Q: WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

Well I finally upgraded to OS X 10.8, and I haven't had anymore wifi issues anymore... PSYCHE!! I connect fine to my regular wifi all the time, but now I have problems connecting to my Guest wifi... Close enough to a win it seems. LOL

I took the advise online and swap out the machine, it was quite easy no problems and the new MBA is connecting flawlessly to any network. 4 countries so far!!! Thanks for the encouragement.

Can I swap my MBA in a different country from where I bought it?

Is it possible there is a bad batch of MBAs out there that have Internet issues?

Ok, the plot thickens. Got it working on my mate's router for the moment.

In china I have a crappu china telecom modem/router that relays the Internet to my airport extreme. The modem/router sometimes cuts off the Internet when it's not used, and the only way I get some devices to connect is by resetting it. This is probably a china telecom issue anyway, however, I couldn't get on my mate's router in the uk, despite my iPad and Samsung phone having no issues. Then I checked the Internet DNS, and found it only lists the DNS of my router in china. Checked the DNS of the Internet at my friend's place, and noticed it was (obviously) different. Added his DNS  (the one of his Internet) and it started working!

Now let's not hold my breath, because if it again goes to sleep, I might be back at square one...

OK So every 2 weeks or so since that June 8th update I turned on my MBA and prayed. Still no keyboard input. I connected via USB and OK. I reformatted and then reinstalled the OS (clean & new, not a back up archive). Worked for about 5 min then keyboard froze and wireless dropped. Called a local authorized Apple repair tech.

Found out about the APPLE repair $399 program to fix everything w/ 90 d warranty with a "2 business day turnaround". The local tech FEDEXED it to Apple. Was a 4 day turnaround out Mon afternoon, returned Thurs and I picked it up Fri afternoon. Got home and still no wireless- Apple tech did not install/activate the AirPort Card. They did replace the Logic Board as their diagnostic said it "went to sleep". They also replaced the keyboard. I listed the S.M.A.R.T errors but they did find anything so they did not replace the hard drive.

I called and have to ship it back this Mon so I'm out another week. Decided the $400 repair investment (if it works) will hold me over for another 2 years until I decide on which Windows device to purchase ( or Apple gets their act together). The whole computer/device world is changing, will see where the dust settles in the next year or so.

I sure hope this $400 repair buys me at least another 18 mo.

I have a MBA 2010 running Lion.  Wifi was working absolutey fine without any issue up until about 6 weeks ago.  Now it's very intermittent.  I have disconnect, reconnect every few minutes just to keep it working.

If I boot into windows 7 on the same machine via bootcamp, wifi has no issues whatsoever.

This is without a doubt a software problem, and the timing of the 'break' is very dubious

Is this some kind of underhand tactic by apple? "Yes sir, it seems that upgrading to Mountain Lion will fix the problem.."

Well I have a new macbook Air (2012 13", i7, 8gb, 256gb running ML) and have the problem where bluetooth severely hampers or completely stops the peformance of my wifi.

Instead of going through the entire saga, I have posted the events in this thread http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1965579 but the short story is that I wrote a letter to Tim Cook and it has now been elevated to Cupertino engineers. Hopefully we can find a final resolution to this.

I just bouht a new MB Air 11", i7, 8GB running ML 10.8.1 and everything was ok with the Wifi until I paired the magic mouse thru BT. Since then wifi only works 5seconds then no more dataflow. As soon as BT is turned OFF Wifi start working, then it only stops when BT is turned ON. Very disapointing I've lost a lot of time finding the problem and now I have to use the track pad or buy another mouse

If Apple gets back to you let us know. I'm already thinking of sending this MB back to the reseller and wait for a solution.

Interesting thought.  What if everyone who experienced this issue returned the MacBook Air?  What would Apple do?

There's a long established history of Apple not caring when their devices suck.  Anyone remember Steve Jobs' email to a poor iPhone 4 customer?  "Don't hold it that way!" 

But if people started returning Apple products in droves, it would be too expensve for them to continue to simply ignore. 

Just a thought.

I would venture to bet that if this was indeed the case and so many Apple computers were defective in this regard that these forums would have many more messages than they do currently.

I do have to wonder however whether Apple uses particularly weak Wi-Fi antennas in the MacBook air in particular, so that its failure rate will be higher thus causing people to upgrade their computers more regularly.

After the horrid press Apple received due to antenna gate on the iPhone 4 model, I would have thought that Apple would be particularly sensitive to this issue and would sincerely work to make sure its products have no problems with Wi-Fi.

Apple has lost customers due to these issues, particularly amongst younger buyers who viewed the iPhone 4 antenna issue as an indicator of Apple's quality or lack there of.

Apple, if you are listening and/or see this, the time to fix your Wi-Fi issues is now. Your customers count on your products and love your company, myself included, but we will not tolerate these issues forever.

I spoke with a knowledgable Apple tech support rep this weekend on a different isse. I brought up the MacBook Air connection problems. He was aware, said that the Apple engineers were also aware, and basically admitted that the WiFi antenna in the MBA is weak. This causes a variety of connection issue and shows up in a variety of specific symptoms. If so, this is a hardware issue and will not be resolved with upgrades to OS-X.

I have to disagree.  My problem was solved with an OS X upgrade.  Pls see my earlier posting, about 2 months ago.

Perhaps I was not as articulate as I should have been. The Apple tech's theory is that the weak antenna shows up with a variety of symptoms and there may be a variety of solutions that improve the performance of individual MBAs. An upgrade to OS 10.8 may resolve your particular situation, but reviewing this thread, there have been a variety of "fixes" that have worked for various MBAs, but there has not been a single solution that seems to have worked for most. If the Apple tech is correct, an antenna with better performance would be a more universal fix. But of course a hardware fix is more difficult to provide than a software upgrade, turning off Bluetooth, changing WiFi channels, etc., etc.

Ok, so turns out the problem is with my China providers router modern mostly. Abroad, with family and friends I did not have this issue. However, and you guys will want to check this on your Mac book air: I have to manually add the DNA of the modem/router Goethe internet, otherwise it won't connect. Really annoying a sometimes you cannot obtain that (for example in hotels)