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

How do people get around the wifi problems?

gummy3 said:
Hey thanks so much for the replies everyone!

I managed to do what many of you suggested and try both my MBA and my PC laptop at another wifi connection. I went downstairs to my condo lobby that has its own wifi hotspot, connected both my laptops, and got the following speeds on Speedtest.net:

Condo lobby wifi hotspot:
PC - 10.31 mbps (download), 0.97 mbps (upload)
MBA - 9.62 mbps (download), 0.98 mbps (upload)

Here are the speeds I got using my own personal router inside my apartment:
PC - 12.29 mbps (download), 0.79 mbps (upload)
MBA - 1.21 mbps (download), 0.79 mbps (upload)

So by the looks of things, it appears as though it may be an issue with my router? I'll try again tomorrow at a Starbucks and see what happens... fingers crossed that I'll get similar speeds as I got in my condo lobby wifi hotspot!

If this is indeed the case, is my next (only) option to buy a new router? How would I know which router to buy, just trial and error? I'm currently only using the router that came with my Internet service (as a rental). Should I get the Airport Extreme instead? Or are there any configurations that I can make to my current router to see if it'll help my download speeds?

Thanks all! Feeling a bit more optimistic :)
Click to expand...

When we first got comcast we used their netgear router with comcast firmware and its was completely awful. Xbox live would barley work and drop constantly, connection issues the whole 9 yards. We dumped that thing and used a linksys, and now an Airport Extreme with almost no problems since.
 
My WiFi is roughly the same as wired ethernet. I get similar results, 10mbps down, 1mbps up, with my 13" 2011 MBA and my desktop PC with ethernet. I have a Linksys WRT54GL router and RoadRunner broadband. I was thinking about getting an ethernet adapter for the MBA but I obviously don't need one.
 
gummy3 said:
and you guys have Lion 10.7.2? Are you using Airport Extreme or a regular router?

...maybe I should do an exchange then if it's an issue with my computer...
Click to expand...

10.7.2, using the FIOS router that Verizon gave me.
 
Bob Coxner said:
My WiFi is roughly the same as wired ethernet. I get similar results, 10mbps down, 1mbps up, with my 13" 2011 MBA and my desktop PC with ethernet. I have a Linksys WRT54GL router and RoadRunner broadband. I was thinking about getting an ethernet adapter for the MBA but I obviously don't need one.
Click to expand...

For internet purposes that is true since your internet connection is the limiting factor, but for internal network purposes (i.e. PC to PC), wired would be faster especially using an old wifi 54g router like you have.
 
gummy3 said:
Hi all,

I just bought a new 11" Macbook Air i5, and although I love the computer, I am very disappointed with the wifi connectivity. I'm running Lion 10.7.2, and after going through many forum posts and threads from tons of other people who experience the same problems, I'm left to wonder whether I should just return the MBA.

Internet connectivity is the #1 most important component of any computer, let alone an ultraportable like an MBA. Yet with so many people (including myself now) having problems with wifi, I'm left to wonder why the laptop is still so popular? Is there still a large portion of people out there with MBAs and Lion that don't have any wifi issues? I have a secondary PC and it's downloading at speeds 10x faster than my Macbook Air, it's almost crippling how slow the internet connection is on this thing.

Seems like nobody has a solid workaround for this issue - and I've tried pretty much all the remedies out there.

I'm really just left to wonder, given my disappointment - how do people still manage to function on this computer? Unless I'm mistaken and the wifi issues are only restricted to a small subset of all Macbook Air + Lion users out there...? (although I'd be surprised if this were the case given the 100's of unresolved complaints out there about this issue)
Click to expand...

My macbook air 13" gets the full speed of the internet connection, indistinguishable from Windows computer on wired ethernet.
 
...

I have a time capsule with my macbook air and have no wifi problems at all
 
I have a new 13" MB Pro, and also have been experiencing the WiFi issues upon waking the computer from sleep. The issue tends to resolve itself within a minute or so, however it is still frustrating.

I've been using the same Linksys WRT54G router for almost 7 years without an issue on PC's, however i'm curious if there is a compatibility issue with my router and the Mac.
 
I have wifi problems with my mac so I boot to windows 7 and no more problems. I'm not saying thats the best way to do it, but it works for me. I love my setup.
 
gummy3 said:
Hey thanks so much for the replies everyone!

I managed to do what many of you suggested and try both my MBA and my PC laptop at another wifi connection. I went downstairs to my condo lobby that has its own wifi hotspot, connected both my laptops, and got the following speeds on Speedtest.net:

Condo lobby wifi hotspot:
PC - 10.31 mbps (download), 0.97 mbps (upload)
MBA - 9.62 mbps (download), 0.98 mbps (upload)

Here are the speeds I got using my own personal router inside my apartment:
PC - 12.29 mbps (download), 0.79 mbps (upload)
MBA - 1.21 mbps (download), 0.79 mbps (upload)

So by the looks of things, it appears as though it may be an issue with my router? I'll try again tomorrow at a Starbucks and see what happens... fingers crossed that I'll get similar speeds as I got in my condo lobby wifi hotspot!

