Retina Macbook Pro WiFi and Bluetooth issue

I had the same problems with my MacBook Pro 2012. I bought it a few weeks ago and put it on a 24" screen (displayportconnection) via HDMI. So when I start up the MBP, I put on the 24" screen and close the MBP.

(Later on this will be clearified)

I have a 50 mbit connection, Apple TV and a Airport Extreme. There were no problems until I installed my new wireless apple keyboard (bluetooth). Internetspeed was down to 300 - 500 kb/s when downloading.

I can connect with my MBP to the 5 ghz channels, there will be no problems with the internetspeed, but my Apple TV can't connect with a 5 ghz channel, so I needed it to work on a 2,4 ghz connection.

First I tried every channel 1 to 13 and trying the 802.11a/b/g options, bluetooth was still interfering the wi-fi connection and internet speed varied between 0 kb/s to 1 mb/s, instead of my usual 5,6 mb/s.

Then I did a SMC reset and it seemed it worked (on the 2,4 ghz connection), until I closed my MBP screen. The speed immediately stalls, so I have to keep it open. I really don't know what's the difference between working with the screen down and up.

Same issue here. I cannot use the Magic Mouse and Wifi together on 2.4Ghz. Will get the Exclamation point. If I turn off Bluetooth and restart, Wi-fi works normally. Called Apple support and reported this phenomenon. The advisor has forwarded this finding to the Engineering team. Hoping that they will come up with a fix on this annoying problem asap.

Yeah right. The Retina model has been out for almost a year and Apple hasn't come out with a fix for this problem that ALL Retina models have. They certainly aren't going to bother with it as people like yourself keep buying them and or not returning them when they discover all the minor to major defects in the system.

Honestly there is NO fix except a redesign of the WiFi+BT card or they are separated from one another, they are both on the same Daughter Card.

Good Luck & Best Wishes.

thesaint_dfw wrote:

Same issue here. I cannot use the Magic Mouse and Wifi together on 2.4Ghz. Will get the Exclamation point. If I turn off Bluetooth and restart, Wi-fi works normally. Called Apple support and reported this phenomenon. The advisor has forwarded this finding to the Engineering team. Hoping that they will come up with a fix on this annoying problem asap.

True. Apple employees really don't know a thing about the equipment they sell. They'll know the specifications and all the sales literature...But they aren't typically computer savvy people. Those people have all found better jobs. They tell you things out of a manual. There's a procedure. You gotta kinda have to read between the lines a bit. In this case I agree with Shootist007...There's really nothing that's going to be done.

Again, I really would like to know if there's a way to completely disable the network card from working on the 2.4Ghz frequency and only run on 5Ghz... My router is an N router as well as a b/g...While turning off the b/g feature may help (or possibly the broadcast of the network name on the router??)...Everyone else nearby also has b/g and so there's a lot of intereference. A lot. Maybe when I move to a location with less routers it will help as well then? It may not matter about the routers and really just about the network card being so connected to the bluetooth (seriously? sounds like a rookie mistake)...So again, if I can simply turn off the 2.4Ghz signal that keeps looking for crap to connect to, then maybe it would improve the bluetooth.... That's about the only logical (and it may not even be possible) software solution I can think of and it would be a trade off. So there really is no fix. Apple screwed up in the Retina's design and choice in sourced parts BIG TIME. I guess I learned my lesson about 1st generation Apple devices...

Honestly, I realized the extent of the problem just 2 weeks back and it was already 3 months into the purchase. And it wasn't as bad as it is now. I am guessing the channel was different and since 2 weeks or so it has changed and the problem always persists.

I bought a MBPr in October 12 and have had the same issue that everyone is talking about, Apple told me to do a SMC rest and said everything else is fine!

This is clearly a design fault with the Wifi/Bluetooth card design just like the iPhone 4 antenna problems and Apple are NOT admitting it, ironicaally this is a company sitting on $117 billion in cash!

Toyota clearly admit when they design cars that are faulty and recall the cars to be fixed as they should so I don't see why a computer company that charges $6000 for a laptop should not.

I think this needs grass roots activisim to tell Apple this is simply not right and lawsuits should be taken for selling faulty machines! I always thought Samsung were the bad guys in the copyright legal fight but this clearly shows otherwise!!!

You can never have enough money. They aren't gonna have a recall. Not unless it was something that really affected them...Like the iPhone. Even then like you said, they wanted to hide it. Apple simply doesn't care. They don't need to anymore. Further, when it comes to the MBPr specifically...It's not their #1 product. The iPhone is. So they really, really don't care. So long as iPhones and iPads keep selling the company is A-OK.

Has anyone here tried with another wifi network? Today I tried in a public wifi nearby and never saw the issue there. It was on 2.4Ghz and I tried several times to re-create the issue and was unsuccessful. So, looks like it may be a problem with my home wi-fi which uses FIOS and Airport Base station.

More then likely that public WiFi was using the 5Ghz band and not the 2.4G band. There is no interference on the 5G band as BT uses 2.4. But then if you didn't have anything connected to the BT in your Mac that may also be part of the reason.

thesaint_dfw wrote:

Has anyone here tried with another wifi network? Today I tried in a public wifi nearby and never saw the issue there. It was on 2.4Ghz and I tried several times to re-create the issue and was unsuccessful. So, looks like it may be a problem with my home wi-fi which uses FIOS and Airport Base station.

It was on 2.4Ghz and Channel 11. And the Magic Mouse was also connected. I restarted and shutdown several times to see if the problem would come up and it never did. To add to this, I just came back from visiting another public wifi where the Magic mouse was connected and the wifi was on 2.4Ghz Channel 6. No issues even there. In my case, looks like something wrong with the devices in my home. Need to check on that.

A little update from my end. I removed all possible electronic devices at my place and I even unplugged the Microwave. The only thing ON was FIOS Modem and Base station. I had the same interference problem on my Mac with Magic mouse.

Then, I connected the Magic Mouse to a Windows PC and no interference issues. So, definitely some issue with my place as the Mac worked flawlessly at 2 public hotspots. And something to do with the design of Mac as well because Windows PC works fine at my place.

hi Saint,

the channels are "WANDERING" and it is only when they happen to hit the same channel the problem reveals itself... In theory you could be so lucky that the BT & WIFI Channels would never be identical...

The problem is there but only as described above.... It is a rMBP design flaw !

Last October when in India, I had this problem of bluetooth interfering with wifi signal, then I visited in march and I thought the problem had gone as all was working fine for a week. Then my partner brought in his old a dell laptop and same problems started.

Clearly there is a problem with interference from other devices.

It is as if the wifi card is not very well shielded and when other noisy devices are present, they mix with the Bluetooth signal and disturb the MacBooks wifi signal.

Thanks. I can't believe a $2k laptop would exhibit such issues.

Yea, well, I'm sure a bunch of people who buy lemon cars can't believe $20k worth of car would have issues either. =) Happens. I just thought Apple was better than that personally. Today aside from my mouse disconnecting 5 times I also realize I have external monitor flickering issues which is another flaw with the MBP retinas... Awesome.