Q: OSX Yosemite Wifi issues

Here's another possible solution/workaround:

1. Option + click your wifi and click on Open Wireless Diagnostic

2. Press CMD + 4 to bring up Scan

3. Press Scan Now and it should provide you with the best channels for each 2.4/5Ghz band

4. Go to your router and change your channel

Before this, my wifi was dropping and disconnecting from my router's 5Ghz band. Now, it stays connected.   

Hi,

Just to add to it….

I just got a brand new fully loaded Mac Pro with a Lacie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 for external storage to edit with FCPX.

Running Yosemite, it's clunky and horrible. I was working off a MacBook Pro Retina and couldn't wait to get stuck in with my new Mac Pro.

Alas, 10K later I'm not feeling the love. Feeling Sad!!!!

RE: souko.vue's comment... great tip, especially if you're using an older router or are using the 2.4 ghz band

i had neighbors using channels 1, 6 and 11. My router automatically choose a channel between those channels to reduce interference.

i used the scan now technique in Yosemite and found a better channel

for me, this technique didn't fix the connectivity issue, but it did reduce packet loss using wifi as much as I could

try to pick channels that are more than 5 channels apart from what your neighbors are using

the 2.4 ghz band is limited, though, to 11 channels, so the more neighbors you have the trickier it may be to find the best channel

Sounds like a plan. I have a new router , but am currently connecting using an old access point, so may be worth trying replacing it, new one ordered from Amazon this evening, will let everyone know if this helps.

My issue is not that I can't connect, that seems to be reasonably ok, but the speed does drop by about 60% every so often. Switching off wifi and on again on the mac gets the speed back, but a pain to do as its always when you are in the middle of something important when it goes slow.

Seems a shame that we have to do these things, but the fact i have an old AP it seems a good idea to replace anyway and if it helps to fix the issue it could be £40 well spent, if not then updating is good I guess.

Don't expect delivery until next week, so will let you know if it helps.

I know we are all having a go at you APPLE and I am sure you agree there is an issue, but if we are honest we still love the gear....

So after swapping out my HDD in my 2012 MacBook Pro for an SSD and then doing the old Command/Option/R dealy to reinstall OS from the Internet, this thing is blazing fast. You know why? Sure; I have an SSD…….but it also installed Mountain Lion!!!!!! I just may be sticking with this or only go so far as Mavericks. Everything works, perfectly. Blazing fast download and upload speeds; as in ZERO wifi issues of any kind. You'd think that with this thread having reached over 100 replies that Apple might figure this **** out.

"While this issue is very frustrating for some, I was one of them, lets try to keep the thread technical please. Talk about switching to the "darkside", or buying a competitors system, etc... is not beneficial to the fix and ads static to the thread. This thread is already huge enough.

Now, technically speaking, I have had 4 Days of rock solid Wifi. All I did was set my MTU on the Wifi card to 1400 and rebooted. I have the latest Airport Extreme AP, and a late 2011 MacBook Pro. Try it people it worked for me.

I think the problem is more upstream. I just don't think things like most cable modems even some wifi routers, like big packets. Since the packet is too big, it fragments the packet into size it can forward. When this happens you can get delay, and in some cases packet loss. An end user sees this as slow browsing, etc pages that won't load all the way, etc... Google Path MTU and you can read all about it.

This may go over heads but interestingly enough, I have seen a similar issue when you encapsulate TCP/IP in another protocol like GRE. In that case GRE was encapsulating an already large ethernet packet, thus making the MTU just a bit larger and lead to massive fragmentation and slowness across the Internet."

Thank you for stayng positive and technical in this here mixed bag of network/WiFi issues jfialkowsky!

As a mere onlooker/reporter running my Mac quite problemlessly under Snow, I am extremely interested in these issues. Having followed this whole thread (sic, I've read all of the posts in his thread), i do believe there are a lot of different issues being adressed here. To state it differently, I'm afraid we are dealing with a very mixed bag of incidents here. Many of them not specifically related to Yosemite.

Trying a litlle list, and hoping this may help further some more specific research for people affected in this thread. By no means exhaustive, so please add!

I'm just hoping to create some structure into this swamp. No kidding.

1. WiFi/ network Issues not specifically related to Yosemite:

- bad WiFi reception due to distance to WiFi transponder. Most common of issues, try a repeater of some kind or a "powerline" network adapter.

- bad WiFi connection due to too many "new neighbours". Try changing the WiFi channel of your router.

- trafic shaping by ISPs: especially during business hours, many ISPs will choke your internet connection if they become aware you are heavily using up/download.

- old router or router firmware: get  a new router or update your old one to the latest firmware.

- DNS issues:  maybe as an experiment try to switch to Google DNS: 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 Open DNS has been compromised this year, so leave that alone.

- DNSsec starting to be implemented by ISPs globally, but only just yet. Investigate.

- ipV6 starting to be implemented by ISPs globally but only just yet. Investigate. Or as an experiment turn off ipV6 in sysprefs>network.

- Multicast DNS coming into being globally. Investigate.

