Q: OSX Yosemite Wifi issues

AndrasSt

I had the same issues without disabling awdl0, so I'm not sure disabling it made a difference. Certainly the wifi list seems a tad slower to come up, but it might just be anecdotical.

Since using WifriedX (which mostly just disables awdl0 and sets airdrop to no one), my connection has finally been stable. I'm still getting some slowdowns (dropping from 135mbps to around 70-80mbps) for no good reason, but it could just be my other macs and iOS devices interfering. Best I can tell they appear to be correlated to fluctuations in the strength of the signal. Will apply the fix to my other mac soon and see if it helps.

I have not had any dropouts since I applied the fix, so at least that's an improvement.

In case it's of interest to anybody, the tools that I use to troubleshoot are WiFi Explorer (available on the Mac App Store) and iperf (a command line utility to test throughput). I also keep an eye on the System Logs (use Console.app in /Applications/Utilities)

Since using WifriedX (which mostly just disables awdl0 and sets airdrop to no one), my connection has finally been stable.

Thank you, wombat2k! This is the 1st clear report on disabling awld0 or using WifriedX we've had in this monster thread.

Good luck with it and please send Mario Ciabarra your season's greetings. I'm sure I will.

Happy New Year to all here too!

Even after disabling awdl0 I've seen other issues on current hardware (MacBook Air 2014, Mac mini 2014):

• The WiFi scan is very unreliable, the variance of stations found is very high, especially when comparing to a Mac mini 2012.
• Sometimes even my 2.4 and 5 GHz networks could not be found, although they're the only ones in proximity.
• Once the connection was lost and Yosemite claimed an authentication error for unknown reasons. Manual reconnect worked without entering the password again.

Sorry, AndreasSt, I'd somewhat overlooked your post. What you describe are typical issues of a weak WiFi link. Been there, done that.

However, I'm very pleased we are separating/ isolating issues from the main issue here. And that results from killing awld0 and Airdrop are finally seeping in. Just about time.

It seems Yosemite/ Discoveryd is not very adept at low level radio tasks- OK, probably because it has to operate in a much more hostile/ crowded environment. But hey, mdnsResponder under Mavericks had to do so too and was stable. Where are the days of Tiger 10.4.11 and Interference Robustness?

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/213

Moreover, there were some posts from square_eyes here, who states he lives on a farm. Which would exclude RF crowding, no?

Anyhow, happy New Year!

Sorry for the double post; got logged out again or something.

Here goes:

Even after disabling awdl0 I've seen other issues on current hardware (MacBook Air 2014, Mac mini 2014):

• The WiFi scan is very unreliable, the variance of stations found is very high, especially when comparing to a Mac mini 2012.
• Sometimes even my 2.4 and 5 GHz networks could not be found, although they're the only ones in proximity.
• Once the connection was lost and Yosemite claimed an authentication error for unknown reasons. Manual reconnect worked without entering the password again.

Sorry, AndreasSt, I'd somewhat overlooked your post. What you describe are typical issues of a weak WiFi link. Been there, done that.

However, I'm very pleased we are separating/ isolating issues from the main issue here. And that detailed results from killing awld0 and Airdrop are finally seeping in. Just about time.

It seems Yosemite/ Discoveryd is not very adept at low level radio tasks- OK, probably because it has to operate in a much more hostile/ crowded environment. But hey, mDNSResponder under Mavericks had to do so too and was stable. Where are the days of Tiger 10.4.11 and Interference Robustness?

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/213

A more recent paper on IR-UWB (interference Robustness- Ultra Wide Band) here: http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/147968

Sorry, just a few thoughts.

Moreover, there were some posts from square_eyes here, who states he lives on a farm. Which would exclude RF crowding, no?

Anyhow, happy New Year!

I have tried most things in this thread including WiFried 1.2 and nothing has improved one iota for me (connecting to 5GHz crashes and reboots my router within about 30 seconds). Although my issue seems less common in that 2.4Ghz works fine for me.

It's true that I do have access point RF to myself, but contrary to what another user suggested, I would like to add that I don't think it's a router issue because I have other clients in the house that connect to 5GHz just fine.

I'm going to do some testing in the next couple of days with a clean install of Mavericks and of Yosemite to confirm (I've just about blown my data cap re-downloading the both of them)

2014 Retina MBP -10.10.1, 2008 Mac Pro 10.10.1 (No wireless card), D-Link 880L

Let me start by saying that I love this Macbook Pro retina 15".  However since upgrading to a "better' modem router, all the wifi issues have started!

Old modem - Billion BiPAC 7800NL

• Considered a basic modem router
• Only has 2.4 GHz wifi band
• Limited to 16 wifi connections (this was pain!)

