Late 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 13'' Wifi Issues

I had the same issue since getting my Late 2013 MacBook Pro. At first I wrote a script and a LaunchDaemon to monitor my WiFi connection and then toggle the Airport card if the connection were to not reconnect after waking from sleep. After months of looking at possible causes and solutions I came up with a simple terminal command to resolve the issue.

1st thing to try is the following terminal command and see if that resolves this for you.

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth LastA2DPDevice

If this doesnt resolve the issue you can use the script and LaunchDaemon to toggle the Airport card if you dont reconnect.

Here are the instructions for this.

1. In the terminal type the following 2 commands

mkdir /Users/Shared/Scripts

pico /Users/Shared/Scripts/airport_fix.sh

2. Copy and paste the following script (4 Lines) in the Terminal window

=====Script starts below this line=====

#!/bin/bash

/usr/sbin/networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled Wi-Fi off

/usr/sbin/networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled Wi-Fi on

sleep 10

=====Script ends above this line=====

3. Save the script by hitting Ctrl X and then type a "y", and then hit enter to save the script

4. Make the script Executible by typing the following in the Terminal

chmod +x /Users/Shared/Scripts/airport_fix.sh

5. In the Terminal type in the following

sudo pico /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.airport.fix.plist

6. Copy and paste the following script in the terminal window

=====Script starts below this line=====

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>Label</key>

<string>com.airport.fix</string>

<key>ProgramArguments</key>

<array>

<string>/Users/Shared/Scripts/airport_fix.sh</string>

</array>

<key>KeepAlive</key>

<dict>

<key>NetworkState</key>

<false />

</dict>

</dict>

</plist>

=====Script ends above this line=====

7. Activate the script by typing the following in the terminal

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/com.airport.fix.plist

I followed the Macworld advice a few days ago, deleting my Bluetooth plist file, etc.

It worked well for a couple of days, but the problem reasserted itself this morning when waking my rMBP from sleep.

This was on my home network, which relies on a 2nd generation Time Capsule (dual band 2.4/5Ghz) network, so an Apple router will not automatically solve the problem.

As others have said, it's definitely a driver issue, and it's driving me mad.

Thanks for confirming that the issue still persists even with the dual band router. The only reason I thought that may be an issue is that when I went into two separate Apple stores in London, I had no problems with reconnection so it was a guess that maybe the 5 ghz might help.., but apparently not. Like everyone I open the lid and hold my breath to see if the wifi indicator goes to black. Like everyone I hold my breath waiting for Apple to sort this out. AAAAAARRRRRGGGH!!!!!

It may work with some 5 GHz routers though! I finally bought a R6300v2 and havent had a single disconnect for 3 months. Now i am only suffering at work and when i travel, yay.

The Netgear R6300v2 would be an 802.11AC (AC1750) router. Is Johnniecache using WPA2?

My Cisco Linksys EA3500 is an 802.11N (N750) router. They may both use 5Ghz but they do it differently.

I can't tell if when people said the Airport 5Ghz (which didn't work for them) they mean the Airport Express 802.11n with 2.4 and 5ghz support or the Airport Extreme 802.11AC with 2.4 and 5Ghz.

sorry for missing details for my test:

Speedport w701v @802.11g 2.4GHz: Disconnects

TrendnetTEW-637 @802.11n 2.4GHz: Disconnects, slowing down

router at work (?) @802.11n 2.4GHz+5GHz: Disconnects, slowing down

AirportExtreme13 @802.11ac 5GHz: Disconnects, slowing down

Netgear R6300v2 @802.11ac 5GHz: good, average SMB transfer 15 MB/s

Netgear R6300v2 @802.11ac 5GHz: good, constant SMB transfer 45 MB/s (Microsoft Win 8.1)

security always WPA2

Those of you who are able (and willing to take the risk of running betas), please do join the beta seed program , and submit as many bug reports as possible via the Feedback Assistant that is installed with the seeds. I'm submitting one a day.

Apple has always made it clear in the paid developer program that bug dupes play a very substantial role in how they determine priorities. The more we squeak in the appropriate place (not this forum, which isn't going to be read by anyone who matters), the more likely it is Apple will put some muscle into addressing the problem.

A few posts were discussing how few people are complaining about this; I have had the issue since the day I rceieved my 2013 rMBP (on release day) and many of my friends have the same issue but they're less enthusistic about checking the support community pages.

I have been reading about the issue for at least 6 months, hoping for a solution, but it seems the only fix is via updated drivers, therefore, this is entirely in Apple's hands.

I haven't tried the turn off bluetooth and delete preference files method, but I will tonight.

I imagine Apple are well aware of this - it is impossible to miss - due to their staff using the same hardware and the undoubtedly numerous bug reports.

This doesn't leave me hopeful however, as the issue has been around for so long; surely it would have been picked up by now. That it hasn't points to the fact that the issue is hardware related and Apple have, yet again, used faulty/unsuitable components in their products.

Not impressed - try watching BBC iPlayer, or streaming anything for that matter; it's a complete farce.

I'm not tech savvy enough to join the beta program or follow the detailed instructions posted about writing script. All I know how to do is to 'reboot' but if you're using BBC iPlayer, then you must be in the UK like I am. I wrote into BBC Watchdog to complain about this issue and if everyone on this forum from the UK will do the same, perhaps Watchdog will do a piece on this and Apple will be shamed into doing something about this problem. After doing all the simple suggestions, I have found the easiest thing to do is to turn the wifi OFF and then back ON again. Caveman technique.for the 21st century.

From my experience, turn wifi off and back on works very occasionally. I phoned apple care several times now, and they said already forwarded this to the senior engineers. dont know if this means anything though.

I went through the process of deleting the Bluetooth plist files a few days ago, but the Wifi dropouts are now reoccuring.

I have now setup a macro using Keyboard Maestro to toggle my wifi off and on each time my Mac wakes from sleep.

That seems to be working so far.

Terribly hacky, but the best option I've found so far.

I placed my holp on the new update, but the wifi issue remains after 10.9.3 installed!!!!!!

How pathetic!!!

Same here and agree that Apple is CRAP!!! if they can't sort something simple as this. When I saw that the update was supposed to 'improve relliability of network directories' I thought they finally sorted it but no, still NO GOOD!!! How frustrating that I can't use this machine like I ought to.

a friend told me this is caused by IPV6. Turn it off by type in "networksetup setv6off Wi-Fi" in terminal, and this will solve the wifi issue. I already turned it off and wifi seems staying normal now, I don't know if this will last though. Definitely worth to give a shot since there is no better solution now.

This is my second macbook pro retina 13" after Apple replaced the first one due to the same Wifi problem. Just this past two weeks, the Wifi dropped signal problem came back again. I realized that the signal dropped whenever the wifi connection changes between the 2.4 and 5GHz band.

I separated my Time Capsule 5GHz band from the 2.4GHz band. Then most of the time, I just connect to the 2.4GHz (Wifi N) and the connections are OK so far.