Q: New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

Re: WPA2. My airport has been set on WPA2 for years as well. Not sure if these issues are related or not, but I've also had trouble charging my iPhone since the purchase of this computer. I had to turn off the wireless sync and now it will accept a charge. Personally, I would not spend money on this computer considering the issues. Apple isn't going to replace any device not under warranty and responses are rare.

I got off the phone with apple support this morning. They said a lot of people are having this issue and there is no ETA for a fix. She suggested that the only thing I could do is wait and hope for a fix, or return my MBA for a refund.

I'm returning my MBA, thunderbolt monitor, magic keyboard, magic mouse and trackpad tomorrow.

I am on my second Macbook Air (2013) both have been identical hardware i7 (1.7ghz) 8gb, 512ssd. The exact same behavior exists on both wifi disconnectivity intermittently. I have been working with an Apple specialist who has been more than accomidating but the issue is getting riddiculous. My router is an old but reliable Linksys wrt 54g running WPA security. I have the same issue at work on our enterprise WPA2. My home router is using channel 6 so for all those saying the lower channels work well that has not been true for me. I have no connection issues with any other equipment in my home (Macbook Pro 2010, iphone 5, iphone 4s, itouch 4th gen, ipad 4th gen, ipad 1st gen. We need a fix now!

Hi guys,

just wanted to share my experience as well.

Bought a new Macbook Air i5/4GB/128GB at an official Apple store in Italy 2 days ago.

It was not working at all with a Netgear DGN2200 router, connection was dropped constantly after a few seconds.

Went back to the store, they tried with the store WiFI and it was doing the same as in my house.

They replaced the Macbook with another with the same specs.

This one seemed to keep the connection running for a longer time with the same router (weird indeed); from 5 to 20 minutes.

Fiddled a bit with the router configuration and found out the most stable configuration with WPA2(AES).

With these settings seems that the connection is not dropping for a few hours.

I don't know if I will return it, as I would like to test different routers before deciding.

Hi guys,

I had the same problem with a WLan-Router Thomson TGT585v7 and a new MacBook Air.

The solution was found on the router:

WPA-PSK-Version:l WPA+WPA2

Until now it`s working.

I hate to say that but it will most likely fail at some point. My WPA+WPA2 solution worked for two straigh hours before the first reconnect. Then it started hoping on and off again.

I'm handing it back tomorrow before Apple sorts this stuff out.

@Vienna17: ...until you go on a trip or down to the local café and discover that you can't connect to their wi-fi!  So while this may resolve your immediate issue, it is not really a fix to reconfigure the wi-fi access point to make it work. 

I would march back to the Apple store this minute if I thought I could count on a proper fix for this problem (inside the MacBook Air, not in all wi-fi access points I might encounter in the future).

im having the same issue! at home, my wifi on my new macbook air that i bought last week keeps dropping. i have to keep reconnecting to get like 2 minutes of connection. im using the motorola sbg 901 modem + time warner.

BUT

my macbook works fine in my friends house (time warner), as well as my local panera.

not sure what the issue is exactly, but i hope it gets solved soon! i dont like paying for upgraded internet for nothing!

So I have been waiting to purchase AGAIN. I signed up for the special financing 12 to 18 months no interest. I got a MBA last week special build. Same wifi issue everyone else had. I returned the unit for refund last week. I want to get another MBA and only have 30 days since signing up for Apple special finance (ends July 10th).

My question is ....  If go ahead and buy another one today and it turns out to be a hardware chip issue; will Apple replace my new MBA say in a month or two from now?

This is so strange....I have been following this thread since its inception and thought I'd post my experience.  The day of the new Air release, I purchased two custom machines online (one for myself and one for my husband) - both 13", i7, 8GB RAM and 512 SSD.  I also purchased the new Time Capsule.  Neither machine has experienced any of the wifi connectivity issues.  Now, neither of us have actually taken them outside of our home network to try yet so I'm not sure if we just haven't had the issues because our machines "like" our home wifi network (since it's Apple).  I've been reading up a lot on this and it appears that this issue is not affecting all machines as I've seen a myriad of posts from people like myself who have not experienced this issue.  So bizarre!  I'm actually starting to wonder if there was just a "bad" batch of wifi chips...that would explain why only some machines are affected...but, who knows!  I'm looking forward to taking my machine outside of my home network to test it and I'm keeping all my fingers crossed!!!

FWIW I got a stock i5/13"/256G/4G MBA from the Mall of America store the second day after they were available.  It works perfectly at home - Linksys E4200 router - and I've used it in probably a dozen different bars, etc., also with no Wi-Fi problems whatsoever.

Furthermore, it doesn't exhibit the "Photoshop Flickering" phenomenon that is subject of another thread here.  I tested that extensivelhy, couldn't get my MBA to flicker.

There clearly are folks here with a problem - no doubt.  But it's impossible to tell from the discussions how widespread it is.  These are forums for people with issues, not for those without.

Rhetorical questions - how many MBAs have been sold, and what percentage of those work perfectly? 

Not that it's any comfort to those people for whom Wi-Fi is non-functional.

I am curious as to what makes some presumably identical machines work and others not.  Hard to conceive that it could be a design issue, although from my background as an electrical engineer I'm certainly familiar with "design margin" failures with hardware componenets (often temperature) that lead to inconsistent behaviour.    

Enough rambling - will be following this thread regularly to see what transpires.

I am waiting to upgrade a 5 year old MacBook. I'm thankful to have access to an Apple "friends & family" discount; but last thing i want is to use the discount and then have either the WiFi or photoshop issue, and then in any way hassle the good friend providing the precious "f&f" slot. Also, brand new products don't get immediately listed for "f&f" ordering which now seems amazingly prescient. .It takes about six weeks for new stuff to get on "f&f".

When i do order, I will get a new ac time capsule as well, which seems higher probability of working right out of the gate no matter.

Will certainly keep following the thread. Point well taken most posters are those having a problem. And that those testing the first firmware fix are not allowed to discuss it or they won't stay in beta good graces.

I want to share my experience. I've had a  MBA 13", i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD for a couple of weeks. I noticed the Wi-Fi problems right away. I have a wireless G access point running with TKIP/AES mixed turned on, and I get full signal 90% of the time. I installed an app that shows bandwidth usage and noticed that when connectivity appears to be lost the app shows some bandwidth usage > 1kbps. This could be something with the app or a symptom of the problem I'm not sure. I might install wireshark and see what that looks like.

I had an entirely different problem with my MBA's speaker. After a couple of days I noticed a metallic/vibrating sound coming from the left speaker. I contacted apple care and was sent a replacement. The replacement has the same Wi-Fi problems.

This weekend I bought an airport extreme and it has no Wi-Fi problems. I plan to travel with my MBA a lot and I also had Wi-Fi problems with my verizon wireless MiFi so I hope the wireless problems are resolved properly.

This is the reason I'm never the first to upgrade. As good as Apple is, I'll still wait at least six months before pulling the trigger so that there's time to get any major problems fixed.

The inconsistency in the machines having the wifi issue leads me to believe it could potentially be due to a "bad batch" of wifi chips being used to build a particular "batch" of Airs.  This would explain why only some machines are effected...only some of them were built with a bad wifi chip (or other bad component).  This would also explain away a design issue or software problem.  Just my two cents....but, who knows!