Q: WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

I HAVE THE SOLUTION!

You may not like it, but it is the solution.

The issues of

- Bluetooth has a delay with audio

- Networking unstable, dropped connections to WiFi points

- Jitter and packet loss

- Interference between the bluetooth adapter and wifi unit

Can all be resolved by removing the Apple OSX system.

Those of you who don't want to use Windows because they like to swipe things around on their apple screen like poofters and look cool like the guys with tattoos and skateboards at the genius bar, this solution will be okay for you as well, you don't need to lose the pretty apple oS.

After installing Windows 7 on this machine, i have a fast stable remote desktop to my server in London, my Voip phone works properly and the machine gets a better networking connection without timeouts and the bluetooth headset is now working in real time. I can boot into windows for work and apple when i want.

Heres how it is done.

1) Download and install Refit (google it)

2) Get an ISO image of Windows 7 64 bit

3) Run boot camp , and attach an external USB hard drive - Bootcamp will create a windows drive out of the free space on your apple disk.

4) Boot camp will format the drive, and it will put the windows setup on it

- then it will ask you if you want to download support files for windows, say yes, save them onto the external drive

5) Restart the machine holding down the control key (its ALT on the macbook air)

6) Choose windows setup and off you go

- I had a n issue with windows setup recognising the internal hard drive i could see it but not format it, i had to delete the partition i made and reformat it and reboot a few times then it worked.

7) When done boot into windows and you will be able to install the drivers, from the folder you downloaded them to with bootcamp. Theres 1 exe that installs them all.

8) You're done.

Anyway, this works guys, forget OSX it's no use for serious people.

<Edited by Host>

just wanted to give an update on my case.

MBA, July 2011 with Lion pre-installed.

I live in Australia, and have been suffering from random wifi disconnects since day 1. My two other computers (a Dell Latitute and a Dell Inspiron), running Windows Xp have no problem.

• I have called Apple Care twice, they went through some basic network reset but did not improve things.
• I went to the Apple Store and they replaced the airport card, no improvement.  Both the Apple Care & Store guys said they are aware that a lot more people are struggling with WiFi.
• Headed to Europe for Christmas. Stayed one day in an Abu Dhabi hotel, then in Belgium and now in Italy. Thus, I have been on 3 different networks and I did not experience wifi disconnects, not once.

I don't know whether this is of any help. If it is because of my router/interference/something else at home, then why my other computers work fine? But still, it seems to suggests that there is some conflict between the MBA hardware/software and some router/settings.

If I can be of any more help, gathering info etc let me know. But please also explain how to do so. I am no tech guru.

Mario

I've told you why, OSX has bad drivers and the sub systems is a linux based piece of crap, install windows and the machine will work everywhere.

Also, apple telephone support is in Ireland, the cool guys in the Genius bar and the support in Ireland have no idea about the design in China or the american based developers who have made the bad drivers and the **** OS. Thats why you cant get help - they have no idea what you are talking about.

I want add my voice to the chorus of “me toos” and say that I’m having the same issue on a one week old 2011 13” Macbook Air. After reading this thread, I called Apple Care (Singapore, actually) to register an issue and they took me through a few basic suggestions for network setup, interference avoidance, pram nonsense, etc, but nothing helped, so I thought I’d have a go at diagnostics.

On my network I have:

- 2011 air (broadcom bcm43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.18))

- 2011 imac (atheros 9380: 4.0.58.4-P2P)

- 2010 mini (broadcom bcm43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.18))

- 2010 mbp (broadcom bcm43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.18))

All of these machines are running 10.7.2 and connect to the same wireless network, but only the air has the dropping issue. I know there is another thread about wifi dropping issues with any lion machine, but it strikes me that the two are related.

I also have a few different wireless routers:

- Fritzbox 7390

- 2010 time crapsule

- an old DLink 604g

I thought I’d try each one out to see what happens. The air dropped the connection while attached to each (this was nearby with good SNR at about −40dbm/-90dbm). I figuring it might be a config issue, so I tried a bunch of things to fix it:

- deleting and recreating network setup, via gui and then manually with plists

- combinations of 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz bands (with and without unique ssids)

- different channels (the fritz has a handy spectrum analyser for avoiding other networks and interference)

- disabling bt dun

- changing wpa2/wep keys

- purging keychain entries

- …

I’ve had the most luck with limiting my router to 802.11g on 2.4 GHz, which gives a pseudo-stable connection (that is, it hasn’t dropped yet). I still see ping timeouts, odd dns-like delays and horribly slow network access. I’m also getting a lot of entries in my router log during testing. This seems to occur just after I sleep the air by closing the lid, but does not occur when sleeping the other machines:

Deregistrering WLAN device (2,4 GHz): WLAN device not responding. Name: mac_air. (#0302)

Anyway, none of this is a long-term solution so time to nag Apple Care again. Btw, I’m also thinking the pos air might be more trouble than it’s worth. After all, it’s clearly malfunctioning and it’s bringing the rest of my network down with it. What do you guys reckon - should I try to return it or flick it off on ebay or something, or is it worth waiting for some miraculous fix?

