WiFi in Asia works on iPhone but not Macbook Pro

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Level 1

9 points

WiFi in Asia works on iPhone but not Macbook Pro

I am currently traveling around Asia and I have my Macbook Pro and iPhone with me. I have had no problems connecting to WiFi networks with my iPhone (currently typing this message with it on my hotel's WiFi). However, my Macbook Pro has had endless issues. Sometime it works, but often it doesn't. The most common issue is that it gets a self assigned IP address and can't connect to the internet. It can usually find and connect to the WiFi network, but from there things get dodgy. As I said, it sometimes works fine. I would say it works on 1 out of every 3 networks that I try.

So far I have tried the following:

Renewing DHCP Lease (without client ID and with made up client ID)

Disabling firewall.

Turning off wifi and them back on.

Restarting computer.

Deleting WiFi service and recreating.

Creating new "location".

Repairing permissions.

Using different login account.

Manually entering TCP/IP settings copied from iPhone.

"Forgetting network" and rejoining.

None of the above has helped, except that one time renewing DHCP lease with a made up client ID did the trick.

I have the summer 2012 MacBook Pro 13" with OS 10.7.5 installed.

Any help would be very appreciated. :)

-Shawn

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 2, 2013 7:52 AM

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Answer 1

ShawnStorm Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 2, 2013 4:01 PM in response to ShawnStorm

No suggestions? I sure would love to figure this out.

I did some more research and tried the advice in this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2408669

Unfortunately that did not work. :(

-shawn

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Answer 2

ShawnStorm Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 2, 2013 4:15 PM in response to ShawnStorm

I tried a couple more things:

Started in safe mode.. Same problem.

Tried advice from another thread:

"In the root Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

Delete:

com.apple.network.identification.plist

preferences.plist

com.apple.airport.preferences.plist

NetworkInterfaces.plist

Restart, preferably a shift-restart followed by a normal restart to clear the caches."

Unfortunately the issue persists. :(

-shawn

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Answer 3

ShawnStorm Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 6, 2013 11:01 PM in response to ShawnStorm

I have spent three days trying everything I can find online and this issue persists. I am now at a different hotel in a different city and am still having the same issue. My iPhone connects just fine, my MacBook Pro does not.

I really need to get my laptop connected and would be so excited if somebody could help me resolve this! :)

-Shawn

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Answer 4

ShawnStorm Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 16, 2013 5:30 PM in response to ShawnStorm

It doesn't seem like anybody is going to respond to this thread, but I guess I will keep updating it just in case (and perhaps if I ever find a solution it will be helpful to others).

Since my last post I have been to about 12 hotels in both Thailand and Cambodia. This issue has continued with some variations:

* At 3 of the hotels the wifi on my MacBook Pro actually worked! It seemed to work ok, with minimal speed issues.

* At 6 of the hotels the wifi did not work on my MacBook Pro, but worked fine on my iPhone.

* At 3 of the hotels the wifi worked on my MacBook Pro but was PAINFULLY slow (to point where I couldn't upload photos, could barely check facebook, etc). In fact, it was so slow that I basically gave up using the internet with my MacBook Pro and used my iPhone instead (which had normal speeds).

I have continued to search the internet for solutions and nothing has helped yet. It seems like this is a common issue with newer MacBook Pros, especially with OS Lion.

I have also concluded that this isn't necessarily an Asia specific issue. It seems like an issue with my MacBook Pro and using various WiFi routers with various setups. Some work, but most do not. Unfortunately I do not have access to any of the routers that I am using, so changing router setup is not an option.

-Shawn-

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Answer 5

jpries1

Level 1

0 points

Nov 25, 2013 3:18 PM in response to ShawnStorm

I am looking for the same type of answer as I will be carrying my Macbook pro in SE Asia. in the past I have used my ipad 1 and just replaced the sim card in Cambodia. Its a little bit of a pain to get more time as you have to pull and put in a data capable phone to enter the code. This works very well with Mobitel almost everywhere in the country. I also put one in an old iphone which allows me to call the states for .05 a minute just use 177 prefix with 1 so 1771. Do you use an adaptor to access data internet through the local ;phone copany or have you just used wifi. My understanding is wifi is not good in Thailand and Myanmar.

John

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