Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2011 13" Macbook Air --- Serious WiFi Issues Someone Please Help

S

stfwayne

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2011
217
7
After buying an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 I decided to take the plunge and purchase a Mac for the first time.

I have been very happy with the Macbook Air except for one major issue ... WIFI

It barely ever connects to my WiFi in the next room of my apartment. I will have to restart the computer or shut the WiFi on and off two or three times to get it to connect.

The worst problem I am having is I will be browsing the internet and I click a link and the website TIMES OUT and it says UNABLE TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET. It's as if the WiFI just stopped connecting I have to restart or shut down the computer to get the WiFi to connect

I dont want to return the Macbook Air and I also have a 3 year extended warranty from Apple Care. Can someone please let me know if they are having the same issues or if my laptop is a rotten apple. Its getting to the point where the laptop has become unusable any advice would be greatly appreciated??
 
WIFI and Camera issues

We bought a 2011 11" Macbook Air and have the same issue with WIFI. In the next room maybe get one/two bars and constant timeouts. Upstairs in the bedroom, can't even connect.

My wife uses the computer to stream Tv shows from Japan so we must have a good connection.

The air replaced a Late 2006 macbook that has no problems. Returned the Air and thinking about getting a Macbook pro 13". Too bad really, we really liked the air and it was perfect for us.

The camera quality was also an issue. We use Skype everyday to talk to family in the states and Japan and they said it was too grainy and asked us to use the old macbook.
 
The Problem Is

stfwayne said:
After buying an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 I decided to take the plunge and purchase a Mac for the first time.

I have been very happy with the Macbook Air except for one major issue ... WIFI

It barely ever connects to my WiFi in the next room of my apartment. I will have to restart the computer or shut the WiFi on and off two or three times to get it to connect.

The worst problem I am having is I will be browsing the internet and I click a link and the website TIMES OUT and it says UNABLE TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET. It's as if the WiFI just stopped connecting I have to restart or shut down the computer to get the WiFi to connect

I dont want to return the Macbook Air and I also have a 3 year extended warranty from Apple Care. Can someone please let me know if they are having the same issues or if my laptop is a rotten apple. Its getting to the point where the laptop has become unusable any advice would be greatly appreciated??
Click to expand...

Not with your AIR but with your router.....If you get a range booster, (pretty cheap these days) you should have no problems. If you really think its the mac then get Apple to check it out, but I think the problem is the walls the signal has to pass through...Cheap ISP provided wifi routers are C**** I use a Draytek personally, but you don't need to spend much on a simple booster.
 
stfwayne said:
I have been very happy with the Macbook Air except for one major issue ... WIFI

It barely ever connects to my WiFi in the next room of my apartment. I will have to restart the computer or shut the WiFi on and off two or three times to get it to connect.
Click to expand...

rick312 said:
We bought a 2011 11" Macbook Air and have the same issue with WIFI. In the next room maybe get one/two bars and constant timeouts. Upstairs in the bedroom, can't even connect.


The camera quality was also an issue. We use Skype everyday to talk to family in the states and Japan and they said it was too grainy and asked us to use the old macbook.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you both had hardware issues (perhaps a defective unit). While Apple products for some reason have mysterious issues with Wi-Fi sometimes, yours' sound unusual.

Also, the camera on the Airs should be about the same in quality as the 2006 MacBook. The Pros have FaceTime HD while the Airs don't, but it still shouldn't be grainy.
 
wifi issues

I had the same issue using the modem/wifi given to me by my internet provider. Connection was awful, it often reset, was very slow. This was only on my new MBA, not on previous PCs. All of these issues were resolved when I purchased an Apple Airport Extreme. Haven't had a hook since.
 
The wifi is considerably worse on the MBA than the 2010 MBP (15 inch).

While my MBP could download a 100mb file from my server while I'm on my kitchen (which is the furthest away from my router) in less than 30 sec, I'm using about 3 minutes on my MBA. Streaming TV series while cleaning the kitchen does not work anymore, and it was never a problem on the MBP (well it works, but it stops and buffers every now and then)

The MBA also have issues after waking from sleep and I have to turn wifi off/on to reconnect sometimes.

