How to change WIFI Country Code?

It appears someone's reply to my message got deleted. However in response to it when I briefly saw it I believe the way WiFi works is that it is the WiFi base-station that says 'I can accept these channels/frequencies' and the client device - in this case a MacBook when told to connect can only use those frequencies. This means the WiFi base-station is the one that has to enforce which legal channels are used and even if the MacBook was a foreign model it would therefore still be forced to use the legal channels. This would be by far the most common situation.

However a less common possibility would be if someone was using the MacBook as a software base-station e.g. via Internet Sharing. This means potentially a foreign model could advertise a channel not strictly allowed in a country.

Since the whole point of laptops it to be transportable and are often carried between different countries on business this is an unavoidable situation. I am not aware of a way on the Mac side to control the country setting of the WiFi chip. Nor am I aware of a similar means for Windows laptops.

Sorry if this doesn't help, but what about changing the country code on the Airport?

You can't set the country code on the mini directly.

Each country regulates wireless networking differently. Wi-Fi devices are restricted to certain frequencies and power levels. The client devices try to find out where they are and configure themselves accordingly. Since a wireless access point (WAP) usually does not move across national boundaries, the Wi-Fi regulatory domain (country code) is set by querying the first one to respond when the client initializes itself. You don't have any direct control over it on the client. If your device is picking up the wrong country code, and is therefore locked out of using some Wi-Fi channels or operating at full power, the only lasting solution is to fix or remove the misconfigured WAP.

To find out which WAP's are broadcasting a wrong country code, do as follows.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/S*/*/P*/*/*/*/*/airport -s | open -ef

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V.

The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear.

A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. The first line should look like this:

SSID BSSID RSSI CHANNEL HT CC SECURITY (auth/unicast/group)

Each line below that one represents a WAP within range. Compare the two-letter code in the column headed "CC" with the ISO code for your country. The code "X0" means that the country couldn't be determined. If a WAP with a wrong code is not under your control, try restarting the computer as close as possible to your own router.

I have the same problem,Communication so close,Apple's approach is very unreasonable

I have a similar issue.

I moved to the US form the Netherlands and brought my TimeCapsule with me. The TC is stuck in NL and cannot be changed to the US in the Airport Utility application. My devices are reporting connection issues. How can I force the TC's designation to US?

Try posting here:

Time Capsule

iued wrote:

I have the same problem,Communication so close,Apple's approach is very unreasonable

Its not Apple's approach that is the issue, they have to abide by the laws of each country. In many countries use of radio frequencies is controlled directly or indirectly by the military because if people use the wrong frequency they can interfere with military systems. So it is not as simple a the local Police Constable knocking on your door asking you politely to turn off your (illegal) product, it could be G.I. Joe coming round and blowing you up. 😉