Apple patches 2013 MacBook Air Wi-Fi issue, but 802.11ac speeds still low

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Level 1

6 points

Apple patches 2013 MacBook Air Wi-Fi issue, but 802.11ac speeds still low

Today I just received my new Macbook air 13 inch, with 802.11ac wifi together with the new airport time capsule with wifi 802.11ac.

The speed is however disappointing, although I installed the new patch. Here is the perfromance at 1 m distancefrom the airport in 5GHz and "ac" mode:

Wifi menu: Never more than 174MBit/s

Network Utility says 289MBit/s

Then the emiric test (1 m distance):

1) Transfering 500MByte files: peak speed was 16.4 MBit/s

1) Time machine Backup of 80GByte: 4 hours!!!! I boght this hardware in the believe, that it would be less than 1 hour according to my math with the promised 45MByte/s.

The acivity center confirmes that the peak speed is arond 15-16 MByte/sec which then also explains my empirical results measured by a watch.

This is highly highly disappointing, as speed was the only reason for upgrading to this 802.11ac investment (Macbook air + station). Really really bad!

What is the problem dear Apple? Where is the 1300 MBit/sec connection? Or the 800 at least. 500 at least. But 174 !!!???

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), +Airport Time capsule 2013

Posted on Jul 20, 2013 3:12 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

PlotinusVeritas

Level 6

14,872 points

Jul 20, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Roki75

One notable issue not addressed by the July 18 Macbook Air update is a problem with file transfer speeds over 802.11ac networks. As we (and others) reported, the new MacBook Airs aren't as fast as they should be when transferring files over 802.11ac using the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Server Message Block (SMB) protocols under OS X. Using a network bandwidth testing tool like iPerf, a different file sharing protocol like FTP, or transferring files in Windows rather than OS X yields transfer speeds that are about as fast as expected, which leads us to believe that the issue is fixable in software. However, according to our testing, today's update doesn't resolve the problem just yet.

see also for full details. http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/06/os-x-is-holding-back-the-2013-macbook-airs- 802-11ac-wi-fi-speeds/

Its a SIMPLE software fix

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jul 20, 2013 6:27 PM in response to Roki75

The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership. If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you also have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different.

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Answer 3

Jul 21, 2013 5:55 PM in response to Linc Davis

I wouldn't want to return mine. However, I think Apple needs to do something to enhance the performance of the WIFI. My iPad and iPhone run at twice the speed that my MacBook Air on my ISP network. Disappointing but I wwould think correctible.

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Answer 4

Jul 21, 2013 6:11 PM in response to Kerry Dawson

Its very correctable, bootcamp'd new AIRs running under Win8 are getting 157% FASTER speeds than older model AIRs, its the TCP in the OSX thats the "issue" ,.(TCP transmission control protocol: a protocol developed for the internet to get data from one network device to another), whereas I believe the same AIR are getting 40 something % faster under OSX. A HUGE discrepency

...this has to do with how much data is recieved before a confirmation is acknowledged.

....the TCP is running at 64 in MAC OSX, and running at 250 (250 something..) in Win8 . This is most certainly an easy software fix, how thats upcoming I wont speculate

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Answer 5

Roki75 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 22, 2013 4:32 AM in response to Linc Davis

Well, I sold my old MBA 2010 already, so this is the only computer I have. Return is now no option. I believe though, that other people should do so in order to ramp up the pressure on Apple.

If it was an easy software fix (64-->256 TCP package size), why does it take them months to fix? And how could such a disaster happen? Don't they test their main feature that they promised before taping the new product series out? This is a crazy basic issue. The 802.11ac was for me the main purchase argument. I knew, that the 802.11ac isn't yet fully standardized. But with a router + computer from the same manufacturer, there should not be a problem...I naively believed...Moreover, the MBA 2013 should be a rather mature device, as uit has the same form factor that my old 2010. That's why I also assumed, that the 2013 version would be a very robust upgrade with some nice new features like the battery and the Wifi speed.

