Q: WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

Well, I'm blown away by the length of this discussion... and it is exactly because of this thread that I did not buy a MBA.

Might suggestion for anyone considering buying the MBA is "Don't do it!".

I bought a MB PRO Retina 13" instead... it's still very light and compact, better screen and my WIFI anywhere is better than any other laptop I've owned. Very happy with it.

I you just bought it less than 14 days ago and none of the solutions in this thread work... take it back to Apple and exchange for above MP PRO retina..

If you're stuck with it out of the 14 day window beg for a refund and bring out a print of this discussion... they'll probably take it back..

Or sell it on Ebay/Gazelle and get rid of it... I know I would be way pis#@d at Apple for this kind of crappy behavior.

Don't buy it. It's not your ISP provider... I'm writing this in Malaysia.  I have no problems with my other devices in my house -  Apple or otherwise.

Don't. Buy. It.

Been considering purchase of a 11" MBA, however this forum has changed my mind.  All of the BS here about tweaking your wireless router is irrelevant if you are traveling.  Oh, and why would somebody buy such a tiny computer as the MBA if they didn't ever intend on traveling with it. My experience with with most Apple products is that they are subpar in wireless performance when compared to similar platforms of a different brand.  Some in this forum have mentioned poor antenna design in the MBA as a possible factor.  With that thought, I wonder if the wifi issues are worse in the 11" MBA vs. the 13" MBA.

Whoa... this is one of the longest discussions I've read on the MacBook Air. - Uhm, yes, many problems with the wifi part of my MBA early on because wifi is temperamental business and this laptop is specifically built around the idea of having no cables - hence wifi. It is true that the antenna is not the best in this one simply because of the fact that you are dealing with miniturization - compromises had to be made for less weight. I own a second gen 13' MBA from late '08 with its guts changed to '11 specs - Apple was so kind to give me a new hood, bezel, camera and - most important - a new cooling fan... The reason being that the MBA's vents on the bottom easily get covered and then you're running into an overheating problem pretty quickly with the wifi chip set slowing down to a crawl. True, those who are not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of wifi should not get it and early on there were many times I was frustrated beyond belief. Just because a network shows up in its search settings does not mean that the MBA can actually log on and even if it does, there still might be no internet connection for a number of reasons. I suggest to get a software called iStumbler which determines a number of factors through which you can figure out pretty quickly whether you got a good connection: It will show what spec used (a,b,g or n) as well as which channel you are dealing with and whether there is excessive noise on your channel (there are only 11 of them). Too many networks on the same channel can also be a problem as well as interference from microwaves, cordless phones, electric magnets, fans, etc...you name it. Another issue can be shielding in your building or "ghosting" and reception shadows - wifi is complicated.

All that said, I was running Leopard, then Snow Leopard early on and I have switched to basic OS X Lion 10.7.5 recently, upgrading from 32bit to 64bit as well. I was advised by Apple to use that one since it is considered the most stable and unless you have the newest MBA, Mountain Lion makes little sense since you won't be able to take advantage of its many multitasking features.

Regarding 'n' spec it is the most reliable wifi platform with the MBA because of its data packeting and less vulnerability to the low antenna sensitivity of the MBA - but that just means that for the other wifi platforms you'll have to use your interpretative skills in combination with iStumbler a little more. Pesky time out issues with routers of different makes can also be present - Apple's software doesn't like routers/modems made by Cisco too much and the introduction of bandwidth limitation software clashes with Apple specs.

Oh yeah, and ... don't forget to enter several Open DNS data in Network settings, Google's for instance (Utilities -> Network -> select wifi -> advanced -> DNS tab), both Ipv4 and Ipv6 addresses, to make sure that connectivity is no issue either.

I hope all this helps.

Thanks for taking the time for your reply.  You have provided some very useful information.

This response perfectly explains how much ******** the whole situation is. The macbook air is aimed at the everyday joe schmoe who isn't a computer or network specialist. This machine is targeted towards people who just want a simple machine that they can drag everywhere with them to do basic web browsing and the sort. As with other apple products it is "supposed" to "just work". It fails in this aspect greatly. You can explain the intricate nature of WI-FI until you run out of breath, but it doesn't change a thing... This should not happen, period. Apple needs to admit their fault and replace all these junk mac book airs with better wi-fi hardware.

Apple's software doesn't like cisco routers? Really? One of the biggest name router manufacturers in existence. I call ******** on this statement as well. None of the other apple laptops / devices have any issues connecting to the very same routers that the macbook air chokes on.