I also sometimes have difficulties with seeing my samba shares, but I can always connect by ip.

I love the MBA, but wifi is not as good as the MBP i had.
 
I have the 2010 Macbook Air 13" and I've read all the different wifi issues that everyone complain about. I personally never encountered any until recently. If I turn on bluetooth for any reason, the wifi signal and speed drops tremendously. This all occured on snow leopard. After upgrading to lion, the macbook air now takes longer to reconnect to wifi, roughly 15-20 seconds whereas it took less than 5 seconds before.
 
I have had my 13" MBA for two months or so. Wireless is flawless. I am using a Airport Extreme base station.
 
It's a combination of Lion and the setting on the wireless router. I had the 2010 MBA running Snow Leopard and it had no problem. My new 2011 MBA running Lion, on the other hand, made me want to throw it against the wall.

Apple will not admit anything, but it's basically Lion not liking certain settings on the wireless router. While every other wireless device I own function perfectly fine, the new MBA and Lion would just randomly drop connection every few minutes.

The difference between Microsoft and Apple, strangely enough, is that Microsoft cares too much about its users and wants to accommodate everyone. Apple, on the other hand, only cares about its image and so will use that as the justification to break what they deem no-longer-sufficient to get people to shell out money and upgrade. The reality is that both companies' approach has some merit to them, as well as not-so-great consequences. Where Apple fails, though, is their admit-no-wrong stance and to blame their customers when they know fully well the causes because strategic decisions were made that lead to those problems in the first place.
 
I got my 13"...well yesterday and exchanged for a new one today (had serious Bluetooth issues). Wifi actually has been great for me so far (knock on wood).

There are some issues with Bluetooth dropping connectivity with 10.7.2 but I'm not sure about WiFi really... Try PRAM/SMC reset and see what happens? Do a clean reinstall perhaps? Otherwise, if you've only recently purchased within the return period, you might as well take advantage of that. I don't have a first hand experience with Apple Care and exchanges but I'd imagine that you could speak to Apple Care and get things sorted out.

Sorry not much help I suppose...but good luck!
 
stfwayne said:
After buying an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 I decided to take the plunge and purchase a Mac for the first time.

I have been very happy with the Macbook Air except for one major issue ... WIFI

It barely ever connects to my WiFi in the next room of my apartment. I will have to restart the computer or shut the WiFi on and off two or three times to get it to connect.

The worst problem I am having is I will be browsing the internet and I click a link and the website TIMES OUT and it says UNABLE TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET. It's as if the WiFI just stopped connecting I have to restart or shut down the computer to get the WiFi to connect

I dont want to return the Macbook Air and I also have a 3 year extended warranty from Apple Care. Can someone please let me know if they are having the same issues or if my laptop is a rotten apple. Its getting to the point where the laptop has become unusable any advice would be greatly appreciated??
Click to expand...

Since you have made such an investment in Apple, I suggest you get their Airport Extreme router. Have MBA, iPad, iphone, PC all connected as well as a Microcell and NAS.

No Problems.
 
stfwayne said:
After buying an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 I decided to take the plunge and purchase a Mac for the first time.

I have been very happy with the Macbook Air except for one major issue ... WIFI

It barely ever connects to my WiFi in the next room of my apartment. I will have to restart the computer or shut the WiFi on and off two or three times to get it to connect.

The worst problem I am having is I will be browsing the internet and I click a link and the website TIMES OUT and it says UNABLE TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET. It's as if the WiFI just stopped connecting I have to restart or shut down the computer to get the WiFi to connect

I dont want to return the Macbook Air and I also have a 3 year extended warranty from Apple Care. Can someone please let me know if they are having the same issues or if my laptop is a rotten apple. Its getting to the point where the laptop has become unusable any advice would be greatly appreciated??
Click to expand...

Hi, I just posted a response that I am having on the same issue in a different place... here is a link:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=13780960&#post13780960
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back