Q: Wifi problem since 10.11.2

Seems like a lot of work just to have the latest OSX running properly. This all happened over the weekend So I had upgraded to the latest version of El Capitan. The only thing that worked after 2 days was just putting the Mac Mini back to Yosemite. El Capitan wasnt worth the headache. My Mac Mini is running great now and wifi is super strong with no drop outs or anomalies with wifi. Do yourselves a favor and stick with Yosemite until Apple owns up to this. Apparently it only effects certain devices. I had this problem with a top in the past and they said it was my logicboard. Turned out the new OSX didn't like my laptop. I downgraded the OSX and BAM..worked again like a charm.

Updated to 10.11.5 and Driver Crash... the bug continues!

Day 11 I have changed the radio mode to 802.11g, that's why there is AuthFail and as you can see no more Driver Crash report. I have updated to 10.11.5 and turned my Airport Express back to 802.11n radio mode and after a few hours, bang! Driver Crash as you can see. So back to 802.11g for now.

I keep wondering if people without the problem are using 802.11g and not 802.11n (their routers/access points without 802.11n support).

I think most of the people without the problem are using 802.11ac.

It works pretty well with that; the bug is with n only!

If only that was true.

I'm on ac and still have the disconnects.  Happens both with the AirPort Extreme 6th Gen and a Cisco 3702i - both wireless AC.

No ****? I have no problem with AirPort Extreme 6th Gen 802.11ac, but I do have problems with a wide range of 802.11n wireless routers.

What I have noticed, it's normally OK to start with, but if you're like me and only sleep your mac, then it will get progressively worse.

Can sometimes take up to a week before it starts getting really bad, but it will get worse and worse from that moment on, mainly notable if you're connected to something such as a RDP session, or VMWare view which needs a tunnel connection open.  Obviously with the WiFi disconnecting, it breaks the tunnel and disconnects.

People, do yourselves a favor and just downgrade back to Yosemite and your headaches with troubleshooting will miraculously be cured:) To keep fighting this well known Apple Wifi issue with the El Capitan OSX can be exhausting as many of us on this forum know. That's why we are here.

When Apple released the El Capitan to the public they had to have known there was a WiFi issue with all of the stress testing and vetting the OSX requires to be released to the public. My thought is that it's merely a way to get you to upgrade your older hardware and purchase a new device ie laptop, desktop, iPad, iPhone. Doesn't it strike you odd that everything works just fine with the OSX your device shipped with regardless of what router or wireless AP you use and then problems start after you upgrade? It's a no-brainer. A perfect marketing scheme to create one or two little bugs to annoy Mac owners just enough to make them buy a new device..LOL:) This same thing happened when Mavericks OSX came out.

THE REASONABLE SOLUTION: Don't upgrade the OSX! If you have, just downgrade to the original OSX/ iOS your device originally came with or use the OSX/ iOS that originally came with your device as long as you can until you are ready to upgrade you device. iPhones, iPods, and iPads get a small exception here. They are usually good for a couple of iOS upgrades until they become so slow they can only be used as door stops..LOL:)

I've been using the TN-Link adapter workaround.   But I just installed 10.11.5 and switched back to my MBA embedded WiFi to see what happens.

Can anyone confirm whether 10.11.5 made any difference on this yet?   Or still bugged out?

I Guess you haven't been reading the replies..lol:) 10.11.5 doesnt fix wifi. ITS STILL BROKEN!

OK, insanely NOT great.   When my WiFi craps out I guess I'm back to my TN-Link Nano USB WiFi.

If anyone would like, Readers can take a look at some of your network setups and make some recommendations, and/or you can run Wireless Diagnostics and leave it in monitor mode in the background, and if anything acts up, you will get an alert.

This thread is already far too busy for that sort of personalized attention, but if you want to, start a new thread and post the answers to these questions:

What do you get for PHY Mode and Channel?

What do you get for RSSI or signal strength?

What do you get for Transmit Rate?

and, are you in an apartment building? How many other Networks do you see?

to get those answers, hold down the option key and click on the WiFi Icon in the MenuBar:

.

Nice!

I didn't know that would come up when pressing option. I bet that the ones that are working are connecting at 5GHZ and the ones that are intermittent are 2.4. it's nice that you can see this working live.

It is usually more complicated than that.

But perhaps a few of the Users who are having issues are asking their networks to do too much.

I'm not sure if I entirely agree with that. People aren't making the networks do anything more than they were with Yosemite OSX, which was the prior OSX. El Capitan is the problem. Most people are overthinking the issue because they want to have the latest and greatest by any means necessary. Sometimes it not worth the trouble...plain and simple. Let's keep it real. It's more than just a few Users having problems....as you can tell by just the people on this forum, which doesn't include the people having problems with this issue that are not on this forum. Wait until they work the bugs out before upgrading to the latest OSX (if they are,,,meaning Apple).

Cheers:)

I never said Apple is guilt-free in this -- but some users may be asking their Networks to do too much already, and some subtle problem in the software turns that into a disaster for them.

Wi-Fi is bloody complicated, and each User's setup is different. I worked with one user and we discovered their internal antenna had become disconnected or unusable. Knowing that, they was able to get their Mac repaired under warranty (the signal at the store was so strong, they never had trouble in the store, but once everyone knew to look at that, they saw it was busted and fixed it.)