Q: Internet stops working frequently on OS X Lion

I am experiencing the same problem with frequent loss of Internet connection after upgrading my iMac Core i5 to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.  Hopefully more voices in this thread will get Apple's attention.

UPDATE:

It turns out that this is NOT a migration issue as I suggested before. Even after doing a clean install of OS X Lion the problem returned after a few days.

I'm inclined to believe that this is an Internet Sharing issue. Internet Sharing has always been buggy in my experience but with OS X Lion it's gotten worse.

If anyone's encountering this problem and is NOT using Internet Sharing please let me know. It would be great to get to the root cause of this problem.

I have switched off my Internet Sharing which used to share my internet from the Ethernet and created a Wi-Fi. It's been about 48 hours and the issue hasn't reappeared.

Fingers crossed!

And APPLE! Please fix this issue!

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing

Allows you to share the internet connection from your Mac with other devices by creating a Wi-Fi network.

I don't use internet sharing and I have the problem. Did a clean install on one of the iMacs and still the problem persists. I used to open a FTP connection and it stayed open now it drops off so often and sometimes files get corrupted because of it. I am considering downgrading back to Snow Leopard.

I seriously can't believe Apple is blatantly ignoring this issue. First time since 1994 am I dispointed with them.

Yeah, Apple has really let us down on this one!

I've left a bad review for OS X Lion in the App store hoping it will get their attention to this issue. Maybe if we all do it they'll listen!

Ok, after a week or so, my internet problem has come back where the only solution is to toggle on or off wi-fi.

It is intersting that while the browsers (chrome, safari, firefox) fail. A bittorrent that I am downloading is still running. Since I am not using wi-fi on my imac (I have an ethernet connection to my router) I have now turned off DHCP on the WI-FI and turned off IP4 on my wi-fi. I am convinced it is a wi-fi issue moreso than a full network issue.

I am told within the month there will be a service pack 1.

It seems my wi-fi connection is stable when my internet stops working. I go to "network preferences" and click "assist me", then "diagnostics". I have green lights for Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Settings and Network Settings, but a red light next to ISP (with the word "failed" underneath it), and yellow lights next to Internet and Server. I start to click "continue" to go through diagnostics, select my network, etc... and suddenly the ISP, Internet and Server all go green and I'm good to go.

I've taken this issue to Qwest (my ISP) and they suggested changing my modem channel. That didn't help. I called Apple support - he told me how to find out what channels other w-fi signals in the area are on, and to change mine to one that isn't being used by someone else. Made sense to me, so I changed my channel again. I'm still having the problem.

Apple - if you're out there, please fix this or offer to refund our purchase price.

Hi to all of you, disappointed mac users.

Actually, i'm experiencing the same problem as everyone here. Problems of disconnection, and so on with any navigators when using wi-fi.

I bought a brand new Macbook Pro, a week ago with the new system OS X Lion...

So it's definitely not an issue of leopard upgrading or even Lion compatibility with former devices...

I just talked 1 hour with a apple advisor, followed by his superior "senior" advisor. They recommended me the fix previously announced on that thread, to delete sytem preferences files... And actually it has worked during our phone conversation but no more one hour later.

Though, i'm coming up with an additional condition of those wi fi problems which is that it works perfectly fine when i'm less than 5 meters away from the original wi-fi source or even a wi-fi access point.

Did somemody noticed the same situation??

Because when the distance tends to be greater, and i only have 3 out of 4 bars on my wi-fi signal, it starts to loss the connexion...

Apple support (France), even told me that they did'nt have any reports of that kind of problems regarding lion OS yet... I really hope they read what we're writing up here so that they come up with a new fix SOON.

I switched from PC, one week ago and i end up with a computer without internet : WIN.

Well, I wound up going back to Snow Leopard and my internet connection has not failed me since. Apple was kind enough to give me a refund for Lion. I MIGHT be inclined to repurchase after a couple of updates, but for the few weeks I used it there isn't enough to Lion to make me change from the stable system I have now.

I have managed to recreate the error (I have been error free for nearly a week) and then go back to normal operations again.

What I did was:

Error mode: set Channel to AUTO

Working mode: set Channel fixed to 5.

pls try it and verify yourself, but make sure you have a cable to connect your Mac to your APE, because when you can't get a wifi connection you can't change the channel either.

Apple tech support told me about that and how to check other wi-fi networks in my area to find out what channels they are on. I chose an unused channel, but the problem persisted. The difference between you and me is my modem doesn't have an "auto" selection for channels - I just have channels 1 through 11 to chose from.

Thank you for the suggestion though!

I had the same problem within a day of updating to Lion from Snow Leopard.  I do not use internet sharing and I have found that it seems to disrupt my entire network connection at the modem as for me the only fix has been a full modem restart. After the restart the internet will work great on my iMac for just long enough to have about 2 quick page loads. The weird thing is that once the internet on the iMac crashes, when I'm using wireless (through a router not internet sharing), my connection is shot through any other devices (such as iPhone and PS3). All devices will still show an active and strong connection, but will get no useful download/upload performance.

I've found that my connection acted the same way when I used a direct wired connection. To ensure it was my iMac I turned it off for over a day and have been back to my old wireless network strength and speed on my other devices, and then within a minute of booting the Mac back up the connection is shot.

I've tried all the recommended fixes aside from restoring to a previous point or a clean format. As I'm waiting this out I'm hoping someone at Apple will actually find the "Genious" within to fix this frustrating problem. Sorry to flood with details, just wanted to give Apple and other techies some more data points on this.

Same problem here!!!

Lion is putting Apple down...

Apple is using same selling techniques as Microsoft: Put an unfinished product in the market and leave the customers to develop and fix bugs...