mac osx 10.9 Mavericks wifi issue

It's clear that Apple has no intention of fixing these bugs in Mavericks. Even if everyone who is experiencing these problems switched to Windows, Apple obviously assumes it's cheaper and easier to lose a few thousand users than to hire engineers who can fix the OS.

But is it really the OS that is causing the problem? I suspect that it might be possible to fix with an OS patch but the real problem is the wireless AC hardware in the new MacBooks.

Apple has been trying to fix this problem with software for almost a year now since the new MacBook Air's were released.

The only way I have been able to make it work reliably is to turn bluetooth off.

Too bad because I really love my MacBook Air.

This wireless problem is the only knock against it.

And it works perfect with my Airport Extreme wireless AC router at home.

It is just when I travel and must use Wireless G routers that I have problems.

It is not hardware issue, at least for some of us it isn't. Before Mavericks update, my MBP worked just fine. The minute the update to Mavericks finished, the MBP stopped maintaining Wifi connectivity.

Correct. If you go back through this thread (and many other threads), you'll find a ton of people who never had problems before Mavericks. It's also not restricted to new Macbooks. The problem crosses through the entire spectrum of Apple hardware, so it is likely an OS problem for most users.

no237,

Does your MacBook have the new wireless AC?

Do you have the same problem with the MacBook waking from sleep and refusing to reconnect to a network. (That is the problem I have with my MacBook Air.)

It especially hates Netgear N300 wireless routers.

You could be right about Mavericks being the problem?

I purchased my MacBook Air in June 2013 and it had Mavericks on it.

So I have never tested it with an older OS.

But if it is just a Mavericks problem, it seems like Apple could have fixed it by now.

BTW, after many hours on the phone with Apple Tech Support, their final answer to me was that it must be a configuration problem with the router.

But I sent them the configuration info on the router including model number and firmware number, type of wireless security etc.

Apple had no specific solution for configuring the router any differently than it already was configured.

(just that it must not be configured correctly)

Rich

Rich,

I have a 2013 MBA and a Apple Extreme AC, sixth gen. From the very first release of Mavericks and all subsiquent updates I have not encountered any connectivity problems. My MBA sleeps, wakesup, and connects without a problem. It automattically connects in AC mode if near my Extreme and in 802.11N mode if I am near my extended Airport Express (second Gen.)

Maybe I am just lucky?

No, you are not lucky. That is my point. It works perfectly with Airport Extreme wireless AC

It is only a problem with wireless g routers.

Rich Love1 I am given to understand that if the MBA came with Mavericks on it you can't run an older OS.

themachead - you are probably stuck with Mavericks. If you can get your hands on a Mountain Lion Installer you can see if you get lucky. It sounds like the root of the problem could be changes in support of the new AC apple hardware have broken older hardware.

The first time I went on the road with mavericks I could not for the life of me log in to client wifi systems. Booting temporarily from a Snow Leopard disk fixed the problem, so it really really is not hardware. How do we get Apple's attention at a higher level than 'fix my computer', and get them to pay attention to the bigger problem? It seems to me if Apple support get each single user off their backs by having them do the reset and trash the preferences dance, no real forward progress will occur.

tgafford, just a thought, but everyone could email this one guy at Apple. His name is Tim—Tim Chef, I believe. Or, if it's not Chef, it's another culinary name. Tim C...

Because you're right. Calling/emailing Apple Support will never lead to a fix.

I know that there will be further updates to OS 10.9 - historically there has to be... and I believe that Apple programmers are aware that many people have had this problem. I am not one of them.

Tgafford, sorry to learn about your poor travel experience - I took my two week old MBA to Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. I had no problem connecting all along the way. Wireless was slow at the resort in Yap... however I was on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean... even the LAN machines at the local Internet cafe were slow!

Again - although the problem is real, and frustrating for some users... it is not a universal problem that plagues all users (and that as I've already mentioned) is one of the reasons it's hard to "fix".

Rich Love! - what makes you state that the problem is unique to g routers?

I have seen many comments on the internet about the incompatibility between wireless g routers and the MacBook air with wireless ac. But I have also seen comments about 2.4GHz vs 5 Ghz.

So I am not sure if the problem is wireless g or the fact that most older wireless g routers run at 2.4 ghz

The Netgear N300 router I have so much trouble with runs at 2.4 Ghz and there is no option to run it at 5 Ghz.

Bluetooth runs at 2.4 Ghz.

So now that I think about it, it makes sense that Wireless routers running at 2.4 Ghz might interfere with Bluetooth and be causing our problems.

When I turn bluetooth off in my MacBook Air, I have zero problems.

Rich Love1,

But as you can see, at least some of the problems, are clearly Apple's. My case again: everything worked fine until I installed Mavericks. Nothing else changed except the Apple OS. Same Wifi router, same Wifi router setting, same MBP hardware. Only change was going from 10.8.x -> 10.9.x and things became useless.

I don't use bluetooth. It is always off on all my devices. Not because of any particular issue, I just don't like bluetooth and don't use it.

I too don't use Bluetooth and so to extend battery life I generally leave it off... that may have explained why I had no issues traveling whith a new MBA using Mavericks.

Yes there are many more WiFI devices in life, and neighborhoods than even two years ago.

I was surprised to see all the new routers listed within range of my home (I don't normally look at a list as my laptops automagically connect to my router) but if I was having problems I know the first thing I would look at is how many networks are in range. Then recall that most default standard channels are 1, 2 or 6 and try to manually choose 4 or 8 or 9 (there's a possibility of cross interference with nearby channels, that's why I'd not pick 3,5 or 7. Or I'd try one of those apps that find/display nearby networks and their standard channels. Sometimes you might even have to ask neighbors if they would agree to use different channels for everyone's benefit.

A fundamental problem with 2.4 GHz wifi is there are only 3 distinct channels: 1, 6, and 11. In multi unit buildings you're semi-doomed, and relying on luck and neighbor router position for any hope of a clear channel. The bandwidth of a transmitted signal causes overlap if the channels aren't different by 5. the smaller the difference, the more overlap, thus the more interference. 5 GHz has lots of distinct channels, and it can make the difference of a system working or not working. See for example Wiki on the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels