Q: Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

2008 mbp

802.11n, 5ghz, Channel 149, WPA2 Personal, apple extreme 4th generation

I tried the ping

ping `route get default | awk '(/gateway/){print $2}'`

and every 20-40 minutes or so, i get an error

Request timeout for icmp_seq 11610

multiple times

followed by

ping: sendto: No route to host

multiple times

followed by

ping: sendto: Host is down

multiple times

followed by

ping: sendto: Network is unreachable

etc.

Then all of a sudden, back from the dead...

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11740 ttl=255 time=0.950 ms

UPDATE: Posted a page back- I was couldn't keep connected for more than a few minutes the first day I turned on my new iMac (no migration). I changed the channel from "Auto" to "3" on my 2.5 GHZ band of my dual-band router and haven't had a problem since. That was the only troubleshooting tip I tried from this entire thread.

I know this solution hasn't worked for everyone, but it's been 2 days with no problems for me.

TYDYsails:

Canon is apparently updating drivers for Lion (slowly) but I can't predict the order in which they will get done.  Today (5 Aug 11) they dropped a new TWAIN-compliant driver for the CanoScan LiDE 700F, but the current driver for the 1240 is still back at OS X 10.4.

Update...running now since yesterday afternoon with no wifi issues by implementing the "ping" workaround.

I tried the channel idea and it didn't work, but I selected channel 11, maybe I should kill the pings and go back an try channel 3, 2.5GHz.

One other thing...we were having terrible slowness issues with the imac when switching users. My wife's account in particular. She would switch and her apps took forever to start up...got the spinning wheel of death over and over again. Since I put the ping window in the background, we haven't experienced any of the previous problems with the mac responding very slow when switching users.

I wonder if there is some underlying network connectivity issue...

Hi Doc

Thanks for the comeback. Yes, I have read a thread on the Canon problem, and looked at the Canon site, and what you say is quite correct. I tried using the Toolbox and driver for a Lide 60 but no joy - it also took up over an hour of my life! Maybe time to update the scanner. I saw one today for £20 - pity, nothing wrong with the 1240, but saves the hassle!

Thanks again Doc (and before anyone says anything - it is in the wrong thread (sort of) - apologies).

TY

Another "me to". I have MBP late 2010 and Airport Extreme router. Installed Lion a few days ago an have experienced wifi trouble ever since, but only from distance.

Usually I sit besides the router upstairs or I bring the laptop downstairs to the bedrom. I only exprerience problems in the bedrom. That has never been a problem before. RSSI varies from -79 to -86. I do not know but I do not think the RSSI has changed any. What have changes alot is the bandwith. It ***** bad now.

I am testing with ping -i 5 <router ip> for the last 20 min and it seems to keep the connection. The bandwith is far from stable and still very low sometimes.

Waiting for update!

I used the ping 'work around' and had no problems until this morning, aprox 36 hours give or take.

I have an old AP Extreme, NON-dual band, and the same problem as everyone else in the thread.

Lion dropping wifi connection directly or after a few minutes.

When able to surf it is a vary slow connection, approx 1-2 mbit/s eventhough my iPad2 is running on the very same network at 30+ Mbit/s.

since the drop this morning I have experienced no drops since, the terminal and ping work around isnt operating either.

Just to add myself to the list of WiFi drop sufferers.

I never, ever had a single Wifi signal drop under Snow Leopard - not once!

It now happens up to a dozen times a day - I get alert windows appearing saying that the connection to my remote server has dropped as well as the file Safari connection error.

I've been living with it for two weeks as well as many other issues and I've been seeking remedies on here on a daily basis.

Tried everything. Sick of it!

I think the word has bubbled up.  I got a call today, Sunday, from an apple Tech asking (left message) if I'd be willing to help.  When he calls me tomorrow I'll ask why it took so long. I'm sure all the discussions of pings and router changes might come in to play in the investigation but not as a fix.  This is an Apple problem.  Doubt if us "investigators" will be compensated for our efforts but hopefully it will lead to a better product.

This does make me feel better as well that it isn't just me. Thought I would add my voice too.

Since upgrading to Lion I have had my wifi drop repeatedly. Since beginning this search it has dropped twice. I am getting really frustrated with it.

Any ideas when Apple is going to be coming out with a fix or are we all sitting here refreshing every ten minutes until we all get frustrated and switch to IBM?

David,

Try the ping 'fix'... Click on my name to find it posted for details, or look back in forum for others who tried it (and came up with it)... It seems to work. Others also recommend trying to change the router channel.

Might hold you over until Apple comes up with something.

Good news and bad

Good: My problem was due to a crapy AP extreme not lion.

Bad: the lion computer keeps varying it's connection speed to the APE. Before it was between 3-11 Mbit/s. No it's 50-130 Mbit/s.

Good news: Apple is apparently trying out the new 10.7.1 to fix this issue. And 10.7.1 is due any day now...

Just wanted to add my name to the list of people who are having Wi-Fi drops CONSTANTLY since upgrading to Lion. I also notice that it's much slower: Videos that I played before (YouTube, etc.) time out a lot now and never did before. I know it's related to Lion. It's just too coincidental.