Young man, I've been dealing with Macs and network connectivity issues for damn near 5 years. I have real-world experience spanning 8 or 9 personally-owned Macs across probably 20 different home, office and 3rd party (airports, colleges, coffee shops, malls, etc.) network environments featuring everything from Netgear and Belkin to Linksys and TrendNet. Moreover, I've worked in IT dealing with networking problems with wireless computers of all types for about a decade, across home networks and networks much, much bigger than the ones you've been connect your Mac to (40,000+). I know what I'm talking about.
Sometimes, Macs just don't play as well as you think they should with given routers, depending on their security configurations. Sometimes routers can be flaky and sensitive, no matter how much you paid for them. In such situations, sometimes a 30/30/30 router reset and reconfiguration is needed. Sometimes a change in wireless security type (like WEP instead of WPA2 or visa versa). Sometimes certain routers just won't play well at all, no matter what you try.
Here is a method of testing that will cost you no net money: Go to Best Buy and pick up a different router (like the WNDR3700 or Airport Extreme). Test it for a week or 2 with your preferred security type engaged. If you still see instability, simply return the router at exactly NO cost to you.
In the cases were Macs and routers weren't cooperating, combinations of the above resolved the situations. Your mileage may vary, as may your willingness to try a solution that goes deeper than, "it's apple's fault; I'll wait on them..." but I tell you what: one thing I've learned about Apple is that they may or may not fix an issue. They don't officially acknowledge problems until there's a fix ready to launch. And if there is never a "fix", you could find yourself waiting forever when you could have just found a solution in one of my above recommendations and been happy.
Do what you want to do. But the path of fastest solution is clear:
- Try hard-resetting your router and re-entering your normal security. Test. Make sure you're not using WPA2 (TKIP). Only used AES. If still abnormal, change the security type to something else (like WEP) and test again. If still abnormal...
- Go get one of the routers being recommended in the thread from someplace with a liberal return policy (Amazon, Best Buy, WalMart, etc.), set it up with you preferred security stuff and run the same tests.
Now, unless you have a genuine hardware issue with your Mac, one of these 2 solutions
will work...and your issue can be resolved *TODAY*. Or you can wait on a "fix" from Apple, which may never come, as they may not even actually acknowledge it as an issue. That might be a long, frustrating wait and I'd recommend you avoid it. If you spent big bucks on your Mac, you might want to consider whether skimping on the quality of router is a wise decision. Worst case scenario is you have to buy a better router...but you can always return it in 30 days if you want to.
That's all that's left to be said in this thread. If I were the OP, I'd be making a list of all the routers people are saying work well, and I'd be ordering something online or riding over to a local store to pick something up. It's much faster and pro-active than sitting around, frustrated with and worried about the stability of your expensive computing device.
I think I've covered everything at this point. Do whatever makes you happy. And remember, you can always return routers to local big-box retailers for NO COST. Try #1...and if it doesn't work, try a different router and see if your situation doesn't improve.
I know dealing with networking issues is not fun. I'd recommend installing
Tomato or
DD-WRT on your routers if they support them, but considering the resistance to new ideas, I assume most of you aren't comfortable or familiar with flashing 3rd party firmware to your routers. If you want to learn more about those solutions (which could also solve your problems), google them. Otherwise, good luck. This will be my last post on this subject, so take care guys. If you have questions related to any of the content in this post, you can PM me.
