Tabouli
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Q: MacBook Air loses connection to internet but not LAN

Hi, I am using a MacBook Air 11" (mid-2012) running OS X Mavericks (10.9.3). I'm connecting to my home LAN via WiFi connection to a TP-Link 300M Wireless router that is setup as a switch (per instructions here http://www.tp-link.com/en/article/?faqid=417), which in turn is connected via wire (ethernet-over-power) to a Technicolor cable modem/router provided by my ISP (UPC in the Netherlands; I can look up the model number of the router if needed, but it's two floors down right now and doesn't strike me that this is the cause of the problem).

 

I have a problem that my MacBook Air intermittently loses connectivity to the internet for extended periods (minutes) even though (a) the MacBook Air maintains full connectivity to my LAN at the same time through WiFi and (b) other computers connected to the cable modem/router maintain their connection to the internet while my MacBook Air has lost its connection.

 

My test to see where the breakdown is occurring is to have four terminal windows up and running ping processes:

 

1) ping to 192.168.0.1 (my router) - this always stays live, with essentially no lost packets

2) ping to an external address (I'm using 74.125.136.94, a google.nl address) - this is my main test for access to the internet and where I see ping failures (I'm also testing with pings to other sites when the problem is occurring to ensure it's not something on the remote end).

3) ping to 192.168.0.13, which is a Synology NAS attached via ethernet cable to my main cable modem/router - this always stays live, with essentially no lost packets.

4) a login to the Synology NAS, where I am also running a continual ping to 74.125.136.94, and this external ping does NOT fail when the one from my MacBook Air does, it stays live with essentially no lost packets.

 

The problem will usually correct itself after 1-3 minutes (though the time is not consistent), and also gets corrected if I turn the MacBook Air's WiFi off and on again.

 

Any suggestions for what I can do to stop this problem?

 

Thanks

John

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)

Posted on Aug 22, 2014 8:26 AM

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Q: MacBook Air loses connection to internet but not LAN

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  • by Tabouli,

    Tabouli Tabouli Sep 5, 2014 4:12 AM in response to Tabouli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 5, 2014 4:12 AM in response to Tabouli

    One update:

     

    I hooked my Synology NAS via ethernet cable to the secondary wireless access point and observed for a couple of days. The NAS remains always connected to the LAN and the Internet even at the times when my MBA loses its access to the Internet (recall, however, the MBA never loses access to LAN).

     

    It really seems dubious this is due to the WiFi connection itself, since of course the MBA doesn't drop WiFi and doesn't lose access to the LAN. Unfortunately, I can't test a wired connection for my MBA because it doesn't have an ethernet jack and I don't have the hardware to run network traffic over on of the wired connection options (USB, Thurderbolt). I have not yet been able to test another computer via WiFi.

  • by Tabouli,

    Tabouli Tabouli Sep 19, 2014 7:14 AM in response to Tabouli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 19, 2014 7:14 AM in response to Tabouli

    Another update, with (at the very least) a work-around:

     

    I dug up an old (5-6 years old) USB wifi dongle (uses a RealTek chipset) and substituted it for the MBA's built-in wifi. Using the USB dongle as my network interface on the MBA, I've had no problems with my connection for the past several days. (And to boot, not a single dropped packet, in comparison to what I used to be experience, the odd 1-out-500 or so dropped packets.) The temporary absence of a problem is not of course a guarantee the root problem is gone, but this seems pretty reliable. (Poziom, you might want to try this.)


    However, I do notice that I get occasional duplicate responses to my google.nl pings, whereas I get no duplicate pings from my 192.168.0.1 pings. Could it be that whatever is causing the duplicate pings causes the built-in wifi network interface to somehow lose the ability to communicate beyond the LAN? Any thoughts on how I can trouble-shoot that?


    JB

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 19, 2014 10:30 AM in response to Tabouli
    Level 7 (23,663 points)
    Safari
    Sep 19, 2014 10:30 AM in response to Tabouli

    Can you post the exact duplicate ping responses? If the ICMP packets follow two different paths, you may get duplicate responses.

