Q: WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

I like ogross74's workaround, but had to modify it a bit for my setup - at work, I use the laptop in clamshell mode, and wake it with bluetooth.  So turning off bluetooth when I put it to sleep at home is a no-go.  These scripts turn bluetooth on when the laptop is going to sleep, and turns it off on wake IF no keyboard/mouse/trackpad is connected AND the lid is open.

this one is for sleeping:

# turn on bluetooth when going to sleep

blueutil on

this one is for waking:

# determine if bluetooth keyboard, mouse, magic trackpad are connected.  If not, turn off bluetooth

# to be used on wake to kill bluetooth interference with wireless connection

# code borrowed from

# http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/geeklets/system/battery-status-info-system-plus-keyb oard-mouse-and-trackpad/

# and

# http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa/224464-lid-open-and-close-notification .html

DEBUG=NO

kbatt=`ioreg -c AppleBluetoothHIDKeyboard | grep BatteryPercent | tail -1|awk '{print $NF}'`;

tbatt=`ioreg -c BNBTrackpadDevice | grep BatteryPercent | tail -1|awk '{print $NF}'`;

mbatt=`ioreg -c BNBMouseDevice | grep Percent | tail -1| awk '{print $NF}'`;

clamshell=`ioreg -n IOPMrootDomain | grep AppleClamshellState | sed 's/^.*=//'`

if [ $DEBUG == "YES" ]; then

     date

     echo "tbatt:$tbatt"

     echo "mbatt:$mbatt"

     echo "kbatt:$kbatt"

     echo "clamshell:$clamshell"

fi

if [ ${#mbatt} -lt 1 -a ${#tbatt} -lt 1 -a ${#kbatt} -lt 1 -a ${clamshell} == "No" ]; then

    if [ $DEBUG == "YES" ]; then

       echo "Turning off bluetooth because lid open and no bluetooth devices connected"

    fi

    blueutil off

else

    if [ $DEBUG == "YES" ]; then

       echo "Leaving bluetooth on because some bluetooth devices connected and/or lid closed"

    fi

fi

That fixed my connect-on-wake problems for a while, but something changed, and now I drop out from time to time.  Trying the "turn off ipv6" workaround now..

Please try following - I have found this advise on macrumors.com, written by mobius1ski:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1210649

Turning off IPv6 with sudo networksetup .. solved the issue for me.

There is a fix for the iMac:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1501?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I hope a fix for the MacBook Air will be released very soon, too...

I've become incredibly frustrated with my new MacBook Air (Feb 2012 purchase).  My internet speeds on it are incredibly slow no matter how close it is to the router.  I tried a variety of the fixes mentioned in this forum but I can unequivocably say that one simple change worked: I turned off my bluetooth connections. 

Wifi speeds went from under 1mbps to ~20mbps.  Dramatic improvement.  Granted, download speeds are still actually slower than upload speeds (I have fiber and they should be equal and are equal when on a wired connection) but I am happy with simply working Internet. 

After turning BT off, I turned it back on and the connection still seems to be stable.  I am skeptical whether this will hold out but at least I know the problem and will go with a wired mouse (vs BT Mac mouse) if I have to.  Annoying but at least it is working.

Please create an update for this Apple!

So I have been having the problem with not reconnecting after sleep since I got this Air. Today, I replaced my Airport Extreme and initially I had the same problem. However, I enabled the 5Ghz network option and when I connected to that and removed the old 2.4Ghz connection from my list of stored connections all works as expected!!! If I removed the 5Ghz and go back to 2.4GHz the problem comes back. Not a great solution, but it will work for me for now....

Thought that the issue was with BlueTooth - it looks like I was either wrong or mostly wrong.  The super slow internet issue quickly came back after I turned BT back on (although it took about 30 minutes for the signal to fully degrade, which was very odd). 

I tried something else - I have a second monitor attached to my MacBook Air.  I unplugged the monitory.  My speed instantly went way up (not exactly where it should be but much higher than between .5-3Mbps that I was receving).  I am using a mini display port that is non-standard apple issued.  Everything works fine with the second screen except that, for some unknown reason, it clearly destroys the ability of my wifi signal to process fast speeds.  I really enjoy using two screens so this is hardly an ideal solution but at least now I know what to do when I need/want faster speeds.

