Q: Lion WiFi Connection Problem

I have had wifi problems for several months but as it turned out it wasn't a software (OS X lion) but a router problem.

It wasn't a connection loss with the router but the iMac lost connection to the internet.

Maybe my sollution is applicable for more OS X lion and iMac(intel) users.

Many routers can send a mixed WiFi signal like B,G and/or N.

The mid 2011 iMac can recieve both G and N WiFi signals but when a router switches all the time between G and N it gets "confused".

The sollution for my iMac:

My router was programmed to send a mixed wifi signal (G and N ) on a mixed frequency (20 to 40 Mhz)

I changed that to a fixed N wifi signal and fixed frequency.

Further more I checked which WiFi channels my neigbours where using and changed mine into a channel that was at least 2 channels different than the one from my clossest neighbours.

I hope this will help some of you.

There is only one thing that I realy have to say.

The iCentre's here in Holland suck.

I have absolutly no confidence in their skils.

They tried to convince me that setting my IP adress on manual was responsible for this problem and charged me Euro 79,- to change that into an automatic IP adress because software issues aren't covered by the standard warrenty on a almost new iMac.

Last weekend Europes biggest Apple store in Amsterdam opened its doors and hopefully they will do a better job in the future.

Also I think that the people at Apple can do a much better job in providing sollutions even when it is not directly related to one of their products.

Mistakenly bought a new Mac Air with Lion and upgraded (?, more like downgraded) a Snow Leopard Macbook to Lion on the same day, last Friday.  Both machines have the classic dropping the WiFi connection constantly, despite doing all that Apple Support suggests.  The old machine on Snow Leopard was rock solid.  Then I discover that this is an issue with thousands and thousands of Lion users.  Never experienced anything like this when I used Microsoft operating systems.  Talk about trashing your brand Apple.

Interesting.. so our router doesn't transmit N, just B and G.. so we just set it to only transmit G and we'll see what happens. Right now it's working just fine, and my DNS settings are right where they need to be (opposed to showing a 75.xx.xx.x. invalid DNS server). Since the last fix worked for about a day, then stopped, I'm hesitant to say this will stick. Thanks!

forgot what i was going to say.

Rebooooot have you made it work since? I would like to know as this is happening to me as well ):

After update received, still having issue with wi-fi, I stopped trying fixing it...is there any other update coming up? Why is it so long for Apple to fix-it?

Sorry not adding any constructive solution, but in case Apple would watch us, just wanted to add to the list of "breakthrough update believers" <sigh>

Why do we have to spend our valuable time trying to fix something so basic as wifi connection? Mac shouldn't advertise the company as the biggest innovator until they can provide a solid operating system. The update didn't fix the problem in my imac. I get dropped 10 times an hour. Very annoying ANy new update coming up in the next days??????

Make sure your computer has the latest updates, and is not affected by malware. Get either some one from your internet service provider or some one from Apple to help you set up your network.

So Apple knows this is not isolated, I too have a network dropoing issue with my Macbook Air (Lion).  Mine loses both wi-fi and usb/ethernet connectivity regularly (like, every 15 minutes).  It's maddening.  The recent update did not fix my issue.  This is worse than the iPhone antenna issue and I've yet to see it mentioned in the media.  My problem only appeared about 2 weeks ago, but I've seen posts by people who have been dealing with this since June.  I can't believe a problem that's lasted for 7 months for some gets no mention.

Please define "not isolated."

After much frustration I managed to fix this. I dug around a bit and noticed that when I ran spotify (audio streaming software) it used to cut out a lot more. Apparently the intel wifi cards aren't good at using Wireless N on high bandwidth and have a lot of drop outs, which I think Imacs have. So I changed my router so it was only using wireless B and now my mac has no problems. It does mean we have a slower speed on wifi, but at least it's stable.

I've not experimented on other wireless ones yet but I have no time, this problem has already cost me a lot of time. Also note none of the other macs (Ipad/Iphone/Android/PC/mac mini (2007)) have the problems, this is only on the iMac 21.5inch mid 2011 one.

you should experiment with the new router, I am sure you will find that the other bands work just as good. Anyways glad you got it working. I use 802.11a and some times I use 802.11n. I have moved beyond 802.11b/g because their was just to many wifi devices in my neigborhood. I am sure though a lot more items are compatible with b/g. I have a multi function printer that is b/g and since I use either a/n I have a wireless extender (2nd airport extreme) connected to the printer.

Message was edited by: Carlo TD

I believe it was either yesterday or the day before when we tried someone else's suggested fix. My attempt at changing from DHCP to manual and back, seemed to work for about 24 hours. Then the problem came back. So, we changed our router to only transmit a G signal (I think it was G at least.. I think it only transmitted a G or an F, opposed to a G, N or F signal of most routers). Since then, I've had no trouble. No lapses in connections.. no drops. Nothing. For others experiencing this, I'd definitely give this a shot, as it doesn't require other hardware or money out of pocket. Choose one of the G or F signals and set it to that, and set the frequency. For better explanation.. I'd check a day or two back to whomever it was that said it first I can't recall who it was, but I thank them immensely!

I am not familiar with an f signal or f band... i understand what you did by changing to manual then back again... . Sometimes changing the band, is the simplest solution but in your case you did a little extra. Good luck, and I hope it continues to work for you.

What is all this about modifying your WiFi router/acess point set up?  If your router is working fine with other devices, or your Mac was working fine until you upgraded to Lion (both true in our case) then it is the operating system that is the problem, not your WiFi set up.  Why do we have WiFi? So we can move our computers and other devices around.  I can imagine this conversation next time I check into the hotel with free WiFi: "Can I have the WiFi password please?" "Of course sir, there you are."  "Oh,and could you please give me the IP address and admin password for your WiFi router - I will need to modify its set up so my computer will stay connected."