Q: WiFi loses connection intermittently and clearing arp fixes it
This has been asked before many times but none of the answers worked for me so far.
I have a MacBook Pro with El Capitan on it. Every once in a while, normally 5-10 minutes,
my connection drops and I no longer can browse internet. Like:
4 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7646 ttl=53 time=13.091 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7647 ttl=53 time=17.035 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7648 ttl=53 time=13.716 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7649
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7650
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7651
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7652
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7653
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7654
Turning off and back on the WiFi will fix the issue but I tried to narrow down the problem
and I discovered that deleting the route's IP from arp table will also fix the connectivity
immediately:
$ sudo arp -d 192.168.0.1
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7718
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7719
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7720
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7721 ttl=53 time=10.947 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7722 ttl=53 time=11.966 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7723 ttl=53 time=12.576 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7724 ttl=53 time=11.058 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7725 ttl=53 time=15.173 ms
Disabling the arp unicast DID NOT have any effect either:
$ sudo sysctl -w net.link.ether.inet.arp_unicast_lim=0
Notes:
- I have two MacBooks Pro at home. The other one works without an issue.
- My phone and other devices also work with the same router without any issue.
- The problematic MacBook works with other WiFi networks without any issue.
What could be the problem?
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)
Posted on Feb 12, 2016 1:36 PM