Q: OSX Yosemite Wifi issues

Just wanted to share my wifi experience and frustrations with Yosemite.

I have a 2011 iMac running Yosemite, 2006 MacBook (Lion) and two iPhone 5 on iOS 8.3.

Ever since I upgraded to Yosemite I've been plagued with wifi problems. Just regular browsing in Safari, Chrome or Firefox results in my connection dropping out. Especially when changing between sites quickly. Chrome reports some kind of DNS error. Also the iPhones drop connection at the same time as the iMac or even when just web browsing on them. I ended up just connecting the iMac direct to the modem via LAN.

Anyway i thought I'd give the wifi a try again as it was annoying the **** out of me! Setup the router but still got the same problem. My old MacBook has been gathering dust but decided to see how that performed. Zero problems with it! And when the iMac and iPhones have dropped out the MacBook is still connected fine. So this is definitely software related!! Really regret upgrading from Snow Leopard. Solid as a rock that was!  What are Apple playing at??? Such a simple thing as Wifi connection should not be a problem in this day and age!!!

I tried dowser81's fix above and it seemed to work ok for a while but the drop outs have returned.

I'm back with update. I was trying to lower the response time of the code to reset WiFi quicker. Added 1s timeout for ping, so that it wouln't wait 10s by default and waste your time. And added 1s delay between switching the WiFi and connecting to the network, it makes the process more stable and quicker as well. It's been some 20 seconds of wait time, now it's just 5. If any errors or questions, please refer to my previous post several pages earlier. Kind regards, Philipp.

on checkInternetConnection()

  -- tell application "Terminal"

  -- Ping the primary OpenDNS server.

  try

  set pingResult1 to do shell script "ping -c 1 -t 1 <DNS server or Website>"

  on error

  set pingResult1 to ""

  end try

  -- Check the results returned and return true or false.

  set p to number of paragraphs in pingResult1

  if p < 5 then

  -- Ping another Open DNS server for redundancy.

  try

  set pingResult2 to do shell script "ping -c 1 -t 1 <Another DNS server or Website>"

  on error

  set pingResult2 to ""

  end try

  set p to number of paragraphs in pingResult2

  if p < 5 then return false

  else

  return true

  end if

  return true

  -- end tell

end checkInternetConnection

repeat

  delay 2

  set connected to checkInternetConnection()

  log connected

  if connected is false then

  do shell script "networksetup -setairportpower AirPort off"

  --delay 1

  do shell script "networksetup -setairportpower AirPort on"

  delay 1

  do shell script "networksetup -setairportnetwork en0 \"<Name of your WiFi network>\" [\"<Password of your WiFi network if applicable. Remove including the [] brackets if unnecessary>\"]"

  --delay 1

  end if

end repeat

Can anyone with retina macbook pro running Yosemite (10.10.3 in my case) please confirm (or disprove) this:

With wi-fi operational, start some file download/copy operation, so that you could monitor the throughput  in say, Activity Monitor (Network Tab).

Then, Option+click (hold down the Option [alt] key on the keyboard and mouse-click) on the wifi icon in the status bar - this shows dropdown menu with extended wifi status info, including current connection speed.

Now, wait for a few seconds, up to 1-2 minutes with the dropdown visible. For me if I keep this dropdown onscreen for about 30 sec, the wifi actual throughput starts to dwindle, and then network traffic stops altogether, up to a point where wifi connection is effectively dropped (even though the status icon shows that the network is connected).

Then, even if I dismiss the diagnostic dropdown, the wifi connection never resumes, it stays stuck, until I switch wifi off and back on again.

Hey guys I think I have finally cured my wifi woes.

I followed steps 5 and 7 from the following post on this thread  WiFi keeps dropping after Yosemite 10.10.3 update

My connection isn't dropping at all now. Give it a try if you were having issues similar to my previous post above.

Linc Davis wrote:

 

Please test after taking each of the following steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved. Back up all data before making any changes.

Step 5

Open the Energy Saver pane in System Preferences and unlock the settings, if necessary. Select the Power Adapter  tab, if there is one. Uncheck the box marked

          Wake for Wi-Fi network access

if it's checked.

Step 7

In the Wi-Fi settings, select

          Advanced... ▹ TCP/IP ▹ Configure IPv6: Link-local only

Click OK and then Apply.

 

Sorry, guys, Russian locale solution is not really working. I am having dropouts in wifi despite it.

Wifi also drops out if I Option+click on the wifi icon in the status bar, and keep the dropdown menu onscreen for 1 minute.

Hmm Step 7 seems to have worked for the moment. Been running for a while now and it's under load which is one of its fail scenarios. It's still running at 2.4 but I haven't restarted yet. It's still a bit early to be sure, but this has been the longest any fix has lasted without a coincidence; which it could still be.

Yep spoke too soon.

osihara wrote:

 

Yep spoke too soon.

Have you tried step 5 as well? I'm now well over 24 hours without a single dropout. I think having the 'wake for network access' box ticked was causing the problem on my iMac.

Technically yes. I went to turn it off and it was already off. However I turned it back on because I need it on. I must have turned it off in an earlier attempt. Been so long with all these attempts I don't recall doing it. I'll try again tomorrow with it off and a full restart to see for sure. Does anyone know how to stop the wi-fi constantly looking for networks? Or is this needed to maintain connection.?

So my dropouts started again which was fun so i tried both steps and im still trucking away no dropouts for me yet

The ONLY thing that really works for is this and it works every time...

Whenever the dropout occurs > Launch Google Chrome and load ANY website. I load up Apple.com at least 10 times a day because the system gets jammed on the network... Google Chrome for some reason cures this immediately...

It is totally odd...

Safari, Mail, All OS X Apps, Dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud, App Store --- ALL... Will NOT be able to connect to the web.

After loading ONE page in Google Chrome - they all magically work...

This is REALLY funny and extremely SAD !

I hope they delegated someone at Apple to at least sometimes read these forums.

They have. I have been contacted by a wi-fi tech who said that he was responding to my apple forum post and requested information and logs on the issue.

I too was contacted by such an employee. I even had a long phone conversation with him. That was 5 months ago. Still no change still seeing the exact same dropouts and behaviours.

Only remedy for me is to launch Google Chrome once a dropout occurs and load ANY website. That will somehow jumpstart the whole thing....

me too. exactly the same. Keeps dropping either at work or home. It was painful getting on line to get to this chat! Pls help someone or Apple get a fix URGENTLY!!