New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

Antenna problems. Not routers or settings and all that number talk. That makes absolute sense. That would explain why the signal reportedly does drop in Apple stores with a stronger signal.

NOT drop in the Apple stores.

It is definitely an issue related to the Air and not each persons different router.

The Wifi Card is new, but from what I gather (via ifixit) the placement is the same as the 2012 model. That leads one to believe the issue is with the card itself (hardware or firmware).

To recap my issues -

I have issues maintaining a connection to my Linksys E2000 running DD-WRT. Later today I am going to revert it back to stock firmware to see if that solves the issue. The specific issue is that it disconnects but appears to still be connected.

I do not have the same issue when connected to my ASUS WL-520GU running Tomato. I do lose connections to this router at times, but it reconnects without any issues. If I wasn't running wifi diagnostics, I wouldn't even know I dropped.

I have no issues when I am connected to my Airport Express (2.4 or 5 ghz) and I have no issues when I am connected to my MacBookPro using Internet Sharing.

I have been contacted by an Apple engineer, a few times, and have sent my applicable log files. I have not heard from them since Tuesday.

same issue here, posted a few days ago

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5110841

Got mine on Monday and have had zero problems connecting at home and Starbucks. At home I am running 2 Linksys E3000 routers with DD-WRT setup using WDS.

I am wondering if maybe the problem people are having has to do with connecting to older routers?

Hi guys.

Picked up a base model today, and got this problem aswell. One interesting find for me is that it keeps it connection for a longer time when I'm not downloading files, like syncing my Dropbox. Probably going to return the computer the next days if Apple dosen't adress this issue, as it is impossible to use as a portable at the moment.

I had the same problem on a 2012 Air yesterday at a coffee shop. Signal icon had full bars but could not load pages or ping until I turned wifi power off and on. I'm not sure if it was an old 802.11g network though.

It most likely has to do with outdated routers and/or their drivers.

At my gf's place, she has a Linksys WRT54GS with firmware dating back to Oct 2009, which caused most of the drops I've noticed.

I just broken down and bought myself the new Time Capsule, and will give her my Airport Express. Was planning on getting one in the future but figured what the heck.

Good job, Apple. You've successfully made me give you more of my money.

The problem is that you can't control most wifi networks. Sure, you can control yours and your girlfriends, but you can't control Marriotts and Hiltons.

To be clear, the problem isn't old routers and old firmware on those old routers. The problem is the Mac Book Air's inability to work well with older routers and old firmware, etc... Every other device, we all have, seems to work fine.

I have the same issues with Wifi. My problem only exists at work when using the company wide router using WPA Enterprise security. It won't even connect. If I switch to WEP Enterprise it connects but not for long. When at home on my older Time Capsule I have no issues. I brought a Cisco router into work and plugged it into my ethernet port and set up regular old WEP and my Air never drops.

Better do not expect this to be the ultimate solution. I am having WiFi problems with my 2012 MBA for more than half a year now. I switched my internet provider to solve it, I reinstalled the software several times, I went to support centers, and got a lot of professional and non-professional online support. No solution. Tha I bought an Airport Express. And while the connection to the AE seems to be perfect the MBA now looses internet access twice a minute - and it can last up to several minutes until the internet comes back.

Come on, Apple - your whole product philosophy is built around wireless. This simply can't be!

I tried this solution, but didn't work to correct issue. Thank you for the solution.

As a CCNP Wireless engineer, I'd like to add my name to the list of those affected and give my thoughts as to what the problem is.

I have several SSIDs running at home, two G networks, one N network, and a new AC network. I have run into this issue connecting to all of my SSIDs, as well as a tethered connection to my Android. I can ping my wireless adapter's IP address, I show up in the DCHP server's pool, I even show up in my router's ARP table. But my laptop cannot ping it's default gateway, nor any other device on my subnet; the opposite is true.

I am also having this issue at work, and at the local coffee house. To those fellow geeks affected, you're not crazy and your wireless network is not the issue.

This problem is two-fold, or so i believe. First off, this is a brand new processor (Haswell) and it's compatibility testing with wirless chips is limited at best. Speaking of wireless chips, Wireless AC is also a brand new field for hardware manufacturers. There will be problems, as we are finding out right now. Is this fixable via firmware patch? absolutley. the question remains, how will we download it?

Hope this info helps.

I am just adding my expereince here too. I have a brand new Macbook Air that I bought last week. Wifi works fine with my Macbook Pro, iPad, and IPhone but my new MBA drops wifi all the time but still shows full bars. I diable/enable the wifi and it comes back. I thought it was my router at first also because it is a 2009 Netgear so I reinstalled the firmware on that and it does it. After reading everyones posts it seems like I am not crazy. Am still waiting on what to do.

It is super annoying because I was doing a goto meeting conference with it and I kept getting dropped out of the meeting. Not cool at all. I am anxious to find a fix.

I've checked that the issue you describe affects my new Macbook Air when my old router is using WPA (TKIP) but it stops immediately when I use WPA (AES) instead. Have you tried that?