New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

Hi all. I had exactly the same issues as soon as I got my MacBook air. I try to connect to my school Wi-Fi - I spent 1 hour on the phone with Apple Care. I was instructed if I spent $99.99 that "THEY" will try to help me out to set the the Wifi.

It did not sit well with me. I am not a computer Guru but I have been setting up my own network for years.

I told them, all other devices can get on the internet but this new 2013 MBA.

Obviously, it did not go anywhere and I refused to pay the $99.99.

I came home and found I had very little trouble to get on my own network.

Since I have a few wireless router/AP floating around (they were not in used at all), so I tried to figure out what might be the issues.

First - the security - I found the WPA2 (personal) with AES will work.

BUT NOT WPA-TKIP (that was the set up in my school)

I also tried the auto channel or any fixed channel (did not make any difference as long as it is WPA2-AES)

I used D-link (N standard) and Netgear (N standard) - both demonstrated the same success.

of course, they were set up as DHCP. I had no luck if I assigned the MAC address filter.

what I did was - I reset all the router, started from the scratch and I had no issues.

I brought my own router next day and placed in my office. Every machine was happy, even I did not broadcast the SSID (mainly for security). All the machines run like a charm.

Have not tried on G standard yet.

will bring my laptop to different places to see if any issue might occur.

Sam

Sam,

Apple does not charge $99 for support. If you used Google to find the number, you may have reached a third party company.

For Apple support go here to set up a call:

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

Click get started. It will ask some questions and will offer you the option to have Apple call you.

I've exchanged for a 2nd MBA from the store after my previous one had the same issues, but no luck. To those who have exchanged theirs, are yours still working perfectly? I want to know if this is a hardware or software issue so I know whether to return it or not.

Personally, I've noticed that I lose my connection faster when I download large files, or when large volumes of data needs to be transfered over the network. Opening videos in Youtube is one example. Usually surfing the web gives me no problems with Diagnostics left minimized. What about everyone else?

Return the first one but 2nd one has same wifi issues.

It would be helpful if you have an issue to post:

Year/configuration of Air

Brand/model of router you are using

Type of Wifi setting you are using (i.e. b/g/n mixed, g only, n only, 2.4/5 ghz mixed, 2.4 only, 5ghz only)

encryption setting you are using --some routers don't allow you to choose this.

Its reported the Airs are working fine with the new Airport routers, so I would guess it it s firmware issue. If it is, compatible routers could be discovered if we knew which ones are working and which ones are causing problems.

This is a support forum, not just a complaint forum. There are alot of smart people in here. if basic clues are provided, maybe the problem/solution can be discovered.

I think posting all the info is great, but I would call Apple support. Posting on here is great, but contacting support let's them know exactly how many people are having issues. If you just post here, you will just get ideas from the rest of us, that are posting here.

A handful of people will act like experts, and another segment will tell you all the reasons it is you and not the Mac. Contact support and go fro there.

Yes, I made the call direct to Apple Care. My "Apple Care" was only covered "hardware" portion - which I was not amused at all.

While I tried to figure out what was the possible issues - The representative insisted it is NOT HARDWARE issues - now I looked back, apparently, they were aware of what I was experiencing.

I had to be charged 99 dollars in order to cover "software" and "set up" part of it and "THEY" will remotely to help me for the set up.

Oh, by the way, because I special customized my MBA (even I picked it up at Apple Store), the tech support said I can not get the support from the Apple Store?????

Did I come from alien colony?

I am still not happy about this, and first time I had to call Apple Care (which I purchased for all my Apple devices, Mac Pro, Mac Minis, iPADs, 2010 MBA and this 2013 MBA) - and I wondered what kind of "tech" support they would provided.

Sam

1) Yes, call Apple support. The more people call there with the same issue the more they may realize that there may be an issue

2) but doubt calling there will solve your issue on this as it has not with any of us

New Macbook Air 13"

Same problem as everyone else... I switched to tether it to my iPhone 5. No problems. So I only am experiencing the problem when I try to use the router wifi.

Strangeness!

Are you sure you called Apple? What number did you call?e

Yeah, but if you call them, they may contact you for more info. The more good info we provide, the faster this gets solved.

They are definitely aware of the issue and are in an "information gathering" stage.

Apple contacted me yesterday afternoon to gather information regarding these issues; they found out I was having problems from this thread.

I've given them my diagnostics readings and personal experiences in detail; wireless networking is what I do by trade so hopefully they find the information juicy.

Although Apple hasn't publically announced this issue, they are well aware of it and are concerned. I understand your frustrations, I have the same issues as y'all, but please understand that this new MacBook Air has two radically new pieces of hardware, the Haswell chip and a new wireless networking interface, and problems are bound to occur with these devices.

We have all come to expect nothing but the highest level of quality from Apple, it's why we pay the premium price for their hardware, but please give their engineers some time to work these issues out.

I experienced the same issue, we have all gathered here to discuss, today with my newly acquired MBA. I went to the Apple store and picked up a new Airport Extreme and now my MBA works as intended. Not sure if those of you are affected because of single band routers or if that is what solved my problem (I didn't take the time to read 16 pages worth of reponses); but, now that I have the Aiport Extreme, MBA connects to the internet flawlessly.

If you connect via Airport Extreme/Express, iPhone tether or via a MacBookPro Internet Share, all is well.. in various other scenarios it is not. It will be great for you at home, on the road may be a different story