24hourtourist wrote:

 

Whoa... this is one of the longest discussions I've read on the MacBook Air. - Uhm, yes, many problems with the wifi part of my MBA early on because wifi is temperamental business and this laptop is specifically built around the idea of having no cables - hence wifi. It is true that the antenna is not the best in this one simply because of the fact that you are dealing with miniturization - compromises had to be made for less weight. I own a second gen 13' MBA from late '08 with its guts changed to '11 specs - Apple was so kind to give me a new hood, bezel, camera and - most important - a new cooling fan... The reason being that the MBA's vents on the bottom easily get covered and then you're running into an overheating problem pretty quickly with the wifi chip set slowing down to a crawl. True, those who are not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of wifi should not get it and early on there were many times I was frustrated beyond belief. Just because a network shows up in its search settings does not mean that the MBA can actually log on and even if it does, there still might be no internet connection for a number of reasons. I suggest to get a software called iStumbler which determines a number of factors through which you can figure out pretty quickly whether you got a good connection: It will show what spec used (a,b,g or n) as well as which channel you are dealing with and whether there is excessive noise on your channel (there are only 11 of them). Too many networks on the same channel can also be a problem as well as interference from microwaves, cordless phones, electric magnets, fans, etc...you name it. Another issue can be shielding in your building or "ghosting" and reception shadows - wifi is complicated.

All that said, I was running Leopard, then Snow Leopard early on and I have switched to basic OS X Lion 10.7.5 recently, upgrading from 32bit to 64bit as well. I was advised by Apple to use that one since it is considered the most stable and unless you have the newest MBA, Mountain Lion makes little sense since you won't be able to take advantage of its many multitasking features.

Regarding 'n' spec it is the most reliable wifi platform with the MBA because of its data packeting and less vulnerability to the low antenna sensitivity of the MBA - but that just means that for the other wifi platforms you'll have to use your interpretative skills in combination with iStumbler a little more. Pesky time out issues with routers of different makes can also be present - Apple's software doesn't like routers/modems made by Cisco too much and the introduction of bandwidth limitation software clashes with Apple specs.

Oh yeah, and ... don't forget to enter several Open DNS data in Network settings, Google's for instance (Utilities -> Network -> select wifi -> advanced -> DNS tab), both Ipv4 and Ipv6 addresses, to make sure that connectivity is no issue either.

 

I hope all this helps.

Just adding my experience here.

Had to take my MBA 2011 in for repair. It needed a new keyboard and trackpad due to water damage. They changed the display/clamshell for no extra charge for some reason. I Can't remember the reason they gave.

Anyhow, pre-repair, the MBA was getting download speeds of 30mbs at home similar to my ipad, iphone, imac and dell work computer. Post-repair this has dropped to 300kbps whilst all my other devices are at 30mbs.

I've tried all trouble-shooting options to no avail. My PHY mode even says 802.11n as Apple suggests.

I'm taking it in again tomorrow but seems an odd coincidence that after changing some hardware parts, I'm now suffering from the same problem with the MBA as others when it is definitely not the router.

Try this, it may work for you!

I had the same problem on my 2012 Macair for a week. I have been searching for solutions on web and tried many different methods. Eventually, I found that this problem is actually caused by the WPA of the router. Once I changed WPA to WPA2, the connection back to normal in a second.

Good information, however if you are traveling with your MBA, tweaking wireless routers is not an option.

Thanks but does not solve the problem. I've worked out that when I'm sat literally next to the router, I get 25mps but as soon as I move into another room, it drops right back to 300kbs. I never had this issue before pre-repair which suggest something has happened to the antennae (or whatever it is that picks up the signal).

Whilst my MBA is not dropping connectivity to my wifi router, I am having the same problem as others on this thread which is EXCEEDINGLY slow connection to the internet - my ethernet cabled iMac and iPad work fine.  I bought my MBA in late 2011 and runs the latest Lion software.

This may sound really weird but when I hold my laptop in a 'portrait' position - i.e. on its side - then my speeds shoot up.

Using Thinkbroadband.com to test my speed, I can consistently go from very slow download speed (100kbps! when the MBA is in its normal position) to in excess of 15Mbps (when the MBA is on its side).

I have tried all of the other proposed solutions on every forum and none have worked so far. But this seems to have done the tick - albeit totally unpractically. I read about issues with the aerial in the screen portion of the laptop so this 'solution' may fall into this category.

If I'm doing a large download, then having the laptop on its side gets the job done much quicker.

Any thoughts or can someone else try this 'solution' and see if using the MBA on its side has similar results?

Cheers

Took it into Apple today and they accepted there was something wrong so it's going back into repair to change the airport card.

Just out of interest, I showed the Apple guy this thread and he was pretty dismissive!

of course. they are trained not to acknowlege problems unless they are given official notice of the issue from corporate. if he had agreed that it was a widespread issue he would probably have been fired.

Holyporter wrote:

 

Took it into Apple today and they accepted there was something wrong so it's going back into repair to change the airport card.

 

Just out of interest, I showed the Apple guy this thread and he was pretty dismissive!

They do contempt for customers for free!

They really don't seem to care about the wi-fi / MacBook Air issue and are being entirely dismissive of their customers. When I raised the issue in a NYC store, the "genius" told me that I needed to "adjust my perception of reality" and that the number of comments on this forum isn't at all significant. On a completely unrelated note (sic), their stock was down over 12% today, losing nearly $60 billion in market value.