new macbook pro 2011 weak and dropping wireless connection

I would not be surprised for the 'dropped connections' problem to be related to a bad card, but I am not so certain about the performance issue. Dropped connections are a pain, but they are obvious. The performance difference is not the same issue, and may be hidden from folks that do not have an ability to check with ping, or do large downloads where it is obvious something is not right. I have now received two systems, both with the identical ping issue, an both with identical issues in speed compared to the 2009 I am replacing. Have not had a chance to try the bootcamp test, to see if the Windows subsystem has the same issue.

Will be touching base with Applecare support next week to see what they think, and to add my voice to the folks that are unhappy.

Again I would love to know what is your environment like, network speed band etc... To get a better feel

My friend has same 13 inch as me but uses older wrt54g router and has already higher pings in 20ms or so and no drops while transferring. I'm going to setup my old wrt54g and try few test.

I agree with above I think this is affecting more people that they know.

yozhbk wrote:
Again I would love to know what is your environment like, network speed band etc... To get a better feel

My friend has same 13 inch as me but uses older wrt54g router and has already higher pings in 20ms or so and no drops while transferring. I'm going to setup my old wrt54g and try few test.

I agree with above I think this is affecting more people that they know.

I told you earlier what my environment is like but i will try to go into more detail now.


When i bought this macbook pro i was using a standard 802.11 b/g network. I had 2 access points, one is in my home made FreeBSD based router, the other is a FIOS Actiontek router (it's being used as a coax bridge mainly to allow my FiOS Cable boxes to get an ip, but i was also using it as a wifi bridge.

Both were setup as WPA/WPA2.

With these access points i had no problems and my pings were fine. I never noticed an issue.

About a week after i got my macbook pro i ordered an Airport Extreme Base Station to add 802.11n to my network.

It is being used as a wireless bridge, in both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz mode, also WPA/WPA2.

I can connect to both bands and get good pings/speed on both.

I use both bands because the range of 5 Ghz isn't great. When i'm upstairs, i use 5 Ghz, when i'm downstairs i use 2.4 Ghz

If you like i can post ping results to each.

Yes please if you can ping for 150 ping and also maybe transfer a file while pinging from network

heres 2 minutes worth done while transfering an giant 1080p movie from my nas to my desktop




PING 192.168.1.5 (192.168.1.5): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=0.600 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.687 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0.596 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=0.717 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=0.624 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=0.615 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=0.630 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=7 ttl=255 time=0.768 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=8 ttl=255 time=0.685 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=9 ttl=255 time=0.973 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=10 ttl=255 time=0.694 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=11 ttl=255 time=0.674 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=12 ttl=255 time=0.678 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=13 ttl=255 time=0.703 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=14 ttl=255 time=0.707 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=15 ttl=255 time=0.643 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=16 ttl=255 time=0.778 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=17 ttl=255 time=1.137 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=18 ttl=255 time=0.761 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=19 ttl=255 time=0.806 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=20 ttl=255 time=0.590 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=21 ttl=255 time=0.872 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=22 ttl=255 time=0.723 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=23 ttl=255 time=0.611 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=24 ttl=255 time=0.600 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=25 ttl=255 time=0.747 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=26 ttl=255 time=0.678 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=27 ttl=255 time=0.822 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=28 ttl=255 time=0.729 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=29 ttl=255 time=0.720 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=30 ttl=255 time=0.732 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=31 ttl=255 time=0.540 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=32 ttl=255 time=0.774 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=33 ttl=255 time=0.812 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=34 ttl=255 time=0.929 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=35 ttl=255 time=0.784 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=36 ttl=255 time=0.760 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=37 ttl=255 time=0.751 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=38 ttl=255 time=0.844 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=39 ttl=255 time=0.715 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=40 ttl=255 time=0.751 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=41 ttl=255 time=0.794 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=42 ttl=255 time=0.753 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=43 ttl=255 time=0.855 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=44 ttl=255 time=0.553 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=45 ttl=255 time=0.622 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=46 ttl=255 time=0.737 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=47 ttl=255 time=2.032 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=48 ttl=255 time=1.463 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=49 ttl=255 time=0.580 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=50 ttl=255 time=0.812 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=51 ttl=255 time=0.761 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=52 ttl=255 time=0.764 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=53 ttl=255 time=0.843 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=54 ttl=255 time=1.988 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=55 ttl=255 time=0.739 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=56 ttl=255 time=0.847 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=57 ttl=255 time=0.616 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=58 ttl=255 time=0.732 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=59 ttl=255 time=0.833 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=60 ttl=255 time=0.758 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=61 ttl=255 time=1.272 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=62 ttl=255 time=0.865 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=63 ttl=255 time=1.544 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=64 ttl=255 time=0.792 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=65 ttl=255 time=0.884 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=66 ttl=255 time=0.703 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=67 ttl=255 time=0.623 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=68 ttl=255 time=0.647 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=69 ttl=255 time=0.822 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=70 ttl=255 time=0.792 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=71 ttl=255 time=0.760 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=72 ttl=255 time=0.703 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=73 ttl=255 time=0.731 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=74 ttl=255 time=0.819 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=75 ttl=255 time=0.772 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=76 ttl=255 time=0.695 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=77 ttl=255 time=1.812 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=78 ttl=255 time=0.717 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=79 ttl=255 time=0.807 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=80 ttl=255 time=0.641 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=81 ttl=255 time=0.764 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=82 ttl=255 time=0.567 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=83 ttl=255 time=0.678 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=84 ttl=255 time=0.816 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=85 ttl=255 time=0.660 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=86 ttl=255 time=0.691 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=87 ttl=255 time=0.669 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=88 ttl=255 time=0.606 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=89 ttl=255 time=0.847 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=90 ttl=255 time=0.712 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=91 ttl=255 time=0.684 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=92 ttl=255 time=0.628 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=93 ttl=255 time=0.769 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=94 ttl=255 time=1.052 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=95 ttl=255 time=0.686 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=96 ttl=255 time=0.789 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=97 ttl=255 time=0.616 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=98 ttl=255 time=1.062 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=99 ttl=255 time=0.661 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=100 ttl=255 time=0.568 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=101 ttl=255 time=0.697 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=102 ttl=255 time=0.807 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=103 ttl=255 time=0.680 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=104 ttl=255 time=1.136 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=105 ttl=255 time=0.672 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=106 ttl=255 time=1.862 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=107 ttl=255 time=0.805 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=108 ttl=255 time=0.719 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=109 ttl=255 time=0.739 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=110 ttl=255 time=0.846 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=111 ttl=255 time=0.869 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=112 ttl=255 time=0.726 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=113 ttl=255 time=0.747 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=114 ttl=255 time=0.689 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=115 ttl=255 time=0.676 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=116 ttl=255 time=0.808 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=117 ttl=255 time=0.670 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=118 ttl=255 time=0.692 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=119 ttl=255 time=0.792 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=120 ttl=255 time=0.929 ms

