Q: Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

This is totally unacceptable, the wifi issue is driving me crazy, it seems all the success that Apple has recived comes with a price, a drop in quality, oh well, this is going to be my last apple product for some time now ...

Side note - I tried the fix Adrian mentioned above by having the system recreate the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder on startup, but the issue persists.

I also have noticed the loss of wifi along with Time Machine backup (to a Time Capsule in my case) particularly when my iMac awakes from sleep. I reported this to Apple a week ago. Since this seems to be a common problem I trust there will be a 10.7.1 fix for it. Meanwhile I am just doing manual Time Machine backups (instead of automatic) to minimize the problem.

I spent awhile with Apple tech support this morning.  They actually told me to do some of the things I have seen here such as delete the systemsconfiguration folder and then reboot.  Once I'm rebooted, I do have a connection for awhile--long enough for tech support to get off the phone.  I told them about the many complaints about the same thing here on this forum and elsewhere, and the guy delivered kind of a derisive laugh and said, "I'm sure there are" without ackowledging the legitimacy of the issue.  I told him I had purchased a new router, had my modem diagnosed by the cable company, and that the only thing that had changed was the installation of Lion.

He also said that if what we went through this morning didn't fix the problem (it didn't), then he didn't know what else to tell me, that the only other thing I could do is reformat my hard drive and re-install Snow Leopard using the DVD that came with the comptuer.  He did say that the programmers were working on a release of 10.7.1 but offered no estimate of when it would be released and indicated that he did not whether the intermittent connectivity issue was one of the problems the programmers are trying to fix.

So there you have it.  Apple doesn't have a clue either. 

That is very encouraging to hear (sarcasm intended), dont they have engineers to test this out before it ships out ??, its been almost a month and Apple should atleast acknowledge it.

I talked to a Apple tech earlier because both my iMac and MacBook Pro had the same issue of dropping connections. So far, so good.

Here is what we did:

1) Go to System Preferences

2) Go to Network

3) Go to Location (drop down menu)

4) Click Edit Locations

5) Name the new one whatever you want

6) Restart the computer

7) If you are not connected to your network then go to Network Preferences and select your network.

That should be it. So far so good for me. I comment again if it doesn't work.

This method was not successful for me...but hunting though System Preferences/Network <b>I got to pondering the possible implicatoins of an IP v.6 issue (on Apple's and/or the Net end of the equation) on our wireless network connectivity.</b>  Hopefully Apple's experts are considering this as well.  I'd be happy to assist Apple in troubleshooting -

Mac Mini late 2009 with Lion is wireless impaired machine

MacBook Pro early 2011, IPod Touch 3rd gen and IPhone 4 all on the sane wireless network without problems - so far.

So far this is what worked for me (for macbook air 1st gen)

"open Terminal and paste in the following line:

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

Don't close Terminal... just "Hide" with command-H"

I closed the terminal at one point and wifi dropped again. So I guess I'll have to keep the terminal running until the patch comes.

I hate to say this but my signal strengh is just about perfect , and I was droping offline, meaning my wifi was going down, not my dns.  Anyway I did change to channel 3 on my router which will not effect anything else , and I have not had a drop for over a week.  This was happening most of the every single day before.  I also reboot router.

And I do not have a terminal window rolling a constant ping, nor did I go into the termain and run any other commands.  I did try tuning off sleep mode and that did not help.  Although I still have it off, and just have it shut down my monitor.

Mike

Sounds like we may be talking about two different things:

1) WiFi stays connected, but network connectivity drops completely after some time

2) WiFi connection drops/disconnects

I'm experiencing the first one, and only in a couple of the wireless networks I frequent.

I can validate that the following fixes did not work with Lion on the latest MBP 15" i7 + 8GB + SSD:

• Continuous ping
• Recreate /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder on system restart
• Create new network location

Frustrating...

Togume,

If your wifi stays connected then you must be meaning that you cant browse the internet?  If this is the case try changing your dns to 8.8.8.8.   and or 4.4.8.8  they are googles dns servers.   if wifi stays connected , you have an ip address , but can you see your router in a web browser?  I need a bit more information on exactly what your seeing.

Good point togume. I'm not experience a complete loss of wifi connectivity, more of an extreme slowing and dragging until loss sometimes.

Mine seems to be closely linked to the beginning of Time Machine backups at times. My TM drive is connected via USB to a 2nd gen Airport Extreme and backups occur over the wireless signal. With an ethernet cable from my Airport Extreme connected directly, I haven't experienced any connectivity issues, so it certainly appears to be an actual wifi signal issue.

Thanks for the suggestion, Slyclops, but it's not just a problem with browsing the Internet. Even if I wanted to, this company blocks external DNS servers (like Google's 8.8.8.8; can't even telnet to it).

Yes, the WiFi connection does not drop (ifconfig stays the same), but all network connectivity comes to a halt. For example, I was pinging the internal gateway (IP), and when everything stopped working (browsing, skype, etc), the ping also started timing out.

Because of this, my gut is telling me that this has something to do with changes in the APs that are not being handled gracefully by the wireless driver. The place where this happens the most is a corporate campus where load balancing on the access points takes place automatically. Normally, you just get bounced to another AP, but it could be that once the MAC address of the AP changes, the driver goes out to lunch...

I have tried some of everything that has been suggested on this forum that seemed even remotely plausible and nothing has resolved the problem.  I can eventually re-establish Internet reconnectivity, but doing so is no trivial matter.  Usually going through the automated "diagnose the problem" routine in one iteration of it or another will do it if I wait it out. But it's still a pain.  I find  Apple's apparent indifference to getting a problem like this resolved quickly to be alarming, as I'm sure most folks do, becuause these days a computer without Internet connectivitiy is like a car without wheels.  Glad to have the car but . . .

Adding my name to the list of folks experiencing this problem... I have a late 2009 iMac that had NO problems with wi-fi EVER before the LION upgrade.  Since the upgrade, I have experienced frequent drops in connectivity as described by most folks on this thread.  I have tried MOST of the suggestions here to no avail (Delete SystemConfig folder, change DNS, change router channel, reboot router, etc.). It would be great to hear from APPLE just to know that they are aware of the problem and working on a solution.  Until then, I'm bailing on LION...