Great post ^ nickfromadenhead. Not so sure about bashing or stereotyping the Irish but....

I'm a very long term user of both Apple and Wintel computers but have almost exclusively stuck with Apple for my personal/home computers. Unfortunately this one has been a huge let down. I wouldn't be suprised if this went class action at some point. Too bad the plaintiffs don't really benefit in class actions, only the lawyers...

Anyway:

-Totally agree that most of the "Genius" bar folks are tools. Reset PRAM, reinstall OS, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah. No panaceas whatsoever.

-Absolutely love the irony - fix your Mac by installing Windows! Someone needs to make a youtube video of this showing this actual problem and solution. I'd pray for such a video to go viral. Talk about getting Apple ****** off... That would be fantastic.

-With agreement on these points I will say that in general the reliability and robustness of Windows has been improving and catching up to the Mac. I still prefer Mac hardware and software but NEVER AGAIN will I buy a rev 1.0 for both hardware and software at the same time. (Clarification: I call 10.7 a 1.0 version. Although my Macbook Air is not an entirely new hardware revision is it a 1.0 in terms of having the Core i7).

I sure do hope 10.7.3 comes soon and fixes this. So frickin tired of waiting. Not only waiting but being disappointed - I though there was a good chance 10.7.2 would fix this.

No real news or fixes so just a place to check in periodically and B.S. with folks as I'm doing here...

Bad Apple, bad....

I have been struggling with this same issue for months since upgrading to 10.7.2.  I think I may have stumbled across a solution.  Click on the wireless icon - Network Preferences - Click drop down in lower left hand corner - Set Service order.  Make Wi-Fi the top selection.  You may have to disable your bluetooth as well.  I am still seeing jitter, but at least I am connected.

Very interesting response.  Thanks,

Christian Hunter

Austin, Texas

Hey MDC68,

Thanks for the post, I feel like you're on to something.  My problem is the only two choices that appear in my "Service Order" are "Main" and "Bluetooth DUN" and "Main", which may stand for "Main House" was on top to begin with....grrr!

Any ideas on how to add a particular wireless "service" that'll show up in that order?

Also, are you suggesting we turn off Bluetooth only to insure this order, or before every sleep or power-down?

Thanks,

Christian Hunter

Austin, Texas

Well, this worked for me. Connected immediately on Wake, did this twice and it was instant.

It can't be that simple, can it?...

Apple CS (and myself...) are a morons if the solution is really this easy.

I cant believe the solution was this simple for me. Someone better rush to go make a Youtube video about it and make a quick buck off advertising, lol.

Looks like the solution is a lot simpler than installing Windows and deleting Lion...

So far this has worked for me. Under System Prefs>Network, I clicked the action icon on the bottom left hand side, changed the service order in both "Internet" and "Automatic" so that Wifi was first. Now my wifi connects almost immediately after waking up from sleep.

Hallelujah! A Christmas miracle!

Still having WiFi issues with my MBA 11" despite troubleshooting with Apple Geniuses. I am begining to HATE Apple!

I got the 2011 11" MBA a few days ago and had similar problems.  My Sony Vaio Z series was right next to the MBA and the wifi speed was normal on the Sony but slow on the MBA.  I tried a few fixes from the above but nothing.  I was suspecting that my old D-Link router might be the problem so I went out and got a Time Capsule and after installing it, everything works great now. Both systems have the same speed according to DSL speed tests. Thankfully it worked or I would have return everything and left the Mac world as this is my first Mac laptop.

the real issue is in the LAP part of "LAPTOP"

I've been reading this very long post and replies.

we all agree that if Jobs would have ever had a chance to speak to someone in the "Genius Bar" would have told them they're "****", we know he would have used that exact word.

these people are no geniuses, and there's no way they can fix any issue unless you're an overly ******** user who can't turn a mac on pushing the "on" button.

installing windows (still laughing at that) is no option for me, as it would really require too much effort to be able and use a proper shell on an OS made for Exchange users, gamers, and people who like clutter.

and I'm not defending Lion here, because I believe that it's still not good enough when compared to Snow Leopard.

and here I'd love to thank Apple for giving us iOS 5 and requiring Lion to sync with iCloud.

thank you, Apple, we love being slowed down when we need to be productive.

that said, I had some issues at wake up that were sort of resolved changing the services' order, but the real issue for me is that this "laptop" can't really be held on my lap.

if I have a connection lag, the solution for me is to lift it by at least 5cm (2") and the connection will immediately restore to its full.

now... what the **** am I supposed to do?

would Apple acknowledge this and give anyone new laptops?

will the next MBA 11" have the same issues.

I've had mine for a year (late 2010) and I'm about to upgrade in a couple of months.

what if this is another Apple antenna woe and they're just covering up?

that'd be annoying, wouldn't it?

ubi