- Bluetooth interference on the 2.4 GHZ band. As an experiment, turn BT off and see if WiFi connectivity and speed improve. Or try and move your Wifi to the 5GHz band instead.

- USB3 externals interference on the 2.4 GHZ band. As an experiment, disconnect all USB3 external devices and see if WiFi connectivity and speed improve. Or try and move your Wifi to the 5GHz band instead.

2. WiFi/ network Issues not specifically related to Yosemite, but  to Mac a.o. hardware/ chipsets instead:

- Jumbo frame support: not all Apple devices or aftermarket router chipsets support Jumbo frames (here you go, fjialkowsky!). Therefore it could be wise to switch down your Maximum Transmission Unit to below 1500 when experiencing network troubles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo_frame

NB: please report chipsets or Mac models not supporting Jumbo Frames.

- am I forgetting something?

3.WiFi/ network Issues specifically related to Yosemite:

- Practically all issues here seem to be DNS related. What is new under Yosemite? Yes, Discoveryd replacing mDNSResponder. Possibly Discoveryd has a bug (or two).

On page 2 of this thread a fix has surfaced by Andrew-ACT-ACSAwhich I do not recall has ever been well and truly implemented here:

Open a Terminal window.

Enter:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

(and hit return and enter your account password)

Now enter:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

(and hit  return and enter your account password)

And for good measure, restart. Apparently you have to do this upon every startup. Any luck? Let us know!

- Awld: some have suggested killing awld0 on all your iDevices will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Handoff: some have suggested switching off Handoff will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Airdrop: some have suggested switching off Airdrop will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Airplay: some have suggested switching off Airplay will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- GameKit: some have suggested switching off GameKit will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Bonjour: for testing purposes, please switch off all Bonjour capable devices (network printers, Time Capsules, iDevices and the like). Keep Airports for connectivity.

- Network Preferences: some have suggested completely clearing your System Preferences> Network will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- I do suggest you get all of your iDevices out of the vicinity of your Mac while troubleshooting. Shut off Bluetooth devices as well.

- Please read up on http://www.dns-sd.org/ It is very new knowledge to me.

- Am I forgetting something? Please chime in.

Well, that is about all I can think of right now. Having followed this thread from the beginning,  I hope this post may serve as a summary

for this jumbo thread as well as a framework  for identifying OSX network issues before you ascribe them exclusively to Yosemite.

By no means exhaustive, but I think I've done my best. Please add- or rather: subtract.

No new fixes here, but hopefully some better search terms.

"While this issue is very frustrating for some, I was one of them, lets try to keep the thread technical please. Talk about switching to the "darkside", or buying a competitors system, etc... is not beneficial to the fix and ads static to the thread. This thread is already huge enough.

Now, technically speaking, I have had 4 Days of rock solid Wifi. All I did was set my MTU on the Wifi card to 1400 and rebooted. I have the latest Airport Extreme AP, and a late 2011 MacBook Pro. Try it people it worked for me.

I think the problem is more upstream. I just don't think things like most cable modems even some wifi routers, like big packets. Since the packet is too big, it fragments the packet into size it can forward. When this happens you can get delay, and in some cases packet loss. An end user sees this as slow browsing, etc pages that won't load all the way, etc... Google Path MTU and you can read all about it.

This may go over heads but interestingly enough, I have seen a similar issue when you encapsulate TCP/IP in another protocol like GRE. In that case GRE was encapsulating an already large ethernet packet, thus making the MTU just a bit larger and lead to massive fragmentation and slowness across the Internet."

Thank you for stayng positive and technical in this here mixed bag of network/WiFi issues jfialkowsky!

As a mere onlooker/reporter running my Mac quite problemlessly under Snow, I am extremely interested in these issues. Having followed this whole thread (sic, I've read all of the posts in his thread), i do believe there are a lot of different issues being adressed here. To state it differently, I'm afraid we are dealing with a very mixed bag of incidents here. Many of them not specifically related to Yosemite.

Trying a litlle list, and hoping this may help further some more specific research for people affected in this thread. By no means exhaustive, so please add!

I'm just hoping to create some structure into this swamp. No kidding.

1. WiFi/ network Issues not specifically related to Yosemite:

- bad WiFi reception due to distance to WiFi transponder. Most common of issues, try a repeater of some kind or a "powerline" network adapter.

- bad WiFi connection due to too many "new neighbours". Try changing the WiFi channel of your router.

- trafic shaping by ISPs: especially during business hours, many ISPs will choke your internet connection if they become aware you are heavily using up/download.

- old router or router firmware: get  a new router or update your old one to the latest firmware.

- DNS issues:  maybe as an experiment try to switch to Google DNS: 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 Open DNS has been compromised this year, so leave that alone.

- DNSsec starting to be implemented by ISPs globally, but only just yet. Investigate.

- ipV6 starting to be implemented by ISPs globally but only just yet. Investigate. Or as an experiment turn off ipV6 in sysprefs>network.

- Multicast DNS coming into being globally. Investigate.

