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New MacBook Air Owners Complaining of Wi-Fi Issues

the8thark

the8thark

macrumors 601
Apr 18, 2011
4,628
1,735
RobertD63 said:
Of course Gizmodo reports this. They're still butthurt
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Yes they are. Gizmodo have zero percent respect from me. I don't even read what they say anymore.

Rogifan said:
And MacRumors throws this on the front page of their website. I guess it'll be wifi gate now.
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Yes it will be.

The only thing I see here is Wi-Figate. Just like Antennagate.
Macs and OS X have always had the occasional Wi-Fi issue. I've even had a few. But they are not a big deal and for the most part the Wi-Fi works just fine.

Articles like this just sensationalise non-issues and act as link bait for more pate hits. And the Apple support forums, are not the definitive word on everything. Personally I'd rather ask for help for a problem in these MacRumors forums before I even think of touching the Apple support forums. To me the Apple Support forums are the worst part of Apple.

I understand MacRumors is in the business of writing articles like this, but the readers need to know this in context. A very small few have had supposed Wi-Fi issues. No tech gadget is perfect. But overall it works just fine.
 
nick_elt

nick_elt

macrumors 68000
Oct 28, 2011
1,578
0
jrswizzle said:
Huh - I suppose I have enough "wifi" issues with my service, router and modem that any problems with the devices themselves kind of go unnoticed.

Haven't had a macbook in years so perhaps I've missed these issues, but with them or not, I'm excited to own one of the new MBAs.
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Its still a great machine as i said before, there are ways around it. you don't need to restart your mac. i have had these problems but i figured out what it was and now it's fine. But i find it unbelievable that the actual problem hasn't been fixed
 
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roadbloc

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
Apple. The only company that can't seem to do clocks and WiFi without running into problems.
 
L

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
whooleytoo said:
Hah! You'd think in one Mac with just one networking interface (i.e. Wifi) they'd pay extra QA attention to Wifi functionality/compatibility.
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They can't because of secrecy. Let MBA connect to network before official announcement and the secret will be out :D
 
Northgrove

Northgrove

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2010
1,149
437
Dookieman said:
Am I the only not having any problems with my Wifi in the new MBA?
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Most don't have any problems. But this is just how it works.

If (pulling numbers out my butt) 0.5% has problems, that'd actually be a lot if 0.01% would normally be returned. And it'll also look like a lot on the message boards because we'd be used to thread post volumes correspond to the aforementioned 0.01% having trouble. The thread would get longer 50x as fast so it'll look huge.

One have to keep in mind we're talking about computers sold in thousands by the day for the MBA line alone.
 
M

Mr.damien

Guest
Dr McKay said:
Apple products and WiFi issues seem to go hand in hand, because of the metal exteriors I imagine.
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Never got more problems than my plastic work DELL.

Can say that usually have I no problem at all outside some firmware updates which in those cases are just bug like in any software.
 
MrNomNoms

MrNomNoms

macrumors 65816
Jan 25, 2011
1,156
294
Wellington, New Zealand
the8thark said:
Yes they are. Gizmodo have zero percent respect from me. I don't even read what they say anymore.

Yes it will be.

The only thing I see here is Wi-Figate. Just like Antennagate.
Macs and OS X have always had the occasional Wi-Fi issue. I've even had a few. But they are not a big deal and for the most part the Wi-Fi works just fine.

Articles like this just sensationalise non-issues and act as link bait for more pate hits. And the Apple support forums, are not the definitive word on everything. Personally I'd rather ask for help for a problem in these MacRumors forums before I even think of touching the Apple support forums. To me the Apple Support forums are the worst part of Apple.

I understand MacRumors is in the business of writing articles like this, but the readers need to know this in context. A very small few have had supposed Wi-Fi issues. No tech gadget is perfect. But overall it works just fine.
Click to expand...

What I find funny is how there is no attention spent to all those wifi issues that Windows users have - from dealing with crapware third party wifi connection controllers from their OEM through to updates from Microsoft failing to install because of butchering to the base installation of Windows by OEM's (experienced that first hand trying to update via 'Windows Update' on Windows 7 when running a Lenovo X1 Carbon from out of the box). Funny how an Apple product has an issue then all hell breaks loose but not a single thing said about the crapfeast of hell that the average user faces when running a Windows laptop or desktop.
 
K

kissnoob

macrumors member
May 24, 2010
40
1
nick_elt said:
this is not new, my old (last years) has the same issue. you don't need to turn it off, you just need to go into your router settings and change the channel from auto to a free channel. read up about it, is been happening since 2010
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You do know that someone don't have the convenience of messing the router setting, don't you? Like the one using it at starbucks, airport...

And not every regular Joe or Jane knows about this bug or know how to change their router settings.
 
notjustjay

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
I remember I used to have infuriating WiFi issues with my 2007 Santa Rosa MacBook Pro. The WiFi would just ransomly disconnect, then reconnect itself a moment later. The only reason I even noticed was because I had Growler installed and it was set to make a sound whenever the connect/disconnect happened. And at one point I kept getting connection issues where the Mac would disconnect and fail to reconnect properly -- it would get its own self-assigned IP address. Manually going into network settings and clicking Renew DHCP Lease often fixed it -- but not always. These problem did not occur with any other device on my network including my iPad or iPhone.

I eventually chalked it up to my Mac and my D-Link router not getting along. I replaced the D-Link with a Netgear router and have not seen the problem since.

But yes, Apple products have definitely had WiFi issues in the past (I agree that the metal casing probably is a factor). I'll wait to see how this one gets resolved before I commit my dollars!

----------
MrNomNoms said:
What I find funny is how there is no attention spent to all those wifi issues that Windows users have [ ... ] Funny how an Apple product has an issue then all hell breaks loose but not a single thing said about the crapfeast of hell that the average user faces when running a Windows laptop or desktop.
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This is true. More often than not I will open up my laptop and connect and be working, while my PC using friends are still asking "Hey, are you sure the WiFi is working? I'm not getting anything."

Apple raises the bar I guess -- that "It Just Works" mantra makes it all the more glaring in the rare instances when it doesn't. Windows, you get conditioned to get used to all the minor little problems and quibbles, though they do add up over time.
 
kas23

kas23

macrumors 603
Oct 28, 2007
5,629
288
Rogifan said:
And MacRumors throws this on the front page of their website. I guess it'll be wifi gate now.
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But you would think that if someone pays over 1K on a laptop it wouldn't have such a basic problem. This isn't exactly an esoteric bug, nor is this computer a $199 netbook.
 
roadbloc

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
nick_elt said:
no. its just the only company where its problems make news.
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Hardly. This place is called MacRumors encase you haven't noticed. They're hardly going to be reporting the embarrassing reversal of DRM policies on the Xbox One are they?

Apple aren't perfect and yes, just like the the other tech giants out there, they deserve bad press when they make mistakes.
 
nick_elt

nick_elt

macrumors 68000
Oct 28, 2011
1,578
0
kissnoob said:
You do know that someone don't have the convenience of messing the router setting, don't you? Like the one using it at starbucks, airport...

And not every regular Joe or Jane knows about this bug or know how to change their router settings.
Click to expand...

Yes I realise that and as an owner of a macbook air I wish I bought the macbook pro and never touched the air.
 
cogitodexter

cogitodexter

macrumors regular
Jun 22, 2009
131
224
Naaaaaaarfolk, England
I dare say that replacing whatever wireless router is in place with a new Apple Airport Extreme would probably sort it out, and give a whole bunch more performance as well.

Only a cynic would suggest that that was Apple's plan all along though! :p

(For the benefit of the humourless - I'm joking!)
 
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