Adam

This method worked for me, but it`s not consistent though. The issue keeps repeating.

I agree that this must be related to OSX in combination with MBA13.. Other MacBook en Imacs connect perfectly to my existing Airport Extreme and don't seem to have the problem.. My MBA13 from one day to the other all of a sudden has WiFi issues... no connection after sleep. No automatic connection when first logging on and lately no connectivity at all. I have found that entering the IP address manually, so not using DHCP, solves the problem. It seems like the MBA13 has issues in the IP stack, resolving the IP address using the DHCP server.  I'm running 10.7.3

I am having similar problems with a late 2011 MBA13 running 10.7.3.  When I am connected to wifi and close the lid then re-open it, the machine does not automatically reconnect - ever.  It always did before. To get it to connect I have to turn wifi off and back on.  It then connects for that session.

The things I have tried that have worked are:

Turning off Bluetooth - reconnects every time but not good for my BT keyboard, trackpad and mouse setup.

Setting the wifi at one of the locations I frequent to 5GHz - reconnects every time but not all my locations have 5GHz

Setting wireless security to WEP instead of WPA - reconnects every time but with reduced security, obviously.

The things I have tried that did not work are pretty much everything else in the groups: deleting the keychain for the wifi, creating a new location, pouring a circle of salt around the machine etc etc.  It seems like a wierd OS bug. Hopefully there will be a patch like the one for the iMac.

Jeff -

Your problems sound a lot like mine.  The thing that worked best for me that you didn't mention is the

sudo networksetup -setv6off Wi-Fi

as mentioned previously in the thread.  Have you tried that?

I will give this a try.

And how can I active ipv6 again?

sudo networksetup -setv6on Wi-Fi  ???

To active ipv6 again, this command should work - right?!

sudo networksetup -setv6automatic Wi-Fi

What worked for me was setting DNS to a static 8.8.8.8

No more issues connecting from sleep instantly. This fix worked on two seperate Airports with my 11" MBA.

I would just like to add, in case it's any help for anyone looking, or for Apple themselves, that I've had an MBA13 for about 2 months now and it's been brilliant all round. Despite what's been said above I've not experienced any problems up til now in either finding wireless networks, connecting to them, or data speeds. Be the network at home or in public. Additionally, I have had no problems whatsoever in re-connecting to the wi-fi immediately upon re-awakening the MBA. Until that is last night. Last night my internet connection just disappeared. I had a connection to the router via wi-fi but couldn't get anything beyond that. Today, I tried again, nothing. Could speak to the router but couldn't go beyond it. Then, after I'd reported the issue to the ISP - believeing it to be their fault, about 2 hrs later I had a connection again. Mail started to flow and web pages loaded. It lasted about 1 hour then went again. Again, connected to the wi-fi router but nothing going out or coming in from behind that. A check on the router admin pages indicated it was connected to the internet but no traffic was going in or out.

I even tried my wife's MBA13 which she'd left at home - exact same problem.

My daughter came home from school, fired up her MBP and connected with the internet straight away.

I checked and double checked all the settings on the MBP and my and my wife's MBAs - all identical.  

I did some searches on-line and found this thread. Scanned the entries and tried a few. The one that worked for me was that by ChristianMoehler above posted Feb 24th 8.06hrs which he took from the MacRumours forum. I turned everything off wi-fi connectivity then deleted the connection to my home router, then turned wi-fi connectivity back on, having first saved the changes. I was asked to select a network, chose the home one, entered the password and it reconnected. Now all seems fine again. Let's hope it stays that way.

I did the same with my wife's MBA and now her's is fine also.

The wierd thing is though, why would both MBAs suffer the same problem at the same time? Neither did a software update since they were last connected to the internet and mine just dropped its connectivity part through me using it. Strange. Anyway try deleting and re-connecting your connecting your connection to the router.