WiFi latency problem on rMBP 2013

[am2am]

I've seen threads in iMac and MBA discussions, but couldn't find in MBP so opening this one.

I do believe new MBP has the same WiFi problem reported in iMac and MBA

I have been waiting with mac upgrade for a while, so when new MPB arrived I've purchased two - for me (15") & my wife (13"). I have also purchased new Time Capsule.

First impressions - super wifi speed.

Today my wife told me she couldn't listen to Internet radio on her MBP - too many connection drops. She opened her old MBA 2010 - and all is perfect there.
I looked at it and quickly find out serious latency problem on new MBP.
First I opened both MBP & MBA and connected to the same radio server. MBA plays continuously without interruptions, MBP stops every several seconds

So I decided to ping in my local network - directly to my new TC.
Below the results:
MBA 2010:

and here new rMBP 2013:


I have ping the same from my second rMBP - same problem as with my wife's.

Just wonder if its hardware or software ...

 

[eknkc]

It is common. Probably a power saving feature. Mine does the same, and others that I tested on the store.

Try starting a download and run the ping while it's working. Gonna be stable. Or just decrease the ping delay to see that it works fine when you are taxing the network:

ping -i .1 192.168.0.10

 

[priitv8]

I have the early 2013 rMBP 15" and TC of 4th gen, and I get following results (5GHz 802.11n PHY):

 

[am2am]

It is common. Probably a power saving feature. Mine does the same, and others that I tested on the store.

Try starting a download and run the ping while it's working. Gonna be stable. Or just decrease the ping delay to see that it works fine when you are taxing the network:

ping -i .1 192.168.0.10

Thanks for the replay!
I tested decreased ping delay and indeed its better.
But of course this does not resolves the problem (like Internet radio streaming interruptions).

I saw some workarounds for power saving - not sure if I want to apply them.
Honestly I can live with the problem for a while if I'm sure its software issue that will be fixed ...
Seeing MBA similar thread for last few months without the resolution - I'm little afraid.

----------

I have the early 2013 rMBP 15" and TC of 4th gen, and I get following results (5GHz 802.11n PHY):

I also considered its related to new 802.11ac. Not sure - anyhow - when I switch wifi connection from 5GHz (802.11ac) to 2.4Ghz (802.11n?) latency is still there.

 

[eknkc]

I have the early 2013 rMBP 15" and TC of 4th gen, and I get following results (5GHz 802.11n PHY):

As far as I can tell, only late 2013 versions are affected. I'm hoping for a fix though.

 

[am2am]

Just finished 2 hours chat with applecare
we did all possible tests and resets - nothing helped

they transferred my case - tomorrow I will continue with wireless department

As I have old and new 2013 macs I can provide all diagnostic and comparison (which I did and problem is quite stable). Hope they will recognise it and find a solution ..

will keep you updated with the results

 

[max pl]

i'm having similar wifi issues.

typically when pinging a particular server on my 101/35 connection, i get 10ms ping and 118/37 speeds. i get these speeds consistently on windows machines in the house.

the new mbpr 15 i bought has both horrible ping and speeds. the ping is consistently higher at ~30ms to that same server at all times of the day, and speeds right now for example, while perfectly normal on my old thinkpad, are a fifth of what i get on the thinkpad. anywhere from 20/11 to 24/35.

its clearly not an isp or router issue(net gear r7000), so i await a fix from apple as this is unacceptable.

edit:
did some further testing and completely forgot to mention one big factor.
pings are poor on both 2.4 and 5ghz. speeds are fine on 2.4 but poor on 5ghz.
everything over 100Mbps shown here is at 2.4ghz and anything under, including the 80Mbps down, are at 5ghz.

 

[am2am]

short update - still no resolution, spoken with wireless dept and then senior adviser. he agreed that this is strange, but cannot do anything else that ask me to go to genius bar for further tests.
will go next week - hopefully will be able to show the problem and then somebody will recognise it and pass to engineering team

with senior adviser we made ping test in recovery mode terminal to eliminate potential mac osX bug. Latency is still there. conclusion - either hardware problem or hardware firmware, not osX.

