17, 2011 11:45 AM in response to s2gale

s2gale wrote:

weird thing is that I have had my MacBook Air since Feb. 2011 and no problems until now. hmmmm.

Can't be the router since the iPod works fine as does my iMac.

I tried turning off the bluetooth but haven't let the computer go to sleep yet. Seems to happen upon re-connecting.

It seems to be an issue either introduced or greatly heightened by Lion.

Aug 17, 2011 11:49 AM in response to cschubert

cschubert wrote:


Yes, I think it's also better..


BUT..


If you have turned on Bluetooth (for my keyboard and mouse as well as iphone tethering) the wifi connection can't be established - for example when the macbook air comes up from a standby - if I open the macbook.

there is a timeout in selecting the already known wifi network.

After 20 seconds for example, I could choose the network and it connects - all is fine then till the next wakeup.


If I disable bluetooth, close the lid, open it to wake the macbook, the wifi network connects just im time.

no timeout, no issues - but then is no bluetooth enabled.. soo bad..


Is there someone out there with the same issue - is my new air defective, or is this a lion issue with the new air?


regards,

Christian


The issue of a known network timing out at the first try, then connecting seamlessly the 2nd, is happening to me, as well (public WiFi network, no security protocols enabled). This is in addition to the major issues I have documented on this thread. Well, I can't post the link in the traditional way because my network connection is timing out, so here it is: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3253568?answerId=15917757022#15917757022 .

Aug 18, 2011 6:31 AM in response to gcrump

Hi friends - I updated my MBA and have had no problems at home since, but I took it to work with me yesterday and was unable to connect reliably to a Netgear 802.11g wireless router that we use to connect contractors and a wireless workgroup printer. I'm still hopeful for a solution and not sure what the statute of limitations is on returns, but there's so much else to like about the MBA that I'll probably keep it anyway and just not put myself in any situations where it's critical that I be able to connect wirelessly.


Not sure how this screenshot will turn out, but thought it might be of interest as well...

User uploaded file

Aug 18, 2011 10:06 PM in response to gcrump

I have a MBA 2011 i5 and I was having the issues listed in this thread, including the fact that an MBP w/ Lion and all other WiFi devices work ok with my router. Before reading this thread, I tried many things, including erasing the HD and reinstalling Lion, and updating to 10.7.1, and nothing worked. UNTIL I tried a combination of things I read in this thread (thank you everyone!). Of course this is no guarantee this will work for everyone or even for me as I move around to other routers when I travel, but I have been so frustrated by this that I thought of sharing it with you in case it provides some temporary relief (until our MBAs get some love from Apple). Here is what I did:

-Open Network preferences under System Preferences

-Create a new Location, I call it 'Internet' as suggested in another reply.

-Choose Advanced...

-In TCP/IP tab, Configure IPv6, select Link-local only (I also renewed DHCP while I was here)

-In DNS tab, I added 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 DNS Servers (which are provided by Google)

-in Proxies tab, select Auto Proxy Discovery

- Click Ok

- Click Apply

- I turned off and on WiFi for good measure

- Then everything worked, it did not only remove the hanging when loading a web page, but the pages seem to load much faster. I finally felt like I was getting my money's worth.


I hope this helps.

Aug 20, 2011 4:23 PM in response to gabrielperez21

gabrielperez21 wrote:


[...] Here is what I did:

-Open Network preferences under System Preferences

-Create a new Location, I call it 'Internet' as suggested in another reply.

-Choose Advanced...

-In TCP/IP tab, Configure IPv6, select Link-local only (I also renewed DHCP while I was here)

-In DNS tab, I added 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 DNS Servers (which are provided by Google)

-in Proxies tab, select Auto Proxy Discovery

- Click Ok

- Click Apply

- I turned off and on WiFi for good measure

- Then everything worked, it did not only remove the hanging when loading a web page, but the pages seem to load much faster. I finally felt like I was getting my money's worth.

The only thing I hadn't tried in this list of items of things to do is to make the change to "Configure IPv6." I also am using the OpenDNS servers, rather than Google's, but it's the same principle. I made this change yesterday and have yet to spend enough time in my home network environment to see if it is, in fact, better, but I'll continue to test and then report back.


I still suspect a large part of this problem to be a combination of late-model hardware (either MBP or MBA), plus Lion, plus a secure network - WEP, WPA, etc. I'd be curious to know how many of you are having these problems on a secure network vs. non-secure. As for me, my problems ONLY occur on a secure network. When I am on an open network that requires no authentication and no security, I have zero problems. Others?

Aug 21, 2011 6:43 AM in response to gabrielperez21

Just a word of thanks to gabrielperez21: I was about to return my MacBook Air, until I applied your recommendations as listed above. My Wifi has been up and running for more than 24 hours and I am actually able to surf the Internet at the speeds that I was used to on my Windows PC.


Due to your help my MacBook Air is not the infuriorating, frustrating peace of garbage that I thought it was. I think Apple should reward you! Apple usses the slogan: "It Just Works!" The Apple community on these forums seem to make it work! 😁


Regards


Gregory

Aug 21, 2011 8:26 AM in response to gcrump

I am having issues reconnecting to some saved networks. I recently bought a new 13" MBA and transferred everything from my 2010 MBA and now two of my networks wont reconnect automatically but all the others will. Its the same if it is from sleep or hibernate or a fresh boot. It just brings up the list of networks and says pick one. The first time I get an error saying it cant connect, then when i try again it connects succesfully and stays connected as long as i dont let the machine sleep. The problem is only with two of my saved networks, all the rest work great. There isn't anything they both have in common that I can figure out, one is on my home airport extreme-based network, the other is on a major college's network, high-end cisco network.


10.7.1 did not help


deleteing all saved connections does not help.


thanks for your time,


Tony

Aug 22, 2011 1:41 AM in response to gcrump

This helped my problems with my brand new Macbook Air reconnecting to wireless when waking from sleep. I was actually quite suprised at the age of this fix. My reconnection after waking from sleep has been improved with this but it is still slower than my very old Macbook Pro and quite frankly unacceptably slow. I was hopefull for 10.7.1 which I have but very little improvement on this particular problem.

Aug 23, 2011 7:02 AM in response to aapotts

M L

I have a two weeks old MBA 13". I have exactly the same problem. I can connect but on some networks it takes like a minute or two until Airport successfully connects. (Before I get the WIFI! message as having no internet connectivity. On other networks I need to reselect them all the time after awakening from sleep.


10.7.1. update did not help!

WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

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