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ConCat

macrumors 6502a
Apple has had many problems with their own routers.

Yes, I do remember this. However, that still doesn't change how challenging debugging wifi is. Issues that don't come up in testing, may come up in the wild. Truth be told, the extreme is a consumer router. It buckles under pressure just like any consumer router does. This should be far less of an issue with the new one though.
 

chrisrosemusic1

macrumors 6502a
Jan 31, 2012
696
21
Northamptonshire, England
That's just funny.

Apple have serious Wi-Fi issues with products for over 4 years. The past response has been tough luck, deal with it. Even when you prove it infront of the staff in store.

I would imagine there will be many angry MacBook, MacBookPro owners when they see this.

2 weeks of sheer hell with my rMBP WiFi this year when I got it. Hours on the phone to support refusing to acknowledge it as a problem and to give me a replacement. Had to buy an Airport cos that apparently would have sorted it - it didn't! Eventually it worked and has since, but I was ready to smash it up so I feel everyones pain.

Let's hope Apple actually resolve this joke! Remove the ethernet port but don't have decent WiFi = lol.
 

NedBookPro

macrumors 6502
Feb 13, 2011
334
0
Time for all the NAYSAYERS in previous threads to eat a LARGE and well-deserved helping of crow.

I'm always amazed at how hard some kool-aid drinkers would defend Apple when evidence clearly points to the contrary.

Well said, and completely concur. It drives you crazy.

.
 

SactoGuy18

macrumors 601
Sep 11, 2006
4,307
1,473
Sacramento, CA USA
I have an I7/8gb/512 that is now 4 days old.

3 Wifi networks tested sofar (2 x G, 1 x N), they all work on iPhone btw.
2 of them work fine on the Air, the 3rd one does not and shows the same symptom as described in the article. The failing one is a wrt54g2 with (I assume) old firmware.

I myself used to have a Linksys WRT54G2 router. That thing worked for a while, then would have a bad habit of stopping to accept new WiFi connections after a few months. Small wonder why I ditched that router at the first opportunity for a Netgear WDNR3700v3 router, which has worked well for me. :)

I think my current Netgear router should have no issues with the new model MacBook Air models.
 

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
Is 802.11ac even completely ratified?

Are problems on the ac mode only?

What AP are people using?


Right questions = Obvious Answer.
 

MrNomNoms

macrumors 65816
Jan 25, 2011
1,156
294
Wellington, New Zealand
What I find funny is that I must be the worlds luckiest person given that I've never experienced any of the Wifi issues that people talk about on any of the Mac's I have bought. I'm sure some smartass will go "yeah but..." and then waffle on but maybe the question that should be asked is why people like me and others DON'T have the problems that so many here claim are widespread. Does Apple computers have the occasional hick up? sure but lets not try to ignore that there are factors that have NOTHING to do with Apple.

Why wouldn't they? How can Apple find a solution when they're not seeing the problem themselves? I think Apple is doing the right thing by getting a hold of these laptops that are having issues. They can test both the hardware and software. Apple doesn't let a problem go away- they find solutions so they can take care of their customers. I just received my new MBAir i7, 8gm, 256gb, 11" inch screen and I only had one issue when I was downloading my purchased Apps from the App Store AND Adobe CC software. When my MBAir was downloading, it would lose connection when it went to sleep. I rebooted and I haven't lost any wifi connection. I'm using the new Airport and it works fine. I do have questions about download speed though since its using the new AC technology.

Why is it surprising that it drops out when your computer goes to sleep? that it is supposed to do. Why not adjust your power saving settings so it doesn't go to sleep thus doesn't lose its connection and your computer able to finish its download?
 

WhyMista

macrumors newbie
Jul 13, 2011
6
0
Tx
No issues on my 13" 1.3GHz i5 that I bought a week ago.

I'm using the airport 2tb model to connect via wifi and I've seen speeds from 30-65mps
 

SactoGuy18

macrumors 601
Sep 11, 2006
4,307
1,473
Sacramento, CA USA
It seems nobody wants to ask these two questions:

1. What model wireless router are you trying to use?

2. Are you running the current firmware on said model router?

Not going to be much help on WiFi connectivity issues until we answer these two questions.
 

kobefan234

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2008
414
12
hypothetical, If I buy a 2013 Air and experience a wifi is an issue, will I get a new replacement from Apple?
 

NotHappyUser

macrumors newbie
Jun 23, 2013
7
0
It seems nobody wants to ask these two questions:

1. What model wireless router are you trying to use?

2. Are you running the current firmware on said model router?

Not going to be much help on WiFi connectivity issues until we answer these two questions.

