iMac Wifi Keeps Dropping

Just bought a new imac 27 inch. I have apple airport that my ipad an phone connect to no problems. To get the mac to connect I have to turn wifi on and off a few times. This cant be right with a computer that cost nearly 2.5k with upgrades. I have rebooted the airport, checked the software and am ready for sending it back. Any ideas

Wifi problems seem to crop up a lot on here and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a 'one fix' solution.

However, sometimes any one of the following can help although, unfortunately, not always. In no particular order:

• Check wifi security - if it's WEP change it to WPA or WPA2 preferably, as it's more secure
• Change the wifi channel on the router
• Create a new Network Location: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5289
• Reboot the router

Also take a look at this link and the links within the article for other ideas. They mainly reference Lion, but still seem to be relevant to Mountain Lion:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/06/lion-wi-fi-problems-solution-mac/?utm_source=feed burner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+osxdaily+%28OS+X+Daily%29&utm_conte n t=FaceBook

...and this link:

http://osxdaily.com/2012/11/30/resolving-stubborn-wi-fi-connection-problems-in-m ac-os-x/

Same issue here, new machine as richardfromnormanton described his, beefed up and dissapointed, drops connection everytime it goes to sleep or I restart. I like to be able to access it remotely, kind of hard with no connection to wifi. No other device I have drops the connection so not my time capsule. Macbook, Ipad, and 3 iphones, and a few belkin devices connect automatically every time, just the imac giving me issues.

I had exactly the same problem as gviking (drops with waking and restarts) with a new Mid-2011 iMac. Changing my network security in the router (Time Capsule) from WPA/WPA2 Personal to WPA2 Personal cured the drops completely.

Im already wpa2. Still have issues. Though its not the point. This is a new machine connecting to an apple wifi conection. it should work out of the box. What are apple doing about this? it seems lots of people are having the same problem

Sorry to hear that Richard. If I were you I'd contact Apple Support.

I had the same problem for my new iMac 27".

I bought my iMac in April and had no issue before I upgraded AirPort to the one with 802.11ac support.

Time Warner replaced my cable modem with a new one and change the encryption to WPA-PSK.

Now my internet works fine.

I believe this is a stability issue in the AirPort with 802.11ac support.

Old routers might not compatible with the new AirPort upgrade.

Hey me too. Just bought a brand new iMac 27" and a 3gb timecapsule (used as a wireless router). I use WPA2 personal, and am getting drop outs. Worl around is to turn wifi off the on. But still happens especially after the iMac has been asleep for a while. As you all say, other devices (iphone, macbookair, ipad) have no problems so must be the iMac not the router. Maybe I'll get onto Apple Support and see what they say.... not keeping my fingers crossed though....

I was told by Apple care I needed a new wireless card in my iMac ,

Since the nearest apple store is over 2 hours drive I decided to just deal with it. And had a

Suspicion it was software issue and not hardware.

After upgrading to Maverick problem solved. It now connects automatically

To wifi with original equipment.

I am running Maverick and have a call out to apple support. i'll let you knowwhsat they say.

don't know if this can help but it is what solved my issue with wifi constantly dropping on my imac (all other apple products doing fine). after having tried all the above suggestions to no avail (could not change from WEP to WPA or WPA2 because i already was on the latter, i tried running wifi without password protection... sure enough signal no longer dropped stayed for a whole day without any issues whatsoever.. following day i decided i was going to try and switch back to password protection ( WPA or WPA2).... sure enough i have been wifi problem free for 48 hrs! let me know if it works for anyone else.

I had exactly the same problem. My setup consists of an Airport Extreme router and 4 Airport Express Acces Points. I changed the channels of all AP's using only channels 1, 6 and 11. And from there on not a single drop of the wifi connection occurred. Only strange thing is that my iMac is now always connected to the Aiport Extreme (channel 11) wich is located in the utillities closet. It used to be connected to an express just 1 meter away from the iMac. But who care's as long as it's working. (It reaches wifi speeds of 450MB, so no complaints here).

I have been having this issue with my iMac for some considerable time now and changing from WPA/WPA2 to WPA2 did not help my situation.

However, changing my 5GHz channel from 36 to 48 on my Airport Extreme DOES seem to have resolved the issue, and I am no longer experiencing ANY dropouts and downloads are performing consistently at constant speeds since the change.

I was also leaning towards thinking that I had a hardware issue with my wi-fi card, considering that all my other Apple Devices were not experiencing ANY issues including MBP, iPad, iPhones and Apple TV, however this channel change seems to have resolved the issues for my iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) and I think that users would be well advised to attempt any changes one at a time to see what helps their situation.

Believe me I know how frustrating this issue can be, it has been driving me absolutely mad for quite some time, so good luck to all of you.

Its 2015 and I'm having the very same problem. How is it possible that this wifi issue is happ all all models and for years and years and yet it has still not been fixed by apply. I don't know of any PCs with this issue and for years. I'm bring my Mac book pro back and after reading so many reports of this same issue, I'm not sure I will replace it with a Mac. For $299, I can get a PC laptop with will stay on the network and have pretty good specs. Where as this cost $2000 and can't stay on wifi and the battery is going down super fast after the El Capitan upgrade.

I was having the same problem along with sluggish performance after I upgraded to Yosemite. I quit email and left it off and it seems to have fixed both problems.