Q: New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

We having constant dropouts of wifi coverage for both N and C bands on one of the two 2013 MacBook Air 13s we bought a couple of weeks ago.  The other one is fine.   We are using the new Airport Extreme (which has incredible range).  At someone's suggestion, on the troubled Air I deleted the old wifi connections in settings and removed the old stored passwords for those connections, but it did'nt help.  Next step will be a visit to the Genious Bar.

I need to add to my original assesment. After using the machines for a while it appears that performance is poor as well. I'll have RDP sessions lag or hang, or just overall slow performance with all network services. I have a windows machine (HP 8570) which is working perfectly. The HP has an Intel 6300 wifi radio. We also have some last generation Macbook Airs, pros and iMacs that are working as expected, so this is isolated to the new Airs.

Infrastructure is a Cisco managed network with 5500 controller currently on 7.3.101 code. The access points are 3602i and do not have the RM3000AC modules installed yet. I'm also seeing the same problem at another facility that is using the same wireless network with the exception of the access point which are AP-1142s.

Authentication with EAP-TLS seems to fail completely on the first attempt. The wifi icon on the top status bar doesn't even show signs of activity. On the second attempt, it will authenticate but won't pull an IP address from DHCP. On the third attempt it will authenticate and get an address. This scenario seems to be fairly repeatable. The RADIUS server is Cisco ACS 5.4 authenticating against a Microsoft 2008R2 active directory auth store.

Once connected, performance is very poor. All 10 new generation Mac Airs seem to experience this.

One last detail, we only use the 5GHz band.

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           D  O  N 'T    B  U  Y   M A C B O O K   A I R   U N T I L   W I F I   I S   F I X E D ! ! ! ! ! !

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Hi lunaticitizen

(I think) you can click in my username ( Cloudi ) to see my posts which, between them, document how I have tested my WiFi connection.

Anyway, you are correct that my Routers at home are 802.11 ac (Netgear and Lynksys, both top of their current ranges). I have used them with their original firmware and with each of thier (only) updates.

However, I travel a lot and use my new MBA 13" in all sorts of situations. This has allowed me to test the MBA's WiFi is a large variety of circumstances. Not comprehensive, but very nearly.

To summarise, whilst I have not been able to find out the exact router in every case, I have taken the time to look at the type of connection in every location I have used (using Network Diagnostics).

So...... Take a deep breath and read on:-

I have successfully connected to 'a' and 'b' and 'g' and 'n' and 'ac'.

I have successfully connected to each using secured and unsecured connections.

I have connected using channels 1, 2 and 11 (but not the ones inbetween).

I have connected using WPA, WPA2 but not WPA Enterprise (because I have not found an Enterprise WiFi connection).

I have used TKIP and AES.

I have used 5GHz and 2.4 GHz where it is available - of course you are correct in your comment concerning which protocols are capable of making 5GHz available.

I have viewed web pages and visited secure cloud services.  I have streamed HD video in parts of my garden that a brand new Windows 8 laptop with 802.11 n is unable to detect the WiFi. And I have downloaded >1Gb files without any interuption (all in the above locations - just to see what a working MBA can do.

Oh, and I NEVER have to recharge my MBA during the day, however hard I drive it......

In all these circumstances, the WiFi has been faultless and remarkably fast.  Sometimes I have been to obliged to log off after a couple of hours to visit another location (coffee shop LOL ).  But, sometimes, I have been connected for several hours and still no problem AT ALL. The speed has been particularly impressive where my distance from a router is extended, or previous experience has shown me the WiFi is 'weak'; certainly more than I have experienced prior to getting my MBA. It is especially impressive with regard to speed when using 5Ghz (where available).

So, lunaticitizen , I hope that answers your enquiry Ha Ha!

So, right now, I'm getting the following. (see image). The setup is: Lynksys 802.11 ac latest firmware, 1Gbit/s notional connection, 7 meters from the router on the 5GHz areal, channel 'auto'.

Hi InLA!

Did you buy your two MBAs (one working, the other not working) at the same time at the same store?

