AE Roaming WiFi Issues: HELP! About to break something!

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AE Roaming WiFi Issues: HELP! About to break something!

So I have 300Mbps from Brighthouse here in the Orlando area.

I have a 5,400SQFT home with 6 bedrooms and 4.5 baths and a office and theater room. Because of the size of my house I had to get the MoCA service that Brighthouse offers called Echo.

I have my cable modem and 3 Actiontek access points... all capable of broadcasting in 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

I bought 4 new Airport Extremes because they allow Mac products to roam better as they are aggressive in searching for best signal while without the Airport Extremes it seems they are not and will just wait to lose signal or barely having any before re-establishing a better connection. All four are set to bridge mode as suggested here on the forums.

Anyways, I have WiFi disabled on the cable modem and on all three Actiontek access points and I have an Airport Extreme connected via ethernet behind each device.

I can be hardwired to each device just fine and it all works great. However, when I'm on the Airport Extreme's WiFi the connection to the internet drops for some reason. I have two terminal windows running and one is running "ping 8.8.8.8" and the other is running "ping 192.168.0.1". The first address is Google's DNS server and the second is my router.

I never lose the ability to ping my router, but whenever I do lose connection to the internet I look at the Google DNS ping terminal and the pings are timing out and airport utility shows the internet globe as orange while all Airport Extremes have a green light.

I am very tired of this because if I am in the middle of a game or something I lose connection and it seems to be happening more often. The only way I can see to fix it is to jump from the 5GHz to the 2.4GHz band or vice versa OR to turn WiFi off on my Macbook's and then turn it back on and the pings start running through again just fine. This problem is occurring on my 2014 Macbook Pro Retina and my 2015 Macbook (12").

Does anyone have any suggestions!?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 4, 2015 9:48 PM

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Answer 1

nandonanders Author

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Aug 5, 2015 1:03 AM in response to nandonanders

Here are examples of my ping results to 8.8.8.8 (Google DNS):

Here is an example of the timeout problem starting and continuing for so long that I just end up turning WiFi off and then back on on my MacBooks.

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17491

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17492

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17493

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17494

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17495

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17496

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17497

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17498

ping: sendto: No route to host

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17499

ping: sendto: No route to host

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17500

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17501

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=17502 ttl=48 time=41.594 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=17503 ttl=48 time=41.899 ms

Here is another instance where it starts timing out for a short period of time and then fixes itself.

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19259 ttl=48 time=40.856 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19260 ttl=48 time=29.532 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19261 ttl=48 time=30.227 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19262 ttl=48 time=110.128 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19263 ttl=48 time=30.056 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19264 ttl=48 time=28.841 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19265 ttl=48 time=35.660 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19266 ttl=48 time=34.332 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19267 ttl=48 time=32.512 ms

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19268

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19269

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19270

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19271

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19272

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19273

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19274

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19275

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19276

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19277

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19278

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19279

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19280

Request timeout for icmp_seq 19281

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19282 ttl=48 time=28.355 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19283 ttl=48 time=29.266 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19284 ttl=48 time=96.610 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19285 ttl=48 time=29.830 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19286 ttl=48 time=27.616 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19287 ttl=48 time=31.982 ms

As you can see it started timing out and then fixed itself.

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Answer 2

Aug 5, 2015 4:12 AM in response to nandonanders

I can be hardwired to each device just fine and it all works great. However, when I'm on the Airport Extreme's WiFi the connection to the internet drops for some reason. I have two terminal windows running and one is running "ping 8.8.8.8" and the other is running "ping 192.168.0.1". The first address is Google's DNS server and the second is my router.

Taking this as the key piece of your of your testing..

No problems by ethernet.. No problems by wireless to local router.. problems only to the WAN .. which is really hard to follow but is not surprising as wireless is really messed up since Yosemite.

So a few things to try.

1. Use only very short names.. eg wireless name AEwifi .. no spaces.. pure alphanumeric.

2. Also use passwords same rules.. but longer.. so mixed case and numbers only.

3. Make sure in the computer you set wireless ipv6 to link local only.

4. When you use the AE in bridge.. move the connection to the actiontec AP from WAN to LAN ports.. this does not make a lot of sense but I think it helps as we are having WAN port issues on the AE and TC latest generations.

Tell me how all that goes.

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Answer 3

nandonanders Author

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Aug 6, 2015 12:47 AM in response to LaPastenague

I unplugged all my Airport Extreme's and I'm still encountering this problem when using the WiFi from the ISP cable modem (pings start timing out, can't browse, and the fix is turn WiFi off and back on inside Mac OS X or switch from 2.4GHz band to 5GHz).

Could this be a problem in my laptop? Faulty WiFi adapter or something? I know Yosemite has WiFi problems, but I never encountered this until now.

I can't even play a game of DOTA 2 because of fear of timeouts.

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Answer 4

Aug 6, 2015 1:07 AM in response to nandonanders

Yes, computer is a problem if it has nothing to do with airports.. as long as when you test by ethernet you don't get same result which would indicate congestion on internet.

Did you upgrade install Yosemite on to the computer.. if so I strongly recommend a clean install.

Reset the PRAM and SMC.. can also help.

There is a couple of nasty viruses now for yosemite.. and they could be doing stuff.. remember your testing of ping is based on nothing else using wireless in your network or on your computer.. if the computer is corrupted then other software can gain control.

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Answer 5

nandonanders Author

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Aug 6, 2015 2:49 AM in response to LaPastenague

I am on Yosemite.

Weird thing is I rebooted at 4AM and the problem hasn't happened again. The laptop has not gone to sleep either since I have been using it the whole time since 4AM.

How do I reset the PRAM and SMC?

Another strange thing is... this is a 2014 Macbook Pro I am on. Why would the 2015 Macbook (12" screen) do the same thing?

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Answer 6

Aug 6, 2015 3:30 AM in response to nandonanders

How do I reset the PRAM and SMC?

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

PRAM is now called NVRAM

How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Another strange thing is... this is a 2014 Macbook Pro I am on. Why would the 2015 Macbook (12" screen) do the same thing?

Same wireless card .. same wretched Yosemite software and drivers.

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