Q: New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

I, too, am seeing difficulties with a EAP-TLS connection here in my office.  Home, using WPA2, PSK, works fine.

51 packets transmitted, 51 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.923/2.624/3.954/0.628 ms

Just picked mine up tonight.
13 inch core i5 / 8Gb / 256

Router = Netgear WNDR 3800, setup as an access point.  DHCP is from my ISP router.

Seems to be working fine.  I havent noticed any wifi drops

Im going to try downloading a large file to see how it goes.

Great comment.  I bought a Samsung Chromebook a while ago only because I was intrigued by it.  Then, several months after that, my old MBP's screen died.  I was about to buy a new MBA when I stumbled upon this problem and this forum.

Anyway, fast forward, I obviously refuse to spend another $0.01 on Apple products until they (a) produce commercially acceptable ones; and, (b) acknowledge the situation (which they lack the !@#$%^&*s to do thusfar).  Meanwhile, back to Chromebook:

It's a shame that Google won't or can't invest in the development needed to make the Chromebook a real contender.  It definitely has potential, but it's not ready for primetime.  The biggest problems from my perspective (I'm 60 yrs old and a CEO / finance guy / ex-Wall Street type) are these:  (a) the "Office" apps are fairly bush-league still (they work but could be much more powerful); and, (b) the printing function is complicated to say the least.  Apologies to you younger readers, but some of us still need to physically sign stuff and scan it back to lawyers and investors and bankers, and google cloud print is confusing and not (old guy) user friendly.

I was relating this story to someone else recently and I was shaking my head saying something along the lines of "if they'd give me two years and 1/10 the budget of google glass, I would bury Microsoft AND Apple, as least as to the business community."   Seriously, google can make a car that drives itself but they can't produce a decent laptop?

I wish google could have done what you said or at least close to it by now..

To be honest I've been using the first white macbook which I am typing from right now since 2006. But really, it seems apple has been going downhill in terms of QA and testing since they begun producing..problems like wifi and also quality problem have really affected apple products...right now I am waiting for the retina-macbook-pro to come out..but i am really afraid to spend that much money on it- that much money on a laptop that may not be able to perform basic tasks properly, whose ram may not be upgradable (remember 13" rMBP ramps are not upgradeable they are soldered, or u have to buy it higher at the start IF it is offered even .. we will see in october)...so now i am left scared..i really dont know what to buy because I hate windows, but i am also really scared now of wasting money on apple...i wish they listened to this forum because these are their integral fans...but like every business on wall street, people at the top seem to be get into cahoots eventually

I bought my first Apple computer (and my second Apple product after an Ipod Shuffle),a 13" MBA, a little over 2 weeks ago and because of the whole situation (I bought it during a 2 weeks trip to Japan and I live in Romania) I was afraid that I will get a computer with the Wifi bug and I will not be able to solve the probem while still in Japan. The whole 2 weeks I stayed in Japan was a race to find and connect to as many free wifi connection I found available (free wifi is almost non existant in Japan) to test the MBA for the wifi bug. Fortunately, I have a working unit. But what I mean is that instead of enjoying my new laptop I was running around, testing it for a problem that Apple doesn't even aqnowledge.

The old motto "It just works!" doesn't "work" anymore!

I love my new MBA but in the last 6 months or so I think other companies came up with quite a few of Windows ultrabooks that come close, equal or above MBA (Sony Vaio Pro & Duo, Asus ZenBook, Toshiba Kirabook, Samsung series 9 and Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon). And now, ironically, these are the laptops that "just work".

Hi Fujishu

Like you, having a working MBA biought in June this year, I was wary of downloading the update.

However, my curiosity got the better of me (LOL!) and I made the update.

My feedback is that all is well - indeed, it has not affected anything.

So, WiFi stays connected to any old or indeed new router, public or private. The speed I'm getting is always the maximum the relevant service provider can supply at the distance I'm from the wifi router.

For example, I am in the UK and have cable from VirginMedia at a notional 120MB (Mmmm, fast!). Depending on the time of day, speedtest.net shows between 95MB and 107MB either wired directly into the router or connected by wifi (my routers are Netgear 802 ac and Lynksys 802 ac).

Finally, thank's so much for posting here.  It's a bit embarrassing for those of us whose MBA is working.  But I am strongly of the opinion that our posts do two things:-

1. They provide information on what works - essential to project manage solutions for what does not work.

2. This is such a TERRIBLE CATASTROPHY THAT IS APPLE's FAULT, that it's important the lucky ones show solidarity with those who have a USELESS BRICK as one posting here put it.

