new macbook pro 2011 weak and dropping wireless connection

The article says...

Quote: 'I discovered that the problem disappears when the delay between packets is reduced to 200ms.'

That is not true here, the ratio of regular ping times to crazy high pings is better though. Averaging 1 bad ping out of 5 per second.

To test
sudo ping -i .2 *router ip*

Message was edited by: transpose

Message was edited by: transpose

You know, I have absolutely no idea what you guys are talking about. I get the part about things not working as they should and I've got the same problem. But the technical stuff is way beyond my comprehension. I'm just hoping someone will catch the attention of Apple and they'll do something about it. This is a pretty expensive machine and I would think you could reasonably expect it to be in better working condition than this.

If more people would notice this issue and complain more, maybe Apple will acknowledge this issue and release a firmware upgrade to solve it, but since the voice of people is in small numbers Im sure its on a very last priority.

Just came back from Apple store nearby, when I told them I had issue with wireless they don't even look at my machine but straightly came out a solution - AirPort card replacement, that's it nothing more they can do or test at store. They also told me they have not heard any issue with this model of MBP, mine is the first case..WTH is that true or just what they've been told to say so?!

Will it work? I don't know.

Yeah, I went down to mine last night. Unfortunately the guy at the "Genius Bar" (ironic eh?) didn't know much about networking and has booked it in for a possible airport card replacement (after they've tested it).

I also tried doing a few ping tests on their display models (which all had 10.6.7 on) and the results were the same. Admittedly their wireless network was probably way more congested than mine is at home, but I'd at least expect some fairly decent latency.

I've read a fair few posts from people saying they've just started encountering wireless issues after the 10.6.7 update (on older Macs).
I have an original Snow Leopard disc at home, so if they don't fix my 2011 Macbook, then I may try re-installing it using that (so it goes back to 10.6.0). This obviously won't affect the firmware on the Airport card (assuming that isn't the issue), but it will enable me to eliminate whether it's something in the 10.6.7 update causing it.

i have noted the same thing. i have had my 13 inch 2011 MBP for little over a week, and have really come to notice this behavior the past couple days. I do have intermittent connection problems from time to so I did not put this to the fault of the laptop before, but last night I checked the connection from the Speedtest app on my phone, (milestone) and it was fine. So I took out my 2009 MacBook and it was getting the internet fine too. After a while, restarting and network configuring, i got the internet working on my 2011 MBP. So I began speedtesting both. somewhat disturbingly the 2009 MB obtained faster scores consistently. I must have done the test like 20 times. It was only after that i stumbled on this forum, and it seems the problem is widespread. Just took a ping test, and here it is.

I will update the ping sheet later after doing it simultaneously on both. Do let me know if there is anything in particular that i can compare between these two. The software on both is the same, I did a time machine migration to the new one from the old one.


Ping has started…

PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=25.470 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=67.082 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=33.491 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=117.250 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=28.040 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=48.253 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=82.192 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=74.589 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=103.153 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=114.769 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=51.150 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=62.575 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=86.353 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=30.654 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=41.331 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=55.465 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=2.437 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=9.156 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=24.737 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=83.093 ms

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
20 packets transmitted, 20 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 2.437/57.062/117.250/32.758 ms

Yeah I was told when I walked into my Apple Store that it was the first time they heard about it as well. Although you should realize depending on who you are talking to, they probably would not be informed of such a small issue. I am sure it's not a big secret that they are trying to keep on the low 😉

I've seen a few people posting about the Apple store replacing the airport card, has anyone received their laptop back yet and tested it???

Message was edited by: ITDudeHere

Hey, Birdie18, they replaced my system not just the airport card, and it had no effect on the problem. Identical network performance. Will be calling and asking for engineering this coming week, to try to understand what they think in regard to the case lharris opened with them.

Surely Apple is aware of this problem. This thread is at the very top of of one of their official subforums. It is aggravating, after having spent over $2,000.00 on a machine, to have this poor a level of interaction between customers and staff. I am very upset.

I have a new MPB 15 2.2, huge problems from gitgo; huge hassle in migration, battery draining while power supply connected, heat issues, Fan kicks in and full OS lock and crash, huge latency issues which I noticed playing WOW. Side by side with my 3 year old MBP 15 2.o dual and my 3 year old comp out performs the new one. Apple support and I did a ton of diagnostics, I can drive the latency with WOW every time, as load increases, chip temp increases, latency increases to almost 4 seconds!. Apple actually replaced my computer by swapping drives into a new chassis, problems continue and new problem starts with a constant drive/low level fan noise. I am not happy to have this computer and in all likelihood will be returning it for refund in the next few days unless a real solution occurs. I think a lot of folks will. Any solutions would be really welcome.

does anyone know if this has been picked up by Engadget or any other techblogs..? We need to get this in to a higher profile.

This is what a transfer of a file looks like:


64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1051 ttl=64 time=48.665 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1052 ttl=64 time=166.998 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1053 ttl=64 time=98.718 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1054
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1055 ttl=64 time=60.830 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1056 ttl=64 time=156.060 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1057 ttl=64 time=133.516 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1058 ttl=64 time=70.575 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1059 ttl=64 time=56.198 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1060 ttl=64 time=47.761 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1061 ttl=64 time=31.547 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1062 ttl=64 time=39.937 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1063
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1064 ttl=64 time=55.156 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1065 ttl=64 time=62.098 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1066 ttl=64 time=84.193 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1067 ttl=64 time=255.779 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1068
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1069 ttl=64 time=155.035 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1070 ttl=64 time=154.658 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1071
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1072 ttl=64 time=86.351 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1073 ttl=64 time=48.624 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1074 ttl=64 time=137.338 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1075
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1076 ttl=64 time=34.081 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1077 ttl=64 time=31.024 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1078
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1079 ttl=64 time=53.836 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1080 ttl=64 time=73.530 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1081 ttl=64 time=38.459 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1082 ttl=64 time=97.843 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1083 ttl=64 time=47.856 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1084 ttl=64 time=50.356 ms


Whats really interesting is that the file transfer doesnt slow down or drops. This is usually seen on congested pipes where QOS is implemented and considers ICMP traffic low priority and drops it, now with that said, we are on a local network no router in between except the wireless router, which does not perform QOS, this makes me believe Apple or Broadcom tried to implement QOS in the firmware. This is the only logic explanation/rationalization I can com up with. Or it is power management, but with power management I would think the transfer it self would drop.

I went into an Apple reseller today and reproduce the issues on a 13", 15" and 17" machine while a Macbook Air pinged their router at 2ms right beside it.

I called Applecare last week (I hope everyone is logging a case with them) and they were helpful but didn't really get what I was trying to explain and were trying to blame interference for issues with one machine on a network with several Macs.

Oh well, they asked me to benchmark speeds and latency under various conditions and get back to them so I'll do that and call them again.

Just been called by my local Apple store and spoke to a helpful guy there. He said that they haven't been able to reproduce my issues on their network (i.e. connectivity speeds were 'good' and file transfer/Internet usage was quick). He said that they don't want to replace the airport card in it given that it's less than 2 weeks old.

I'll get it back tomorrow and re-test it myself. If I still get the same issues then I'll try wiping the drive and installing Snow Leopard (10.6.0) on it, then seeing if the same issues occur, and then 10.6.6.

It's likely to be the firmware though, which the OS install won't change, but it's worth a try given that I've read a few people's reports on 10.6.7 causing wireless issues with their older Macs (but this could also be because a newer firmware for the Broadcom chips is included in that update).

You cant and shouldnt install 10.6 on new 2011 macbooks as sandy bridge and other drivers are missing.