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

One thing i don't understand: If its a driver problem, why are so few people complaining here. I mean, Apple is selling tons of these machines. Is it really possible that people don't realize that something is wrong with the WiFi? I mean, on mine it was quite obvious?

Yep, I have the same problem on my Retina 13inch, December 2013 build.

Upgraded from a 2009 Macbook Pro.

Latency spikes go from sub 1ms-350ms and every step in between.

Setup is a state of the art Asus wireless AC router.

Both laptops are pinging my local router at the same time.

Macbook Pro Retina

Macbook Pro

I then bootcamp into Windows 8.1 from my Macbook 13 retina laptop and the latency spikes are gone (screenshot below). Basic assumption based on this evidence is that it is Mavericks OS software and/or driver related as implied by earlier posters.

For all those who are unsure about keeping or returning the device within 14days, please call up Apples Sales and explain the problems/difficulties. They just extended my return duration to 30days (also offered a small cashback for the "pain" I am going through). They are friendly

I am not sure if this policy applies worldwide, but I realized that you could bargain with Apple sales.

just connect it to the ethernet cable

are you advising everyone with Wifi problems to use Ethernet cable?

I think the response was tongue in cheek as there is no ethernet port on the Macbook anymore

I have also confirmed this morning that the latency and quality problems also apply to IPad Air and IPhone 5S hotspots when running OSX and connecting from my Macbook Retina.

If I bootcamp into to Windows 8.1, the connection problems and latency issues to the Apple devices dissapear. I am also seeing slow pickup of the hotspots in Mavericks whereas in Windows, the Hotspots are seen almost instantly.

So, the current 'workaround' for these problems is to use Windows 8.1 on the Macbook Retina rather than, OS X Mavericks.

Good job Apple.

After further experimentation this evening I have also confirmed what some of the earlier posters have pointed out with regards to this being linked to 'power saving' in OS X. If you copy a file, the observed latency will drop back down to normal, indicating that once there is activity on the network link, the link goes back to 'normal'.

i came by a store today and was curious.. they had a haswell retina MBP right next to a non-haswell non-retina MBP. On the non-retina, Ping was consistent under 1ms. On the retina it was all over the place. So i am pretty sure now that all of the haswell retinas are affected.

I cant buy another one before i know that this can and will be fixed by a driver update.

So I guess it is pointless to waste time on trying to fix this. Did anybody had a successful replacement or repair that fixed the issue?

This depends on the problem

• Ping latency - clearly a driver issue - need for wait for fix from Apple
• Wifi sluggishness - no one clearly reported a fix for this with hardware swap (if I missed some post, please correct me)
• Wifi drops - some people had antenna issues and this got fixed with replacement

i find it hard to believe that these are really seaparate isues. Mine had the latency, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the network and wheter vpn was used or not (i think vpn improves it, keeping the wifi "awake"?). It sometimes had random short request timeouts and eventually it would disconnect. On some other networks it got really really slow so pages would load very slowly and often get stuck at 30 or 50%.

I have been testing the new Macbook Pro and iMac for over 3 weeks now and I could say that I face only ping latency and never faced Wifi drop or sluggishness (I am on WLAN AC). I only other problem I faced was wifi reconnection after sleep which I fixed.

I live in Thailand and travel daily. So have to reley on the wireless in the hotels and condomeniums.

Picked up a new Macbook pro 13 2.6, 8gb, 512gb. I tried to download some big files and it was just horrible. My PC was working fine. After 6 days I googled it and found this. I went to the airport card and it clearly shows it dropping for 4 secs. Then reconnects for 6 secs. I was pulling my hair out.

Went back to apple and theres was doing the same thing. But they said it was my wireless in my hotel. After they checked the wireless here in the hotel. They confirmed it was the hotel wireless. So, went back to the store.

I went to a display model and turned it on and it was doing the same thing. I told them then. If they fix the display model while I was there I would be happy and would not want a refund.

To make a long story short. I was issued a refund. NEVER got the store unit working properly.

What a mess. But for 1800 dollars here in Thailand. THEY can figure it out. Kinda ****** me off they would push out a high dollar unit with known problems.

At this point I put them in with the PC's being thrown out with no testing. Glad they had the 14 day return window. I took it and ran.