It seems no fanboys want to answer these two questions:

1. Why does it matter what routers people are using, when all other devices work just fine on said routers?

2. Why does everyone on here insist on subtly blaming the users? I'm in IT, I know how to configure a damn network, and my 2013 Air was a POS lemon on multiple networks. You have no control over routers when you travel.
 

SactoGuy18

macrumors 601
Sep 11, 2006
4,307
1,473
Sacramento, CA USA
It seems no fanboys want to answer these two questions:

1. Why does it matter what routers people are using, when all other devices work just fine on said routers?

2. Why does everyone on here insist on subtly blaming the users? I'm in IT, I know how to configure a damn network, and my 2013 Air was a POS lemon on multiple networks. You have no control over routers when you travel.

To answer your questions:

1. It matters a LOT what model wireless router you're using. I mentioned earlier the Asus RT-AC66U and Netgear R6300, probably the two most popular 802.11ac routers out there in the retail market; if the new MacBook Air has connectivity issues with these routers even though the routers are running with the current firmware revision, then we do have a problem that needs immediate addressing.

2. If the new MacBook Air still has connectivity issues even with older 802.11n routers, then Apple definitely needs to update the NIC driver on the version of MacOS X installed on the machine to see if that resolves the problem.
 

kingtj

macrumors 68030
Oct 23, 2003
2,606
749
Brunswick, MD
Nope ....

The company I work for has 5 offices around the country (advertising/marketing firm) and they employ hundreds of freelancers as well as the core staff. They're pretty much a 50/50 mix of Mac and Windows PCs (mostly Dell or HP), but everyone is issued a corporate iPad.

We do use Apple Airport Extremes in the offices because they work reliably for us and have good range compared to some of the competing products on the market. They cost a little more, but especially in a shop where every other machine is a Mac, it made sense.

At home, I've used everything from Linksys routers to the built-in wireless on an AT&T U-Verse residential gateway (RG-1000 series) they supplied.

Obviously, most of us have also used these devices quite a bit on the go, at hotels, internet cafes, restaurants with free wifi, etc. So it's a sure bet we're connecting to many things other than Apple branded routers.

And you can call me an "Apple fan" if you like. Perhaps I fit that description. (I sure have better results and fewer headaches with malware/virus issues, software errors, etc. from the Macs than from the Windows PCs at work.)

But my point is that before Apple made "ac" gear a new standard, it was just an outlying technology that few were familiar with. It's not that Apple *invented* it (just like they didn't invent the portable MP3 music player when they released the first iPod, and they didn't invent the idea of a cellphone with a touch-screen when they released the first iPhone). But they did what they so often do; take a new technology and push it into the limelight, so it thrives.

I'm not at ALL surprised that Apple's "ac" wireless isn't achieving the maximum throughput potential right now. As much as anything, it seems to me Apple's interest in it was more in the "beam forming" capabilities it brought to the table, to help eliminate "dead spots" from obstacles weakening the signal. Throughput will get addressed with software updates over time, without a doubt.


It looks like your family and company (is the same thing?) both are using Apple products exclusively. So you probably have Apple routers. It would be really strange it Apple did not test their laptops with their own routers. The claim that Apple is ahead of the pack in adopting "ac" may only come from Apple fan. "ac" gear outside Apple universe was available for quite a while. As usual Apple was one of the last to adopt it. To add insult to injury, AnandTech discovered that OS/X can't actually use "ac" speeds to full potential (far from it) when transferring the files (the only operation that really matters in this context).
 

Wild-Bill

macrumors 68030
Jan 10, 2007
2,539
617
bleep
FYI for whoever.....

Yesterday I received my 2013, 13" 1.3GHz i5 / 8GB / 128GB SSD.

Screen is LG, SSD is Samsung.


Anyway, connecting to an ASUS RT-N-66u, 5GHz band and have no issues (so far). Maybe the issue is with the draft AC routers, I don't know. Just figured I'd post my setup to aid others. :D
 
Last edited:

mathi-vadhanan

macrumors member
Sep 14, 2011
40
2
Socal
I got my 2013 11" base config, 2 weeks back. It is connected to ASUS RT-N56U, in 5GHz band. No issues so far. I live in a crowded apartment complex, so 2.4 GHz is a problem for all my devices.
 

AidenShaw

macrumors P6
Feb 8, 2003
18,667
4,676
The Peninsula
It seems nobody wants to ask these two questions:

1. What model wireless router are you trying to use?

2. Are you running the current firmware on said model router?

Not going to be much help on WiFi connectivity issues until we answer these two questions.

It seems to me that nobody *should* have to answer these questions.

Dell/Lenovo/HP/... laptops seem to run fine in these environments - only the Apples seem to always have problems.

Doesn't that suggest that it's an Apple problem?
 
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