Q: Late 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 13'' Wifi Issues

Well - I have at home newest Time Capsule with ac wifi. Cannot imagine better match for new rMBP.

Still the issue is present (my two old MBA works flawelesly)

As a reminder, Apple does NOT check these forums. If you want Apple to resolve an issue, submit your feedback directly to Apple using their feedback link:

http://apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

I want this fixed as much as anyone, so please join me and submit feedback so something can actually be done! Thanks.

Feedback submitted. 

For what it's worth--

I purchased two (2) rMBP around the end of November for our company who uses a Cisco-based Wireless-N network.  I quickly discovered the wireless connectivity drops and high ICMP ping response times.  (I believe the two issues are mutually exclusive, with the connectivity drops being the more pressing issue).  I opened up a case with Apple support, which was escalated, and ultimately the two machines were swapped at the Genius Bar for new hardware within the 14-day purchase window.   Apple wanted my old machines in order to have an example so that engineering could bench test the hardware.  My case was also esclallated to an 2nd level support enginneer.  The new machines produced (and continue to produce) the same behavior, so I worked with Apple support to provide packet captures using a diagnostic tool that they provided me.  The last status was that there was no concrete fix, and that engineering was working on a fix.

Also worth mention- I do not experience the issue on my Wireless-G network at home; the issues only seem to appear for me on Wireless-N.  I use my Wireless-G network at home nightly without issue.  (I use Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 APs running DD-WRT).  Our office uses Cisco "Small Business Pro" access points; these are set up for Wireless-N.  We had adjusted a setting from 20Mhz to 40MHz (and back again) at the suggestion of something I had read while researching this issue-- but the issues still exist (on the Macs only; Windows PCs are fine).

Also-- While waiting in line at the Genius bar to swap the original machines, I decided to see if I could reproduce the issue while in the Apple Store.  Interestingly, the ping times at the Apple Store were sub 1ms and I did not notice a drop. I wasn't able to test for very long, perhaps 5 minutes.  So I can't say that this was a terribly scientific test, but I was suprised that there seemed to be no issues at all at the Apple store.Presumably the store uses AirPort A/C and the latest & greatest hardware, but the associate at the store could not confirm or deny that.

Thanks dmk355, that's good to know. It shouldn't be a hardware issue because my MBPs worked fine under 10.6.8, but I'm glad to hear your case got escalated.

My problem is quite similar, you can read about it here. I also found that changing to 802.11a - 802.11b/g (as opposed to "N") was a partial solution. It brought my download speeds back up from 10 to 30mbps, but it's still not the 60mbps I used to get.

Dmk355

You are desrcibing my problem almost exactly as in my thread.

As I mention there, I have tested the same network with a USB-wifi-adapter from D-Link. The adapter presents the same issue as the built-in airport device, this suggests that there is an issue with the software and not the hardware. Just for fun i tested the external D-Link adapter in vm-ware fusion (the usb port is directly forwarded to the guest OS, windows 7 in this case) and the connection presents no problems.

I'm not sure if mine is solved permanently, but it has been working all morning now, after barely working at all.

After emailing Apple support, and got a response this morning. I did what the email suggested, and just that process seems to have been enough to fix it.

The only thing I can think of that might have fixed it is that when I 1st ran the 'Wireless Diagnostics', I had to enter my computer password, and it asked me if I would allow it to access it all the time - or something - something about a keychain. That's the only change I made to my system.

The email from Apple said at the bottom that I shouldn't post it in any forums - including this one - but basically all I did was - Option click on the WiFi symbol in the top bar, then Open Wireless Diagnostics and just follow what it asked. I haven't yet sent the logs to them yet as their haven't been any problems since then.

Today I got a brand new MacBook Pro 15" Retina in exchange. Unpacked it, booted, open a terminal and do the usual ping test and guess what? Same problem.

I call up Apple Support and their "solution" is to point me to the local repair center where they changed almost every part in my previous Macbook to no avail.

This is totally unacceptable. Can't Apple just admit that they screwed up?

Just wanted to say that I have had severe latency issues on my Macbook Air right up until the time I disabled power nap on both mains and battery power, not sure if that will help you guys. I hope Apple patch the issue soon but until then for me good wifi performance is far more preferable than having it check my emails while I'm away.

It makes no difference, with powernap disabled or enabled.

Did you try a reboot after disabling it? My issue always cleared up temporarily after reboot, and disabling power nap in wired and battery has made my fix permanent.

Yes, I did. After reboot, there are still variable ping rates and dropped packets.

Workaround Found:

On my systems (Macbook Air Mid 2013, Macbook Pro Late 2013) experienced the same issue.

Lots of good posts and analysis out there including (https://discussions.apple.com/message/22560444#22560444)

You can work around the problem by opening a terminal window and running:

ping -i .2 10.0.1.1 >/dev/null

(where 10.0.1.1 is the IP address of your wireless router.)

This sends packets every .2 seconds keeping the WIFI chip from going into power saving mode.

Sample Timings:

localhost:~ chris$ ping -c 10 10.0.1.1

PING 10.0.1.1 (10.0.1.1): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=1.098 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=20.232 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=241.749 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=162.914 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=83.387 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=3.735 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=231.503 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=255 time=152.180 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=255 time=72.649 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=255 time=301.283 ms

--- 10.0.1.1 ping statistics ---

10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.098/127.073/301.283/101.827 ms

When I open a second terminal tab and run

ping -i .2 10.0.1.1 >/dev/null

localhost:~ chris$ ping -c 10 10.0.1.1

PING 10.0.1.1 (10.0.1.1): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=1.060 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1.192 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=1.098 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=1.777 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=1.258 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=1.618 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=1.543 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=255 time=1.822 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=255 time=1.330 ms

64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=255 time=1.308 ms

--- 10.0.1.1 ping statistics ---

10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.060/1.401/1.822/0.259 ms

Apple just released 10.9.1 update for mavericks. They notice about enhancements for all Macbook Pro Retina late 2013 users...

We will see, do you see any improvements?

Installed the update, unfortunately the problem persists.