Q: WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

Hello Rob

The discussion is getting bigger on this issue. I bought a CrapBook Air for my wife which she uses for house hold stuff and email and to \skype/\facetime me as I work on remote construction projects. The reason I bought it (My first Apple laptop/PC) was for its ease of use and speed. At the Apple store i emphasised this.

I have read the various threads and appreciate all the suggested fixes BUT if I buy a car for my wife I do not expect her to get under the hood to make it work. My frustration is that nobody at Apple has any comprehension of customer service. I am currently over 1,000 miles from the nearest Apple store so their suggestion to "pop in" won't work. Not only does my wife have auseless piece of junk, she has the mouse, external drive, office for Mac etc etc to go with it. I want to call the store to arrange for her to bring in the whole lot for a refund but Apple wont give me their number.

Incidently I am writing this on a Dell netbook, wirelessly (via Satellite), in the middle of Australia on a mine camp. I bought this little machine second hand in Qatar five years ago for $50 and is faster than the MacAir and has never let me down.

Hi,

i had also issues with 5GHz. I was unable to connect with my MacBook Air 2011 to my FritzBox.

The WPA Password was not accepted. My MacBookAir 2010 was OK - very strange.

So I tested one solution after reading this post:

I disabled the IPv6 protocoll on my MacBook. I set it to Local Link Only.

The IPv6 protocoll on my FritzBox router was already disabled.

Now all works fine.

I hope my connection will be stable.....

I totally agree with your comments and Apple really need to adress this issue as it is getting out of hand. As an Apple user since 1982 i can understand the frustration of not getting the MBA out of the box and it just works scenario. What is most annoying is that Apple support do not have a workaround strategy in place. When i got my wifes running eventually I have to say I am jealous of speed etc PLUS it works brilliantly wherever we go now. Check out if there is a Mac User Group near you as they always have a "geek" on hand to help out on issues. You can get the apple store number from their website.

Like many others, you've completely missed the point. This pricey if elegant piece of junk should work out of the box, without modification, without changing router settings, with any standards-compliant router or access point. Period. The end. It doesn't, and that makes it a toy, not a workhorse computer. I prefer the Mac user experience, but at the end of the day, there's nothing my MBA can do that I can't do on my much cheaper Dell. In fact, since my Dell is happy to connect to the Internet via every hotel router I've ever encountered, there's much my Dell can do that my MBA can't. Thumbs down on the MBA.

Updating this

I contacted apple suport by phone and was given a similar fix to this dicussed earlier in the thread

https://discussions.apple.com/message/13289806#13289806

It works fine now at home and at the office.

Unfortunately, the fix requiring the addition of a location called "Internet" inspires absolutely no confidence in me. Before giving up while recently on the road, I had tried adding a new location and it failed to resolve my problem. Granted, I had not called it "Internet," but if there's some magic in what should be a totally arbitrary name, then my concern has grown even greater. My problems on the road were intermittent (although I experienced 100% success, even in a remote hotel in El Salvador with my Dell), so adding a new location called "Internet" at home while my default location was working fine anyway proves nothing. And if adding a new location called "Hotel" doesn't solve the problem the same way, then Lion is indeed a toy OS. I still can't depend on my MBA on the road because I can't imagine why the recommended fix would work while another virtually identical fix did not. This still needs to work OUT OF THE BOX, without a kludge fix that makes no sense whatsoever to an IT professional like myself. Thumbs still pointed very much down.

Rip M is absolutely right in doubting this "solution" as anything other than arbitrary.  From a technical standpoint, there's really no reason that it ought to work - and the naming of the profile "Internet," in particular, is irrelevant. It could be named anything: Profile2, ILoveLucy, ThisFixDoesn'TWork, etc.

In spite of misgivings about trying kludges like this, I did and have, out of desperation.  Of course, they don't work.  We need some acknowledgment of this problem, and some specifics about how it will be resolved at an OS level, and without silliness such as this. 

I have probably about 48 hours of research and troubleshooting in on this problem.  Where should I send the bill?

I finally got through to the help line phone number in Australia. Thry asked me to run the hardware test (power off and hold down D) I ran it and found no hardware problems. They said Yes we know about the issue and we are working on a fix which will be released soon. In the meantime they are sending me a USB/ethernet adapter for my MBA so I can connect by cable to my router/office. They are sending me this for free which is a nice gesture  confirms the issue still need resolving. The help guys are pretty stressed since Lion came out

Anyone had any luck with the 10.7.1 update? I'm just installing it now.

So far so good, I can verify that the 10.7.1 update does update the firmware version from 5.100.98.75.8 to 5.100.98.75.10.

Here's to hoping that did the trick!

Well, I'm running 10.7.1, and it took me fifteen minutes to post this due to the WiFi problems that obviously persist under this update.  It's worth noting that the notes included with the update mention _nothing_ about this or other WiFi problems.

Unbearable.

Well, Apple removed my last post about possible solutions to this problem for containing speculation about Apple policy. Hopefully the group will continue to post results of their attempts to fix this at a software or firmware level. I would truly like to fix my Wi-Fi problem so that I'm not at risk of being unable to work on my next trip. It doesn't make sense to carry two laptops - my daughter was with me on my last trip so having two (one useful) on that trip made more sense than when I travel alone. Has anyone else tried the 10.7.1 update and had more success? My problem currently is that it seems to be working again (although I haven't stayed connected for a long period of time since my trip) so there's no way for me to tell whether it somehow miraculously fixed itself or will leave me stranded next time I travel.

I tired to added 2 different DNS in DNS Servers. first is 8.8.8.8 and second is 8.8.4.4

I got this solution from a Chinese Website and it is soooo useful to solve my problem and my Mac book air is working now.......

Hi,

I'm not convinced this is a full fix either, however, the 10.7.1 update DOES mention Wifi specifically:

The 10.7.1 update is recommended for all users running OS X Lion and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability and compatibility of your Mac, including fixes that:

- Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari.

- Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out.

- Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections.

- Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion.

However, things aren't perfect for me after the update sadly.  I've still had several websites give me the "you are not connected to the internet" message.  The difference this time seems to be that a reload does the trick where as before I'd have to either renew my DHCP lease or turn wifi off/on for it to work.  So it's better... but not fixed yet.

thanks,

mbezzo

Not sure the DNS setting changes apply, darkmax9, but considering many of the other solutions offered made no sense, either, I could be wrong. Perhaps someone could enlighten us about how DNS settings would impact our MBA's ability to obtain an IP address from a DHCP server?