New modem - TP-Link Archer D7

• Advance modem router
• Has the 5GHz wifi band
• Can assign static IPs to MAC IDs

Now, I get this quite often!

The quickest workaround is to turn wifi on then back on.  Pretty average for a $2k laptop!

This never used to happen in the older Billion.  So I'm convinced that this is a MBPr connectivity issue

Other workarounds:

• Assigned a static IP to the mac address on the router
• Deleted Wifi network settings and created a new one
• Created new Wifi network and renamed it to Wifi2

As I've read on this thread, the workarounds work temporarily.  A day or so then the issue comes back again

Apple please fix this!

Listen, Square_Eyes, I'm very sorry you're losing bandwidth on redownloading Yosemite or Mavericks. Make yourself a local installer for keeps, e.g. http://www.macworld.com/article/2367748/how-to-make-a-bootable-os-x-10-10-yosemi te-install-drive.html

Doesn't have to be on a USB thumb drive; any old HDD will do. Disk Image. Hope you get the drift.

Next:

Although my issue seems less common in that 2.4Ghz works fine for me.

Then stick to the 2.4 GHz band with your private Mac, I'd say! Or something else: disable ipV.6 on your private Mac only anyway you can. For example: http://help.unc.edu/help/how-do-i-disable-ipv6-on-mac-os-x/

Or deroute the ipV.6 on your Mac only to "Link Local" via System Preferences>Network.

Just a test. Good luck!

Hi people, I've just stumbled on a very plausible explanation for this here network trouble of yours. Your network is probably populated with Apple devices using both  mDNSResponder (OSX Mavericks or older OSXs mixed with iDevices using iOS 7 or earlier) and Discoveryd (OSX Yosemite and iDevices using iOS 8 or higher).

The Genius Bars, running the latest and greatest have only the latter and will be unable to detect or reproduce your problem.

However, both mDNSResponder and Discoveryd seem not to play nice together on the same network. A Bonjour version issue probably.That is my theory.

My source amongst others is an article in Dutch, sorry (use Google translate if you must):

http://www.appletips.nl/genius/discussion/1298/hardnekkige-wi-fi-problemen-met-o s-x-yosemite-10-10-x-zo-heb-ik-het-opgelost-

The author, Timosha, really has the gist of this. Thank you, Timosha!

Any confirmation? Well, test what you will, make of it what you like.

And well, cheers to the New Year anyhow!

I did not read all the replies but I had the same problem and solved it. Dual band routers are tricky. In networks, CHECK ask to join new networks. Then, set your two bands on your router with two different names. USE ONLY ONE OF THEM. Preferably the 2.4 for faster speed. Either way, if you set the bands to two different names, YOU can chose over the wifi icon when to switch bands as oppose to your Mac trying at the wrong time. All the media about fast AC speeds is     ...

2 independent network names? Sure, no prob. Go figure.

sigh. Just give each band their own name and make sure yiur Mac is checked off to ask to join another network. Pic one of the two bands.

After months of Wifi issues following Mavericks and Yosemite updates and countless other fixes- your fix worked.  I literally love you right now!

Have read just about every post here and tried every suggestion, but problems persist.

- Not a problem with seeing networks show up

- Connecting to network at home is generally not a problem

- When outside the house, either public, hotel networks or friends' and family private networks problems arise

- Takes several times to connect

- Once connected, the connection lasts only a few minutes before it freezes

- Waiting for a while comes back, or

- Turn wifi- off and then back on brings the connection back

- While all this is happening, I am perfectly connected with my iOS iPhone and iPads and others' Windows devices.

And all kinds of other unstable behaviors.

Apples Store Genie Bar and online Support Chat say they are not sure whet that problem is, my mac and software have no issues...really?

I too tried just about anything. The problems started immediately after installing Yosemite and have not abated. I tried a number of the posted suggestions, nothing worked. I eventually took the plunge and completely wiped my late 2013 MBP and re-installed Yosemite from scratch. I felt I was back in the evil Windows days. The re-install did not work. I am presently trying the disable handoff suggestion. If it doesn't work, I'll see if I can go back to Mavericks because Yosemite on a laptop is unworkable (it is fine on my lan-connected iMac).

I've had enough and its about time we got serious with these RICH I DONT CARE TOSSSSSSSSERS

SOOOO OKKKKK APPPPPPLE WHENNNNNNNN AREEEEE YOOOOOU COOOOOOCK SUUUUUUUUCKING WAAAAAAAANKERS GOIIIIIING TOOOOOO FIIIIIIIX THIIIIIIS