If this is indeed the case, is my next (only) option to buy a new router? How would I know which router to buy, just trial and error? I'm currently only using the router that came with my Internet service (as a rental). Should I get the Airport Extreme instead? Or are there any configurations that I can make to my current router to see if it'll help my download speeds?

Thanks all! Feeling a bit more optimistic :)
Click to expand...

There is an issue with reconnecting to wifi automatically in Lion after sleeping. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and that's what most people assume by your topic heading. I've never seen a throughput issue though in comparison to other computers.

Could you clarify a couple of things.

1. Are you referring to mega bits per second or mega bytes per second.
2. When you're connected to your wifi hold down alt and click on the wifi icon

Tell me what you see for PHY mode, Channel, Security, RSSI and Transmit Rate
 
I have a 2010 MBA. Running Snow Leopard on it so I'm not facing any issues.
 
2011 11" Air here. I connect to a LOT of different wifi networks with my job, (computer repair consultant) and I have no issues with speed. Often, I run the speedtest.net web page app to test my customer's connection speeds and I have had no issues with speed. If anything, it usually always bests the PC-based laptops I am working on.

The only possible issue I have had lately is poor connection speed/lagginess at Starbucks Coffee stores. But I have heard other people complaining as well so I think it's an ATTWifi throttling issue and not my MBA.

Good luck.
 
I tend to run into issues with my 11in MBA. I think it's primarily my router though, seeing as how I do not recall ever running into these issues when I'm on campus or at my friend's places.

What I tend to do to remedy the situation is run two networks simultaneously. There's the one coming directly from the router (which is an old D-Link) and there's the internet connection sharing offered by my iMac, which is connected to the router via ethernet.

You'd think if I couldn't connect to the router regularly, there's no reason it should work via the iMac; but weirdly, I haven't been able to find any sort of correlation. If one doesn't work, I try the other. Usually works out. But if it doesn't, I just reset my router and that typically fixes things.

My neighbor (who splits Wi-Fi with me) and my girlfriend sometimes have trouble connecting to my router, so it definitely seems like a router issue. Too cheap to buy a new one though :p
 
Poindexter333 said:
IMHO- having heard these complaints for many years now- and having suffered some of these same maddening issues myself- with either my TiBook, MBA Rev A or current mid 2011 MBA- I think we can conclude that the problems may be heavily influenced by the brand/internal software version of the router.

People are quick to state every detail about their laptop, but almost never make any mention of the router. Why can our laptops work perfectly in one place and terribly in another? If I go into one particular coffee shop, I can get throughout as low as 2kbps- or worse, fail to connect at all or constantly get dropped, (with nobody else connected- traffic independent in other words) but in another place I can see speeds over 2mbps. Same laptop, different in-house router, yet with 6 other computers running in there.

I think our wifi cards just don't like some brands of routers, and/or their software setups. I would suggest that the router brand and software version be included in problem reports too.
Click to expand...

I have 2 MBA's. Same generation (current).

One connects to my home wifi no problem. The other one refuses to see the same wifi network 90% of the time. Closing the lid and reopening it 1-10 times will eventually get it to lock on... maybe
 
I have both 11" and 13" MBA, no wifi issues. Using Netgear wireless router.
 
gummy3 said:
Unless I'm mistaken and the wifi issues are only restricted to a small subset of all Macbook Air + Lion users out there...? (although I'd be surprised if this were the case given the 100's of unresolved complaints out there about this issue)
Click to expand...

Wait... You think the most popular ultraportable on the market all have wifi issues?

You DO realize that people don't go around starting threads saying "hey guys, no wifi problems" right? You searched for wifi issues and got the results you searched for. You not being alone doesn't mean you're the majority.

I don't have wifi issues on my MBA. The only time I had trouble connecting was to a sonic wall and that problem was resolved by power cycling the sonic wall.
 
I had constant problems with my MBA wireless connection at home, but my Lenovo TP and iMac were fine as was my other half's Dell.

I changed my router (from the crappy ISP provided unit to AE), purely by chance actually, and it seemed to cure the problem.
 
I used to own a Time Capsule however it was not dual band and, when we moved from a cabled home to a wireless-only home, it was struggling to serve all 7 computers and devices in the house. Since at the same time I got a Netgear NAS for centralised backups and sharing/streaming, the Time Capsule was not a requirement anymore.
So I got the Linksys E3000 and it absolutely rocks: really reliable, never a freeze or reset for 11 months. My MBA 13" pairs up instantly and keeps a very fast connection.

To OP: Good to see that there was nothing wrong with the MBA!...
 
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