Scottadel

Q: Problems with my Macbook connecting to work wireless

I am hoping someone can help me troubleshoot, if not solve an issue I am experiencing between my MBP and my work wireless network.

 

The issue started about six months ago after a "wireless upgrade". Prior to that I was using my MBP at work without issues. Since the upgrade I have problems with my connection.

 

My work does not broadcast its SSID but it is known as well at that it uses EAP-fast security and uses WPA2 Enterprise authentication. I can add all of this under "Join Other Network". It will find the network and authenticate. I can then go into network preferences and see that it is connected, has strong signal, and it will even say connected with EAP-fast. However, when I try to do anything my computer acts as though it has no connection. Not able to get to any site on corporate intranet, internet, or use any applications that require network access. Although my work does not officially support MACs they do allow users to use them as long as they support them themselves. There are a bunch of Mac fans in support who tell me others are experiencing the same and they cannot figure out the problem.


Here is what I have done to troubleshoot so far:

1. At first I thought perhaps it was my older MBP (mid-2009). As I was having some other performance issues I recently upgraded to 2015 13" MBP. Same issue

2. I have deleted the networks, rebooted and re-added them with no resolution.

3. While I am having issues I have had colleagues with PCs sit right next to me without connectivity issues.

4. My corporate issues iphone on the same network SSID, login and PW has no issues connecting and then no issues going to internet.

5. Outside of work my MBP (both) connected instantly to my home network and those at coffee shops, etc without issue.

6. Turned off firewall without resolution

 

It seems that my MBP is connecting to the wireless network but then something is blocking the connection. Any thoughts on how to troubleshoot this? If I use my Verizon Mi-Fi and then VPN tunnel to get into my work network I can access everything without issue. However there are spots at work where I do not get good cell signal and need to rely on wireless.

 

Anything you can think of to provide more information about what may be the issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

I have a 2015 13" MBP, running El Capitan.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11), 13" Early 2015 MBP Retina

Posted on Oct 17, 2015 6:37 PM

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Q: Problems with my Macbook connecting to work wireless

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  • by Scottadel,

    Scottadel Scottadel Oct 20, 2015 7:59 PM in response to Scottadel
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    Oct 20, 2015 7:59 PM in response to Scottadel

    Figured it out and thought that I would post the solution here in case it would be helpful to someone else down the road. Turned out to be a DNS issue. I noticed the only DNS server listed in the Wifi Settings was that of google (8.8.8.8) while on the iphone there were others listed. I manually added the other DNS servers and all is working well now.