Q: New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

Being a newbie to Apple (and interested in buying an MBA) this thread scared me ****.

Here's why:

My daughter bought a Samsung (NP900X3A, 13", 4G memory, 128G SSD, Windows 7) less than a year ago.

Her machine had a WiFi problem just like what I read here, and that's exactly why

she wants to buy a new MBA. (also hates Windows 8)

The problem was so bad, when she took the laptop to take her bar exam, she said it took

hours to upload her writings from her hotel. (don't ask me why she didn't use a wired connection)

Last week, she went to Starbucks and couldn't even connect her laptop there,

and she got so angry...

Now after reading many horror stories here, I wonder whether it is still a good idea to buy

an MBA (/w 13", 8G, 256G) or wait (for what)...

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

There may well be valid reasons for not buying a current MBA but this thread is not one of those.  Go take a look at my posting in this thread on page 78.  A "back of the envelope" calculation suggests that the problem machines discussed here - a few hundred - represent something on the order of 0.05% of an estimated 800,000 MBAs sold since they were announced in June.

The thread does not provide any data on the 99.95% of the other machines.

I agree with Stumbleone, you are not hearing from the MacBook Air population, like me, that have a very positive experience.  My daughter is a medical student and do not have any concerns about her MacBook Air stability.

I am waiting.  I think only sampling  this forum to predict MBA WiFi issue % still in the wild = slippery slope. bad pun.  not just because a forum badly oversamples.  It isn't the only thread, still new reports of problems. Too much daylight between 1,400 posts and 150,000+  views We can accuately predict how many of 150,000 views may not post, but had or have or knew some one who had the issue?  Some of them returned, exchanged or upgraded. Several encouraged to upgrade to rMBP. The issue was picked up by media.  It's everyone's personal choice to buy now or wait. Bottom line for me, it seems like there is more going on than strictly counting posters.I  don't feel like we can have a good measure of how much more.   It doesn't seem reasonable  150,000 view(er)s are reading  - for fun. Don't get me wrong.  My '08 Macbook is pokey. It's amazing how back then it was considered svelte. But next to an MBA it's a tank. Don't recall ever being this hesitant to trade up in the ecosystem I call home. Not fingerpointing, I  need a higher degree of conffidence the problem is solved before spending a lot of money.

So guys,

fed up with waiting and go back to .22 driver... and what a surprise, it works!!!! ping times quit good like it should be!!!!! Really crazy that Apple offers an update and the wifi goes to ****!!!....

Thanks all for you help!!!!

Steve

it's not allowed to write: H E L L ?????

I am still struggling with this too. Some Apple fanboy tried to extrapolate from views on this post that only a few machines are effected.....its voodoo math. Another similar post had 400,000 views and this is not the only mac forum on the net. Lots of people aren`t aware or are blaming other things...still working through or have already returned  or traded up to a pro. I went to the macrumors forum and was immediately dismissed as a crackpot for even thinking that Apple might have screwed up or does not have our best interests at heart about this. I even had an offer for someone to fly in and examine my machine in its enviornment....hasn`t happened yet.I really like everything else about the MBA, so I too am holding on hoping for the best....

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For new visitors:-

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I generally don't post in forums - forums are too insular in my experience.

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But please don't dismiss this thread on the basis of crackpot maths.

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We simply don't know how many are affected, and those posting do not imply otherwise (with one exception on this page).

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But, remember, Apple do know...... they will be collating the number new MBA returns (however many there have been).

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Obviously, with such extraordinary visit and post statistics in 10 weeks, this thread may now be recieving many visits simply because this problem is now notorious.

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But, if you remember, the number of posts and views in the first few days was very high too.  Those will have been generated mainly by individuals actually having a problem.

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The comments on MacRumours are a very good example of why I tend to avoid forums.

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This forum is an example of how they should be......

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Namely helpful, accepting of sensible and well meant comment and not irrationally critical of those taking the time to post....

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Message was edited by: Cloudi

Information is power and hopefully a few potential buyers are now waiting for resolution to this issue before buying, but again, it will only be people looking on forums or googling for reviews on the MBA before they buy.

Interesting post.  No argurment with your two observations that the thread here very usefully covers the technical aspects of how to work around various problems and also spurrs Apple on 'fessing up to various problems and commiting to fixing them.  Worthwhile objectives. 

But I would submit that there is a third agenda going on here too - postings by windroid shill trolls focussed on denigrating Apple and promoting their own spin on things that do not solve the technical problems and will not get Apple to fix anything.

There is at least one blatant WDST here who consumes much space but only serves to be a major irritation, and who the moderators should ban.

Just my personal feeling.

creos -

To answer your question of "Should I roll back to the .22 wireless driver or return my MBA?":  In the end, this is just a small piece of software that you would be rolling back to.  So I'd say "Sure, why not -- just back up your Mac first, and pull the trigger".  Its not like MBA owners are having to tear upon their laptop and tweak the wifi chip, the antennae, or anything like that.

And once the next driver release comes out (e.g. as part of the 10.8.5 maintenance release), I intend to test that against a mix of routers I have here, and post my results.  Some folks can live with the latency issues of the .35 driver, but I suspect most will become frustrated over time (pun intended).

The .22 driver I posted on page 86 is still valid for download.

I forgot to mention, for anyone confused about networking or just want to learn how to optimize their wireless / wired home network, this an excellent set of 101 articles from SmallNetBuilder:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-basics/32056-how-to-improve-network -performance-part-1

Highly recommended, irrespective of what devices you own.

huey6492 -

I've been working with Apple & Windows products for over 25 years, and much like the reviews stated, the 2013 MBA is one of the best in terms of form factor, performance, and battery life -- an incredible mix of features.  So I still say get one for your daughter -- its an awesome laptop.

Per the comments I've made in previous posts here as someone working in the networking industry, the wireless industry still has a long way to go before everything "just works" as well as some other technologies (including even wired networking), which is unfortunately often why I still see threads like these pop up every day, irrespective of the manufacturer or type of device. (your daughter's Samsung device is just another unfortunate example).

But I have no doubt Apple's network engineers are working with Broadcom to mitgate compatibility / performance issues via an updated driver -- just a matter of time.

Thank you all..

Yesterday I went to BestBuy just to have a feel of MBA, and I liked it: as a matter of fact,

I liked the MBA's power connector.  Hopefully, my daughter is one of those happy ones.

Once again, thank you.

Totally agree-there is nothing on the market that even comes close to the 2013 haswell MBA-performance,weight, battery life,etc.-its why we are all trying to resolve the wi-fi issue. I lusted after one for years and finally went for it-the 12 hour battery life was the tipping point for me......now if only they would release an update that actually works.