Q: All (only) Apple devices dropping home wifi. What do I do?
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Jul 5, 2014 9:34 AMby Kingoftypos,R C-R wrote:
Have you checked to make sure the Apple devices are connecting to your home WiFi network & not some other nearby one? Occasionally, we get reports of this same issue & sometimes that is the cause.
^Right...
Also go to System Preferences---> Network---> (Click on WIFI if it's not already)---> Advance---> Make sure Your Home's WiFi is at the top of the list. If it's not, just drag it to the top.
Also, if there are any "opened" wifi's in your area, where there's no security key needed to join. In that same list as above, click on it and use the minus button below to remove it from your list.
KOT
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Jul 5, 2014 9:45 AMby BobHarris,Is it just your home WiFi router, or do you loose connections when at work, in a WiFi hotspot (coffee shop, restaurant, etc...), a friends house, the Apple Store, etc...
If your Apple devices are stable at other locations, then you need to concentrate on your home WiFi router.
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Jul 7, 2014 4:05 PMby basic.works,None of MY devices are portable so I can't attest to other networks. As far as my son's iPhone, he's always on his data plan or home wifi (his house or ours). He's not very..... technologically inclined. I'm the one who had to set up his home wifi password. :-)
I'm going on the assumption that the issue is with my own wireless modem. But the the question remains... Why only my Apple devices?? According to what research I have done, plenty of filks seem to have similar issue but no answers found. At least none posted it if the issue got fixed.
A common query has been noted after latest updates to airport firmware ?!? or something with security fixes ?!?
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Jul 7, 2014 5:17 PMby basic.woodworks,It's not a router. It's a wireless modem provided to me by my ISP. It is a Motorola "SurfBoard". I have no control over firmware updates. No link for it I found thus far.
My life is taking me away from my computer for the evening so I'll check in on this thread tomorrow.
Thanks for the help so far. Still looking for help on this and another , perhaps more serious, issue which I have yet to finish research on prior to opening a ne thread.
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Jul 8, 2014 9:20 AMby Drew Reece,basic.works wrote:
A common query has been noted after latest updates to airport firmware ?!? or something with security fixes ?!?
It can't be updates to Airport firmware if you are not using an Airport router
Does the router have any logging options? Turn that on and then note times of incidents & start looking through the router logs.
It's possible for malicious wifi users nearby to 'deauth' your clients causing them to need to reconnect. Apple has a specific MAC address range so it's trivial to target Apple devices. How close are you to neighbours etc?
I'm unsure how to get OS X or iOS to log the wifi network changes, ideally you want to see if you are getting 'deauth' messages when the connection drops. The router logs may contain that (if you are lucky).
Anyone else got ideas on how to see detailed wifi debug info on OS X? e.g. deauth notifications?
You can setup a Mac to 'record' the wifi packets when not using wifi & then parse them for deauths targeted at you but that is cumbersome.
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Jul 8, 2014 9:56 AMby Kingoftypos,Since you are using your ISP's modem/wifi router. Open your Network Preferences and see if there is an opened wifi SSID with your ISP's name. For example for Comcast an open network of "xfinitywifi" will be listed. If it is, and it's strong as if it's coming from your mode/router. Then chances are it's coming from your router.
You have two options, either A call Comcast and demand to have that shut off. Because they are broadcasting from the modem/wifi router that you are paying a monthly fee for. They are, in my opinion, double dipping on your dime. In order for one to use that opened wifi, they must login and logins are given out by the hour/day/week or something like that.
B, what I've done, buy yourself your own modem and wifi router. The best to buy them separately, preferable an Apple Airport Extreme. The company may say "But we will exchange the modem if anything goes wrong with it." BS, they still charge for shipping and handling fees and I've had my set up for well over 2 years with no problems. I've saved nearly $200 of rental fees, which basically have paid for my setup already.
/end rant.
KOT
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Jul 18, 2014 11:58 PMby basic.woodworks,My apologies for the long absence. Life has been getting in the way of things. My ISP is Eastlink. My modem is a Motorola SurfBoard which provides both ethernet and wifi. I have quite a few devices logged onto the network however, at most, only a handful or so are ever on at the same time. (20 Mb down & 1 Mb up with unlimited data).
T my knowledge, purchasing my own modem is not possible. This town's setup is quite old and the modem are a 10 years old design if not older. Eastlink (Canada) does not support a system like that of Comcast or Shaw, the modems are not set up as "repeaters" for random network access to "passers-by".
I am still experiencing the problem. It is very odd to me that only my late 2006 iMac, late 2011 iMac and AppleTV 3rd Generation devices are the only ones getting kicked of. Though I have noticed our Android Tablet losing connection from time to time but it does return, With my Apple devices... they do not.
Oh.. and Drew... I have no idea what you're talking about. I have no clue as to how to "record" nor what "deauth" is :-( though, among the people I know, I am, at times, the most knowledgeable computer geek I know but I really only know very little. Sorry.
(i'll check back in in a few days. Dog sitting (2 pitbulls), kid sitting (2=> q 5 year old and a 7 year, going to reunion for a day as well as taking care of her (MS - wheelchair bound) and I have my own ailment, which prevents me from working. Too much on my plate!!
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Jul 22, 2014 7:50 PMby Drew Reece,basic.woodworks wrote:
Oh.. and Drew... I have no idea what you're talking about. I have no clue as to how to "record" nor what "deauth" is :-( though, among the people I know, I am, at times, the most knowledgeable computer geek I know but I really only know very little. Sorry.
It's not the first time
Deauth packets are used to tell a device to 'get of the network'. They don't require an authenticated connection, so anyone with a wifi card can use them to spoil your day. There are Linux tools that have the ability to target Apple devices by MAC address. It's tough to test unless you can run an app to see if there are lots of deauths being sent to your devices (I haven't tried on OS X, hence my question to the other users). There should be a way to get better logging of wifi disconnects on OS X. This covers it iirc…
http://hak5.org/episodes/episode-706
Since Android is also disconnecting too it's probably something else. You'd need to check for overlapping channels from other networks & do all the regular wifi debugging. iStumbler can help you see other networks (& overlapping channels).
It appears the wireless diagnostics has the ability to help too, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned…
Read through that it should give you some tools to see what is happening.
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Jul 23, 2014 5:59 AMby BobHarris,With respect to iStumbler. It is a good (very good) utility, however, it also became a paid app (while the creator was an Apple employee working on WiFi, iSumbler was free; when he left, he switched iStumbler to a paid app).
Anyway, you can get some of the diagnostic features you want directly from your Mavericks Mac's WiFi.
Option-Click on the WiFi menu item -> Open Wireless Diagnostics...
Wireless Diagnostics -> Window -> Utilities -> WiFi Scan tab -> Scan Now
This will show you all the other WiFi networks your Mac can see, what frequency band and channel they are using.
