My wifi drops, but the wifi sign is still 'on'

I have the exact same issue with 15" 2016 2.9Ghz Macbook Pro running Sierra 10.12.5. My wi-fi stays connected but access to the internet no longer works just as you mentioned. Sometimes after 5 minutes sometimes after 20. I did discover though that when it happens I can still ping my local wi-fi router and access my local network but if I try to access anything beyond my local network is unreachable. For example, I use Network Utility to ping 192.168.0.1 (my router) and I get replies; I can also go into my browser and access the router control panel. However, I ping www.google.com and it times out. If I turn off the wi-fi and turn it right back on it works perfectly and I can ping google.com without a problem and have full internet access. I've tried every possible different router configuration I can try but the problem persists. It just seems so random and the fact that the local network is still accessible but only the public WAN isn't. I have other computers on the same wi-fi and none of them seem to have this issue.

Hi jellemilt,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

I understand that your Mac is not staying connected to your Wi-Fi network as expect and know how frustrating situations like this can be.

To begin troubleshooting this situation, I recommend using Wireless Diagnostics to help resolve this issue.

Use Wireless Diagnostics to help you resolve Wi-Fi issues on your Mac - Apple Support

Best!

I've had the same exact issue with my brand new stock-model 15" Macbook Pro 2.2ghz i7. My brother had bought a 13" about 9 months ago, and he's also consistently had this same issue. I was praying it wouldn't happen with my mac too, but surely enough, it is. It says the wifi is still on and connected, but there is no internet connection. The only known fix is to disconnect the wifi and then reconnect it, or to go into the network preferences and renew the DHCP lease. It happens sometimes after 5 minutes, sometimes after an hour. It seems to hold the connection if I'm doing things like downloading something or playing most games, but even some online games don't seem to hold the connection and it'll disconnect me in the middle of a match. It also happens almost every time it goes to sleep, or even if it's idle enough to let the screen go black.

I've been reading a lot of forums about this, and there are tons of posts of people experiencing the same exact thing - it clearly seems to be a software issue on Apple's end that has been happening to anyone that has upgraded to El Capitan. It is definitely not a router issue because it happens with any router, and my same router will hold the connections fine with any other device whether they're plugged directly into it or wireless.

The issue didn't start until it saved a second wireless network/password in my network prefs when I was at my parent's house. One of the suggestions was, when it is not picking up the connection again after the computer goes to sleep, to delete all the saved networks and start again from scratch. This temporarily resolved the issue, but then it inevitably starts back up again after a few hours or days - now even if I only have my own network saved and no other networks.

Apple reps keep linking the wifi diagnostics pages as their answer, and then say if that fails that it is the router issue. Why won't Apple recognize that this is a software issue with their OS? It needs to be addressed and fixed. It is unacceptable to spend over $2,000 on a computer that from the very beginning has an issue, to which Apple is denying even exists.

I am having this same issue, but with a 2015 MBP. After coming out of sleep, it takes a couple of minutes before wifi works. The indicator shows that it is connected, but nothing happens when I try to get out on the internet. It's very frustrating and I shouldn't have to open my computer a few minutes before I start to use it. I have an older 2012 MBA that does not have this problem. My wife also has a 2012 MBA that doesn't have the problem. It's only my MBP. I have searched everywhere and been unable to find a solution to this problem.

I am dealing with the same issue and I just purchased this laptop 2 days ago. Not sure what i should do.

I've done a lot of scouring the internet, looking for answers. Aside from all of the suggestions I went out and bought a new Airport Extreme router, just to see if that would fix anything. I've seen a lot of sites that have said that it works just fine with an Airport Extreme. I was really hoping that wouldn't be the case, because what kind of laptop needs a certain router to work? Anyway, it didn't seem to do much better. Then I came across an article that suggested setting the computer's MTU to 1450. The default value on the computer is 1500. I have DSL and I know for a fact that it works best at 1492, so that's what I set it to, and it appears to be working better for me over the last few days. It also depends on what website I'm on when I open the computer. If I try to go immediately to Facebook, I have to sit and wait. GMail is also a bit slow to reconnect. If I try to go to just about any other website, it now goes there immediately.

I have no idea if the Airport Extreme did anything to fix it. I am going to put my Netgear back in place with the new MTU settings on the computer, and see if it works better. The Airport Extreme does not have an MTU setting, and the Netgear does. Perhaps all I need to do is make sure that the MTU setting on the Netgear is 1492 to make this all work. I know that the wrong MTU can cause connectivity issues.

Here's how to change the MTU on the computer:

OS X El Capitan: Set advanced Ethernet options

Thanks for the reply, I will change the MTU and see how that works.

I too have this problem.

As far as I can tell periodically something weird is happening to the mac's networking stack.

The problem occurs randomly and sometimes it recovers on its own and sometimes it doesn't. When it gets stuck, the wifi appears to be up, and I can ping the router but not the wider internet. All of my other devices are communicating with the net just fine.

Restarting the wifi instantly fixes everything.

It's really absurd that a 2500$ laptop has basic problems like this.

I have the exact same issue with a 12 inch Macbook bought 13 months ago. I have found no fix. Sometimes I'm ready to smash the hardware against a wall. Apple support have not been helpful unfortunately.