Ok just pulled out my old WRT54G with DD-WRT on it. Connected it as an AP in the current network, still have the APBE and APE on the network and just using WRT54G as a AP not a router, set to auto channel (it picked 1) ping times are a bit better but not great, but not dropping, but durring transfer of a large files no drops, switches to APBE and transfer same file pings start to drop like crazy. Now of course on WRT54G at 54Mb the rate of transfer did not go higher then 3MB, and on APBE it went as high as 12MB.

Also it does seem that sudo ping showing lower ping times, which is so strange.....

Message was edited by: yozhbk

How fast was the transfer ?

i didn't really measure it, but it was fast.

I'm new to osx somewhat, is there a method (other than timing it) to tell how fast something is transfering when you're using finder?

I just did a drag/drop

Also you said from your NAS to your desktop ? I meant to transfer from NAS to the Laptop via wireless

open activity monitor and click on the network.

One more thing, if you go to system profiler and check the aiport card versions like this:


Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.2.2 (622.2)
configd plug-in: 6.2.5 (625.6)
System Profiler: 6.0.1 (601.1)
Network Preference: 6.2.2 (622.2)
AirPort Utility: 5.5.2 (552.11)
IO80211 Family: 3.2 (320.1)
Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0xD6)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 5.100.198.10.2)
Locale: FCC
Country Code: US
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
Wake On Wireless: Supported
Status: Connected

yozhbk wrote:
Also you said from your NAS to your desktop ? I meant to transfer from NAS to the Laptop via wireless

This is a misunderstanding. When i said "desktop" i meant the "desktop" on my laptop.

The area at /Users/wonslung/Desktop/

Here are my results no transfer not doing anything while connected at


Current Network Information:
YozhN5:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 10:9a:dd:X:X:XX
Channel: 149,1
Country Code: US
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -66 dBm / -88 dBm
Transmit Rate: 243
MCS Index: 14


--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
100 packets transmitted, 100 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.789/58.394/288.712/83.207 ms

Message was edited by: yozhbk

Now here with transfering a file via FTP

192.168.1.3 ping statistics ---
100 packets transmitted, 91 packets received, 9.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.708/40.288/301.336/73.562 ms
Steven-Shvartmans-MacBook-Pro:~ steven$

Whats interesting about this, is that transfer was peaking at 12.5MB with an avg of 9MB, the drops did not affect the transfer at all, meaning the transfer didnt stop didnt halt didnt slow down and finished.

My wireless connection is via a Linksys (now Cisco) WAP4400N, and am connected at a transmit rate of 145. It is my home network, and the router I ping is the Verizon FIOS modem/router, though I can get the same odd results pinging the Access Point directly. My 2009 MBP sitting right next to the 2011 MBP will get a flawless 1.4-1.5 ms ping time consistently, while the 2011 will vary wildly between 1.5ms and hundreds of ms. Using speedtest.net the 2009 consistently gets about 25Mbps while the 2011 never gets above 5.5Mbps to the same server within seconds of each other.

Definitely something wrong with the wireless connection on BOTH of the 2011 MBP's I have received.