Hi

I`ve been struggling thrugh this problem since I bought my 1st one 3 weeks ago. They traded me out for another new one after the 1st 2 days of dropping wifi. My 2nd is exactly  the same and nothing changes no matter what support does. I think its being taken seriously at higher levels and that they are aware of all the complaining here on the forum. I have the contact names and phone numbers of 2 senoir troubleshooters at Apple, ad an engineer is analyzing the troubleshoot file. Still as of now there are no solutions, but they are aware its a hardware issue. I have a "genius bar" appointment tomorrow so they can run some diagnostics and capture data. Lets all keep ******** and calling support.Its the only way anything will be done to fix this.

Hi guys,

received my BTO MBA 13' (i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) last week and, even installing the fix, I'm also experiencing drops, hangs and nonsense in my flat's WI-FI (G standard, 2.4Ghz band, all channels).

At this point, it looks like it is very obvious that these issues only happen with g WI-FIs, isn't it?? Is anyone still having issues with a non-g WI-FI?

One thing I've observed in Wireless Diagnostics Utilities is that my MBA gets a Tx Rate: 1-5Mbps, while my 2-year-old iMac gets a Tx Rate: 48Mbps. Same WI-FI, same room.

Aside from the random drops and the after-sleep infinite loop of nonsense, there's another problem I've noticied, although I've not seen it too many times written here: WI-FI drops instantaneously when I try to attach a Bluetooth device to the MBA. Insane. Not happening on my iMac either. Is this a common issue with all of us who are having the WI-FI issues, or is it just happening to a few of us?

All these behaviours are only observed on my g 2.4Ghz home network. Tests with g 5Ghz and n 2.4Ghz have resulted on perfect WI-FI (and Bluetooth) behaviour.

MBA is advertised to be compatible with g WI-FI. Is it really??? Although I have not had the chance to test it on other g 2.4Ghz WI-FIs than mine, it looks like most of the problems are related to this standard and this band range.

I guess I will ask for an exchange, see if the new unit has at least no WI-FI + Bluetooth conflicts, while we all conclude if this is a HW or a SW issue...

So bummed with all this!

General rule (that I am applying to myself, given I need a new laptop too): the MBA is not worth buying till Apple/Intel or whoever fixes this issue.

Why people keep buying it? If you really need a laptop (as in "you can't live with it"), buy something else!

Forgot to add that I'm using the 5 GHz band, Wireless N.  So here is my setup that seems to be working so far:

13 inch core i5 / 8Gb / 256

Router:Netgear WNDR 3800 setup as an access point.  DHCP is from my ISP router, IP address reserved.

Security:  WPA2-Personal

Band:5 GHz Wireless N

I turned Bluetooth off for awhile, and back on for awhile, seemed to work fine in either case.

I have not installed the patch yet.

I'm going to try a few other routers over the next several days.

Got the MBA, had the issues. Sent it back, waited 2 weeks. Got a new one, ZERO issues!  Me thinks its a hardware issue....

I think that's the general conclusion:  this is a hardware problem.  What's hard to understand is why people like you are still being sold bad machines apparently as recently as two weeks ago?  It's puzzling why Apple can't do something like look at the serial numbers of all the reported bad ones, trace them back to the wifi hardward that's causing the problem, can all the bad machines still in inventory or in shipment, reach out to customers Apple then must know also already have a bad one, and FIX THIS PROBLEM!

Seriously, I know that owning up to things is sort of unfashionable in Cupertino, but automakers issue recalls all the time when they know they've got a problem . . . and the world doesn't stop buying their products ever again.  Owning up to an honest mistake and fixing it is what builds brand loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising -- the very best kind.

I just don't get this.  But thanks for the report.  Helpful to those of us still sitting on the sidelines.

<Edited by Host>

Do you really expect Apple to fix a problem they do not acknowledge it exists? At least in this case they didn't say that it's your fault for holding the laptop the wrong way. Yet!

Hi albertboa,

Good point about the new AC Routers - I wonder if anybody will post saying they are getting drops with 802 AC.  In the UK, AC Routers are now selling well, mainly Belkin, Netgear and Lynksys.  The Apple products are too expensive and the Time Machine/ 802 AC Router thingy has a reputation for breaking here in the UK (reference 'Which?', a consumer group here that tries very hard to be objective, even though it is funded by the members that they generate content for).

For info, concerning what you should get on a new 802 AC Router, using my new MBA 13" with 802.11 ac, when I'm on 5GHz on my Netgear R6300 802 AC Router, I get a notional 1 Gbit/s Link (initial or latest firmware):  See below:-

How did you get on with the Genius Bar?

I have just started reading this thread and can report that my MBA developed this problem recently, some time after purchase. I have not tried any of the fixes that people have suggested such as resetting the PRAM, which seemed to work for one.