Or did you but them with two separate internet purchases?

Thanks.

MaXKiLLz - love the posting formating you are using LOL

I was in the market for a new MBA with Haswell processor but now that I have heard how widespread and serious the wifi problem is I will not buy one. Apple needs to come clean first.

Hi, Cloudi.

Both units were special order (faster processor, more RAM, larger drive), Mid-July.

The whole situation is very strange. At first glance it seems like a hardware issue but then, most of the MBAs that have wifi problems on b,g and n don't have any problem on ac networks. If it were a hardware issue then the problem should exist on all b,g,n and ac standards. So, some evidence point to hardware and some to software. Until Apple says something or someone smart figures this out we can only speculate.

I'd like to sign on as being someone who has MBA 2013 wifi connectivity issues. I didn't really use the laptop pre-update in my apartment, and I installed it because when I read it fixed wifi issues I reckoned I wouldn't actually have to go into network preferences and toggle the WiFi off/on when on campus after about 5 minutes of using the laptop. Now that I'm trying to use it at home, I lose my connection frequently. Router's fine (other laptops work, including an rMBP. And they've been working fine for years. Still do). Internet connection's fine. Seems like my first Apple laptop will be my last, this is pretty absurd.

Steps taken:

Deleted saved wifi network. Deleted entry in Keychain. Repaired disk permissions. Reset PRAM. Reconnected. No improvement.

The wifi update also just absolutely broke wifi via Bootcamp, so my Windows partition has been rendered useless as well. Not like it worked all that great in the first place, since it would intermittently freeze anyway without leaving an entry in the event log.

One possible place my WiFi actually works without issue (I'll have to go back and ping Google to make sure) is on my university campus, which uses an enterprise security certificate for WiFi. I'll see if I can test that more thoroughly tomorrow. In the meanwhile, thanks for nothing, Apple.

128gB, +processor upgrade, +RAM upgrade

edit:

My router is a wrt54g with Tomato cfw. So I'm using 802.11g at my apartment. My campus uses 802.11n.

It's worth remembering that the testing methodolgy everyone uses is different.  I'd say the RTT is one of the best ways of testing at the minute.  My Air appears ok, but its not until the network is more stressed on any topology that it flakes out.  On 11ac speed is great, but when slightly stressed, the same packet loss occurs, delays happen etc.  For browsing its fine...

HomiAlafar, I have a similar thing with the bootcamp partition.  However....  If you reboot from OS X into bootcamp on one of these air's wifi won't work, and eventually the computer completely freezes.  If you shut it down, and ideally leave it off for a few seconds, then boot it straight into windows, you'll generally find wifi works and that it doesnt freeze.  There's speculation on a few other threads that OS X isn't releasing something which prompts this behaviour.  Not sure what it is, but this works for me.

It's all a mess.

Since I've applied the update, I dont have any problems. Before the update I lost connection every 5 minutes..

After the update, all the wifi drops disappeared. But sometimes, when I have a poor reception I can't send/receive data (eg when the microwave is switched on). The wifi icon remains connected. The solution is to put wifi off and back on.

The second problem is the speed. Since the update, the internet speed is low. Websites are loading slow and downloading isn't very fast (I'm on a switched b/g/n-network with linksys router). I expected (very?) fast downloading speeds with that new networkchip. Other laptops in home are much faster!

Like said a few posts ago here is my configuration (it's just a standard configuration):

- 13" macbook Air

- 128 Gb SSD

- 4 Gb RAM

- 1,3 Ghz I5

I buyed the air on 4 july 2013.

I am on my 3rd replacement MBA from the same store...still lags and drops wi-fi everywhere-did all the upgrades and have bluetooth off.Sent a diagnostic to an engineer at Appple-never heard from him again.. Did the genius bar thing and the best they could offer was to upgrade me to a 13" pro-retina, but I would have to pay the difference.I called higher level support when I had enough yesterday, but no answer or callback yet.....probably because there still is nothing they can do about it....fed up

have you been offered your money back?