- Bluetooth interference on the 2.4 GHZ band. As an experiment, turn BT off and see if WiFi connectivity and speed improve. Or try and move your Wifi to the 5GHz band instead.

- USB3 externals interference on the 2.4 GHZ band. As an experiment, disconnect all USB3 external devices and see if WiFi connectivity and speed improve. Or try and move your Wifi to the 5GHz band instead.

2. WiFi/ network Issues not specifically related to Yosemite, but  to Mac a.o. hardware/ chipsets instead:

- Jumbo frame support: not all Apple devices or aftermarket router chipsets support Jumbo frames (here you go, fjialkowsky!). Therefore it could be wise to switch down your Maximum Transmission Unit to below 1500 when experiencing network troubles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo_frame

NB: please report chipsets or Mac models not supporting Jumbo Frames.

- am I forgetting something?

3.WiFi/ network Issues specifically related to Yosemite:

- Practically all issues here seem to be DNS related. What is new under Yosemite? Yes, Discoveryd replacing mDNSResponder. Possibly Discoveryd has a bug (or two).

On page 2 of this thread a fix has surfaced by Andrew-ACT-ACSAwhich I do not recall has ever been well and truly implemented here:

Open a Terminal window.

Enter:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

(and hit return and enter your account password)

Now enter:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

(and hit  return and enter your account password)

And for good measure, restart. Apparently you have to do this upon every startup. Any luck? Let us know!

- Awld: some have suggested killing awld0 on all your iDevices will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Handoff: some have suggested switching off Handoff will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Airdrop: some have suggested switching off Airdrop will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Airplay: some have suggested switching off Airplay will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- GameKit: some have suggested switching off GameKit will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- Bonjour: for testing purposes, please switch off all Bonjour capable devices (network printers, Time Capsules, iDevices and the like). Keep Airports for connectivity.

- Network Preferences: some have suggested completely clearing your System Preferences> Network will restore your Mac's connectivity.

- I do suggest you get all of your iDevices out of the vicinity of your Mac while troubleshooting. Shut off Bluetooth devices as well.

- Please read up on http://www.dns-sd.org/ It is very new knowledge to me.

- Also check out this link: https://medium.com/@mariociabarra/wifried-ios-8-wifi-performance-issues-3029a164 ce94 Quite fundamental.

- Am I forgetting something? Please chime in.

Well, that is about all I can think of right now. Having followed this thread from the beginning,  I hope this post may serve as a summary

for this jumbo thread as well as a framework  for identifying OSX network issues before you ascribe them exclusively to Yosemite.

By no means exhaustive, but I think I've done my best. Please add- or rather: subtract.

No new fixes here, but hopefully some better search terms.

P.S.: One last question here: are any of you here with Yosemite troubles running a not Thunderbolt capable Mac? Just curious...

Just as a reminder, for many in this thread, including me, all the manifesting issues (the connectivity/dropping problem and the slow connecting problem) exist only in Yosemite, and are clearly unique to it. There are no new routers in the neighborhood. The "upstream" equipment has no "packet size" troubles outside of Yosemite, and has no issues at all for any other device in the house. This IS a Yosemite issue. The problem instantly appeared for Yosemite the moment it was installed, and it exists only in Yosemite.

Exactly.

I took my Mac book pro into Apple and the guy did three different diagnostic tests and everything checked out fine and it kept not loading apps or safari so he erased and uninstalled like it was brand new and I took it home and still is doing the same thing nothing loads and now my volume button and the dimmer buttons not working. I have no idea what to do anymore. I have the 10.10.1 version too it's so frustrating!

I am having similar issues for the several months or so, both with my iMac and iPad (2), both of which are Wifi connected.  At times, I lose my internet over and over, having to toggle the wifi "offf" and back "on" to restore the internet connectivity.  It has become a more pervasive problem with each new update.  What is happening, really?????  At times, I just have to turn everything off and walk away out of frustration.

Me (re: not Thunderbolt capable Mac)

yeah. I wound up just going back to a PC. OSX has nothing to offer me anymore, it wrecked my computer. "Handoff" and "Continuity" were barely more than parlor tricks and certainly nothing exciting.

if OSX Yosemite is the best they have to offer, then my days with Macs are over.

if OSX Yosemite is NOT the best they had to offer, then they should not have released it.

Neither is acceptable really. and it's hard to care about a product sold by a company who doesn't care wether or not it works on release

Ok I'm not sure if this will help but this is what I have noticed.

If I am uploading data to the internet my WiFi drops more often. I tried uploaded 8 videos to my picassa account and it would drop every 45 - 120 seconds.

If I am not uploading data it only drops WiFi occasionally by that I mean a couple times a day.

It's more than one month i can't use wi-fi at work on my MBP 13!

The 10.10.1 update was useless, with windows 8.1 in bootcamp i can use wifi without problems but when i use osx yosemite internet don't work!

Before the update wi-fi connection drops every 5/10mins of usage. Now after the upgrade the connection remain stable but internet simply DON'T WORK!!!

APPLE SOLVE THE PROBLEM!!!!

these problems in a 2000€ device should not exist!!!!