Q: WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

As somebody already told removing the security (WEP or WPA) made my life a little easier. Now most of time this laptop connects directly and connection doesn't drops. I reserved MAC address in router access list, at least I still have a kind of security. This is of course not a fix to me but barely a workaround, because someday i may move in hotel or workplace with security and I would have same issues.

However, although connection is "a little" more stable, is still slow and I cannot use tools or sites that requires high bandwidth like youtube and Skype and, of course, copying big files from my desktop is impossible.

Well, after getting more and more pi$$ed off I went and downloaded the developer beta of 10.7.3 ...the 11D24 Delta version.  Everything works fine on the computer and I am currently running 10.7.3 -- but alas, my wifi STILL disconnects when waking up from sleep.  I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of unhappy customers if the released version of 10.7.3 offers the same non-fix.  Here's hoping though.  Here's a link for the beta (click) if anyone's interested.

Not sure what the cause or correlation of the problem is yet. This MBA was working fine for one full year and then this November, around the 24th, it started giving me WiFi connection issues. NOTHING CHANGED. The newtwork is the SAME, the MBA is the SAME and the only software change was from 10.7.1 to 10.7.2 as far as I can tell.

it is very frustrating!!!! The wifi connection keeps dropping, it is difficult to acquire one now and when I do it is not consistent.

I've tried the "fixes" from various Blogs and Wikis but NONE of them have worked.

PLEASE HELP!!

There isn't much anyone here can do. We are all waiting on Apple.

But I did install Windows 7 (via bootcamp) and it works wonderfully. I can close the lid, move around the house - keep the wireless connection alive. No issues. So it's a driver issue on the mac end.

If  this issue isn't fix by the next update I'm gonna give up and use windows. I bought this machine to travel with and it's been nothing problems (with the wireless).

I purchased Netgear WNDR4500 router and wanted to set it up the way that my MacBook Air (2010/Snow Leopard with latest updates) connects to it via 5Ghz network only.

The problem is that when I start up my Air one of the three times a message pops up on my MacBook saying "None of your prefered networks are available"

but below the message it offers to connect to the other found networks and my 5Ghz connection is listed there. If I press it connection starts immediately. Sometimes it connects without a problem.

If I add 2.4Ghz to known networks and MacBook can't connect to the 5Ghz (It's first prefered network in list) it connects to 2.4Ghz. There are no such problems with the other band.

However I'd like have automatic connection to 5Ghz allways not manual.

I tried different settings in router (security modes, no security, speed settings, network card access list, channels etc) but no luck...SSID's are CCC and CCC 5Ghz respectiveley.

I'm suprised at the mentality of the apple users, who say things like

"I switched to Apple because of the reliability - and this has been a real let down"

This for me is testament to what a great bullsh1t artist Steve Jobs was; the reality is Apple spend more time on asthetics than they do on functionality.

OSX is extremely restrictive and has very few options to customise features such as tweaking hardware settings.

It's made for dummies who like to look cool.

To the person who said, "Installing Windows is not an option for me", i felt the same, i felt it spoils the charm of the unit as it was designed to go hand in hand with the Apple OS, but the fact is, Apple's operating system doesn't work properly and in the end I had no choice after 6 months but to exchange the faulty Apple OS for Windows and these problems vanished

- Bluetooth Audio Delay

- Packet loss on certain routers

- Wifi dropouts

I run a very demanding business on the move and sadly, after speaking to Apple and after various escalations I became tired with the rather offensive advice i was being given (such as making sure I wasn't too close to a Microwave Oven and prefering wooden tables to glass ones. They need to rewrite their drivers and kernel so it works.

The reality is, Apple has such a tiny market share they are inexperienced in the OS market, whereas Windows, love it or hate it has evolved with the support of most of the world for the past 20 years; recent incarnations from XP onwards are extemely robust and work well.

<Edited by Host>

Installing Windows is easy and you can run it alongside the Apple OS, so when you've finished doing something productive like I do, you can switch the OS to OSX and enjoy the asthetics of swiping web pages left and right off the page.

I always considered Macs to be for creating. Windows were for cubicles. Through marketing, people are now spending $2,000 on a laptop to play solitaire, check their Facebook postings, and listen to music.

I have the same problem of the wifi dropping out after 5 to 30 mins on my 2 month MBA 13".

I suspect the wifi chip is defective, it drops out very quickly if the MBA gets hot and the fans are on.

The only thing which worked is to buy the small  Billion BiPAC 3011N  Wireless-N  USB Adapter from Harris technology in Sydney. I have heard that the  Edimax EW-7811Un USB adapter also works (but has a shorter range). However you loose a USB port - not an ideal solution, but at least the MBA is connected to WIFI.

hi Montelimar,

I don't think the problem is with the wifi chip. I live in Sydney like you and have been having wifi drops all the time (while 2 other Dell PCs have no issue on the same network). I went to the Apple Store and they replaced the chip: nothing changed. I have now spent 1 month Europe (vacation), using 2 different networks, and I haven't had a single drop with the MBA.

To me, but I am not tech guru (or Apple genius...) this indicates that

• it's not just a hardware issue, or it would not work anywhere
• it's not just a software issue, or it would not work for anyone with Lion
• it's not just a router issue, or it would not work with any computer (while in Sydney my Windows PC are fine)

it sounds like the MBA software/hardware struggles in a particular setting. but yet, it could be because of a particular router, network intereferences, something else.

Now, we have a number of rather well documented case. If Apple has not found the source of the problem yet (and maybe they have) why don't they send their techs to our places so they can run a nice set of network diagnostics and figure it out? this way they can reproduce the problem, test different hardware/software settings, etc.

Mario

Hi Mario

Apple replaced the WIFI chip today and the MBA has been working fine on wifi for the last 5 hours (previously wifi was lost after  5 to 30 minutes)

They also reloaded the OS.

So far so good!

Nothing but trouble with my MBA 13" wifi - hopefully when I go back too the states they can replace my airport and it will fix all my problems.

I just wanted to add to this. I was given an air 13" as a Christmas present which is fantastic.

I am getting this WiFi issue with it not reconnecting after sleep.

No issues with Win7, XP, Android, Wii, Sony TV, Blackberry etc on same network.

Support have been good, but it's still not resolved.

Would be great to get this sorted.

Get the airport card replaced and if it doesn't work, then return it before your 14 days is up. Seriously

Seems to be sorted after update of router firmware - I have a Thompson Router, and the latest firmware includes a WiFi driver update.

Apple support helped me find the issue.

Just to chime in, I'm noticing the same issues. I have an MBA running 10.7.2. I notice that when I'm trying to connect to 802.11g networks I get the infuriating "!" symbol. Around me, PC users are happily surfing while I hover in disbelief not actually willing to accept that they're on the Internet and me and my Mac are shore bound. The only thing that sometimes works is a hard reset of the router which, other than at the most accommodating coffee shops (where I often work on the road), is impossible. Any fixes out there?