     

    Also, in the MBA that you are having trouble with, do you have both SSIDs (Technicolor and Airport ones) defined as known networks. The MBA maybe switching between the two. What happens if you have only the Airport SSID defined (by deleting the Technicolor SSID) from the MBA?

  • by userremoved,

    userremoved userremoved Oct 29, 2014 12:47 AM in response to Tabouli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2014 12:47 AM in response to Tabouli

    I have the same problem as the OP. I'm at Unitymedia, UPCs German division. My iPad Air frequently loses its connection to the TC7200 for a few minutes. If the connection doesn't come back, switching WiFi off and on "fixes" it. I noticed that this only occurs when I'm logged in a 5 GHz network. It never happens at a 2.4 GHz one. Connecting the iPad to a 5 GHz network on the TC7200 also takes much longer than connecting to a 2.4 GHz one.

     

    Who is to blame for this? UPC?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 21, 2014 5:47 AM in response to userremoved
    Level 7 (23,663 points)
    Safari
    Sep 21, 2014 5:47 AM in response to userremoved

    With the iPad and MBA (in Tabouli's case), if other non-Technicolor SSIDs do not pose this problem (or is not noticeable), then Technicolor, otherwise Apple can be equally be blamed.

  • by poziom-k,

    poziom-k poziom-k Nov 13, 2014 12:27 PM in response to Tabouli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 13, 2014 12:27 PM in response to Tabouli

    I'd like to refresh this topic ..

     

    I was hoping that an upgrade to Yosemite would fix this issue but the only thing that happened is that I am experiencing WAN drop also if connected directly to Technicolor's WiFi (previously problems occured only if connected through additional AP).

    On my work WiFi i don't experience any problems whatsoever.

     

    I did a fresh install of Yosemite but it didn't help either. I don't know what to do. I have reports from Wireless Diagnostics - should I upload them with a bug report ?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 13, 2014 12:32 PM in response to poziom-k
    Level 7 (23,663 points)
    Safari
    Nov 13, 2014 12:32 PM in response to poziom-k

    Yosemite is causing a lot wireless issues, for example, please see Yosemite (OS X 10.10) killed my WiFi .

     

    You may want to consider going back to Mavericks, if you can.

  • by poziom-k,

    poziom-k poziom-k Nov 13, 2014 12:42 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 13, 2014 12:42 PM in response to Loner T

    Yep, I've seen all those topics...

    I might just wait for 10.10.1 and then decide.

  • by AndreasSt,

    AndreasSt AndreasSt Apr 2, 2016 5:57 AM in response to Tabouli
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Apr 2, 2016 5:57 AM in response to Tabouli

    Guess what happened after I replaced my previous cable modem (Thomson THG571) and router (first an Apple 802.11ac Time Capsule then an AVM Fritz!Box 4020 and Fritz!Repeater 1750E combo) with a brand new Technicolor TC7230 router? Exactly, my 27" Retina iMac with OS X 10.11.4 periodically looses the WAN connectivity as described here. The LAN connectivity remains intact all the time. Also other devices that are connected by wire don't see an impact of the WAN connectivity.

    As I don't want to use the wireless feature of the TC7230, I intended to use the Fritz!Repeater 1750E as access point. That obviously doesn't work well. My short time solution is to reactivate the Apple 802.11ac Time Capsule in router mode(!).

     

    Configuration that doesn't work:

    Technicolor TC7230 (router mode) - unmanaged ZyXEL ethernet switch - Fritz!Repeater 1750E - (WiFi) - iMac

     

    Configuration that does work (so far):

    Technicolor TC7230 (router mode) - unmanaged ZyXEL ethernet switch - Time Capsule (router mode) - (WiFi) - iMac

     

    My ISP is Quickline Switzerland. Guess the cable modem is to blame. The TC7230 seems the inherit the issues the TC7200 had. Too bad, the TC7230 will probably be the only modem supported by the ISP...

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