New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

Hey guys,


Hope someone can help?


I have a brand new Macbook Air which is able to connect to the internet for just a minute or two before suddenly it drops out. This is even though the signal still shows at full strength and all my other devices are still able to surf the net as per normal.


This device is straight out of the box so no 3rd party applications have been installed. I heard that the wifi has been upgraded to 802.11n on this machine, could that be an issue?


Do i need to return the machine or is there is a software fix for this problem?


Thanks heaps!


Vicky

MacBook Air, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Jun 13, 2013 5:55 AM

Reply
2,163 replies

Feb 18, 2014 7:13 AM in response to thelogger

Hi thelogger,


Just a quick question:


Are you running Mavericks (10.9.x)?


A lot of the rollback solutions I have read about refer to 10.8.x so I wasn't sure if rolling back the driver would help if I'm running 10.9.1.


If this fixes my wifi, I will be esctatic! I love my MBA but this wifi issue is killing me!


Thanks!


FYI - those looking for the link to the older driver can find it here: http://www.filedropper.com/io80211familykext

Feb 22, 2014 4:52 AM in response to headcase

headcase wrote:


dogschool -


Per the point of my last post, something I forgot to ask you earlier... what model router and firmware you having issues with? And given its a heck of a lot easier to change out a router than it is to change out a laptop (along with the benefits gained from current generation routers that I stated on page 99), I'm just curious what your setup is.


For the record, here's a list of recent generation routers I've tested against with zero dropped connections, zero dropped packets, and less than 3ms RTT in ping times (no latency issues) on the original .22 wireless driver that came when the MBA first shipped:


(all running latest OEM firmware - no 3rd party firmwares)

- ASUS RT-AC66U

- Linksys EA6500

- D-Link DIR-868L

- Linksys E4200 v1

- Linksys E4200 v2

- Apple Airport Extreme 5th Gen

- Apple Airport Extreme 6th Gen

- Netgear WNDR3700

- ASUS WL-330N travel router (awesome little device to stick in your travel bag and ideal for the MBA when you need USB Ethernet, btw)

- Seagate Wireless Plus (great little device with 1TB of strorage you can turn into a full-blown NAS, btw)


When traveling, I've also had no discernable issues when connected to public WiFi hotspots up to this point.


Conversely (and as I have reported to Apple engineering), I've tested positively for poor latency with all of these devices when using the subsequent drivers.

Add to this list the Netgear R6200. Ping is a little big, but the network is not interrupted.

Feb 22, 2014 5:18 AM in response to v@ldemar



headcase wrote:


dogschool -


Per the point of my last post, something I forgot to ask you earlier... what model router and firmware you having issues with? And given its a heck of a lot easier to change out a router than it is to change out a laptop (along with the benefits gained from current generation routers that I stated on page 99), I'm just curious what your setup is.


For the record, here's a list of recent generation routers I've tested against with zero dropped connections, zero dropped packets, and less than 3ms RTT in ping times (no latency issues) on the original .22 wireless driver that came when the MBA first shipped:


(all running latest OEM firmware - no 3rd party firmwares)

- ASUS RT-AC66U

- Linksys EA6500

- D-Link DIR-868L

- Linksys E4200 v1

- Linksys E4200 v2

- Apple Airport Extreme 5th Gen

- Apple Airport Extreme 6th Gen

- Netgear WNDR3700

- ASUS WL-330N travel router (awesome little device to stick in your travel bag and ideal for the MBA when you need USB Ethernet, btw)

- Seagate Wireless Plus (great little device with 1TB of strorage you can turn into a full-blown NAS, btw)


When traveling, I've also had no discernable issues when connected to public WiFi hotspots up to this point.


Conversely (and as I have reported to Apple engineering), I've tested positively for poor latency with all of these devices when using the subsequent drivers.

Add to this list the Netgear R6200. Ping is a little big, but the network is not interrupted.

Didn´t notice the list before, but remove ASUS RT-AC66U from the list. There are at least three versions of this Router and the AC1750 has very bad latency with current firmware using Mavericks 10.9.1. But i can say the 10.9.2 driver fixes it using the AC1750.

Feb 25, 2014 12:35 PM in response to raducan.mihai

My ping values after update:


Ping has started…


PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=1.883 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=2.221 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=2.266 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=2.173 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=2.172 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=2.167 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=1.993 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=2.138 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=2.060 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=2.358 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=2.070 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=3.460 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=1.494 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=1.677 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=1.457 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=2.511 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=2.054 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=1.461 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=5.679 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=1.450 ms


--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---

20 packets transmitted, 20 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.450/2.237/5.679/0.906 ms

Feb 25, 2014 1:46 PM in response to raducan.mihai

Just updated to 10.9.2 and ping results below. Much better than on 10.9.1

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=12.660 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=3.460 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=3.483 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=4.131 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=2.970 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=5.076 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=3.208 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=4.016 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=3.249 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=3.732 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=3.544 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=3.302 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=3.319 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=3.065 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=2.884 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=3.385 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=3.441 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=5.537 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=3.284 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=3.390 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=3.878 ms

Feb 26, 2014 10:54 PM in response to Owl-53

I originally posted here in July 2013 two weeks after this MBA came out. Went through 2 and didn't fix my problem (especially on the crappy netgear I'm using at home).


Happy to announce that after updating OS 10.9.2 today that even the old netgear router is posting these numbers instead of my original 1300 ms!!!! Also no drop outs. Finally!!!!



264 packets transmitted, 264 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.047/0.115/0.226/0.039 ms

Tims-MacBook-Air:~ LOVEacadianaAIR$

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New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

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