Even more crazy, that the speed works under windows. How embarrassing is this?

User uploaded file

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Answer 6

Jul 22, 2013 2:28 AM in response to Roki75

be patient. it has not been "months". its been 1 month. And the only place youre going to see those speeds is at home. Jo Blo coffee or public wifi isnt running ac speeds anyway regardless.

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Answer 7

Jul 22, 2013 5:19 AM in response to PlotinusVeritas

My issue is I'm running on a six month old Apple network and the MacBook Air is running at half the speed of the iPad and the iPhone. I had a late 2012 MacBook Air and then converted to the 2013 MacBook Air. I got it for the extra memory. I love my MacBook Air but really it shouldn't be running at half the speed of the IOS devices. In fact, I'm sure as I was researching this, I found documentation to say don't expect the IOS devices to run at the speed of a notebook as they don't have the same attenaes. Plus, I was told by Apple that running OSX they run half as fast as Windows so technically hardwarewise there is nothing wrong. I would think this is not such a big deal to fix.

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Answer 8

Mikael_B

Level 1

20 points

Jul 22, 2013 6:11 AM in response to PlotinusVeritas

It is still embarrasing that (the) one main selling point, the high wifi speed, is not working, especially one month after release, it should of course work when released. And I expect more and more widespread use of the high speed nets in the future, so it is not a relevant argument that most public wifis dont use it today.

Apple pulled a similar stunt with the Ipad 3s 4g capability

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Answer 9

Roki75 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 22, 2013 7:31 AM in response to PlotinusVeritas

"And the only place youre going to see those speeds is at home."

Exactely: At home. But that's also the main reason I bought those two devices..for home!! I have a NAS and I want to use the HDD drive of the Airport Time Capsule. Here I am with 12-16 MByte/sec and hours and hours to push my old foto albums to the new devices.

As a side comment I don't understand why on top of this, the Airport Time Capsule comes with USB2 and no Thunderbold. The best speed one can get is the network cable, so ~110MBit/sec. So that's what I'll have to do I guess. Back to cable, buy a thuderbold2ethernet...

I agree that this is an impressive Apple stunt. They should get back to engineering creativity/quality/excellence that we all love(d) on Apple, instead of paying out dividends and optimizing tax returns.

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Answer 10

Jul 22, 2013 9:38 AM in response to Kerry Dawson

Actually I have the new Airport Extreme, the Ipads I use run faster due to signal strength and the beamforming technology of the new extreme.

Those without 802ac devices will notice they can connect faster and of course further away with the new extreme not based upon the older devices running 802ac (which they arent) but because of antenna gain, improved SNR.

Even those tech reports on the new AIR, though reporting “not as fast as could be the case”, are STILL reporting faster than previous AIR.

The window sizing TCP ‘issue’ is a matter of a line or 2 of code.

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Answer 11

creos

Level 1

0 points

Jul 22, 2013 9:46 AM in response to Roki75

Seriously, this issue is so embarassing. I know a bunch of fellow students including me, who are holding back from buying new MBAs since it is a essential tool for us students. Nobody wants to invest so much money in a laptop which has such a major problem.

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Answer 12

Roki75 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 23, 2013 4:47 AM in response to creos

This is a wise decision. There is no reason for honor such failures. Actually I don't understand why some people are so soft on Apple with this ("be patient"). For me it is too late to return, as I got rid of my old 2010 MBA already (a mistake). I filed a complained today (Case 471079788).

"Apple is aware of the issues, but have no solution at the moment." My advise therefore: "Don't buy at the moment."

Come one, what changed in the new MBA 2013? Battery and the WiFi plus some little things. It cannot be that difficult for such a company to get it right. It's just a very moderate evolution.

A company which was able to trigger a Trillion Dollar Tech-Tsunami (rolling over Nokia, RIM, TomTom, HP, Dell, Sony, Nintendo and many more, even Intel completely missed the trend) with their iPhone, should be able to scale their inventions without such embarrassing bugs.

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