 

[am2am]

WiFi latency exists with ALL 2013 macs

Just spent 5 minutes in a store testing different apple macs
In total 5 macs; ping tests results:

Latency problem:
- MBA 13" 2013
- iMac 27 2013
- MBP 13" 2013
- MBP 15 2013

no problem with latency:
- MBP classic (not retina) 13"

Honestly I haven't found 2013 mac without this problem - it is not widely recognized as people not always notice this, not everybody plays with terminal.
It can be noticed in case of streaming something if buffering is not good - I tested Internet radio and youtube. In both cases ping latency exists.

Easy way to verify if you have latency problem on 2013 mac (there should be no other wifi activities like file transfer or time machine backup):

1. open terminal
2. type: ping XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (here should be the address of your access point like 192.168.0.1 or 10.0.0.1)
3. wait 20s then pres CTRL + C - the process will stop; verify average latency
4. type ping -i .1 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (same address that before)
5. wait and pres CTRL + C - compare average results with the previous.


the first test usually ends with 30-60ms or more average (latency problem)
the second test should give you ~3ms average or less

 

[tigerintank]

my results on a late 2013 rMBP

Ping has started…

PING 192.168.1.254 (192.168.1.254): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=2.289 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=2.386 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=5.637 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=2.859 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=2.594 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=2.522 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=2.847 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=2.708 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=3.893 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=2.575 ms

--- 192.168.1.254 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 2.289/3.031/5.637/0.966 ms

 

[bp1000]

My pings are all over the place too

Just received my BTO 13" Retina, stunning machine but these pings are nuts. Over 100ms just to the local gateway and throughput seems erratic too on 2.4ghz.

It came from China so don't fancy a swap if this isn't a hardware problem.

 

[Supersonicways]

This is what I see on my Mid 2013 MacBook Air.




Last login: Sun Dec 8 10:21:32 on console
MacBook-Air:~ xx$ ping 10.0.1.1
PING 10.0.1.1 (10.0.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=240.040 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=164.137 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=84.566 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=4.942 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=232.646 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=152.635 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=73.143 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=255 time=1.289 ms
^C
--- 10.0.1.1 ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 8 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.289/119.175/240.040/87.241 ms

MacBook-Air:~ xx$ ping -i .1 10.0.1.1

PING 10.0.1.1 (10.0.1.1): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=102.915 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=3.352 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=1.288 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=1.343 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=1.257 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=1.260 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=1.120 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=255 time=1.176 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=255 time=1.073 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=255 time=1.133 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=255 time=1.231 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=255 time=1.292 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=255 time=1.287 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=255 time=1.348 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=255 time=1.298 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=255 time=1.348 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=255 time=1.167 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=255 time=1.141 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=255 time=1.030 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=255 time=1.278 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=255 time=1.222 ms
^C
--- 10.0.1.1 ping statistics ---
21 packets transmitted, 21 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.030/6.169/102.915/21.638 ms

 

[Crosscreek]

The first machine I received from China right after launch had terrible wi-fi problems. I returned it and ordered a BTO and received it second week of November. I tested the machine right away and had latency but no drop packets. I am using Netgear N router at 5gh at 300mps and have had no problems streaming HD movies through various sources with no drops or buffering problems. I have noticed a lot of people are having problems with ac networks. I think originally I had bad hardware. This maybe firmware for ac. I have not tried mine on another networks.

 

[Barney63]

Is this the IP that I should put into Ping?

If so the results that I'm getting are:-

Ping has started…

PING 192.168.1.222 (192.168.1.222): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.059 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.126 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.077 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.122 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.119 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.072 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.058 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.123 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=0.070 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.222: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=0.120 ms

--- 192.168.1.222 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.058/0.095/0.126/0.028 ms

Or do I need to do it when Safari hangs?

Barney