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🤬 I hate Apple! Why can't they fix the damn WiFi issues!! I was so hoping it'd be over with the new MBP!!! 😭

sniffies

sniffies

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 31, 2005
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somewhere warm, dark, and cozy
My MBP 2014 had WiFi issues. My MBP 2016 had WiFi issues. Just received my brand-new MBP 2019, and it has WiFi issues!!!!! Please tell me I'm not the only one, PLEASE!!!!

WiFi menu icon shows as connected, but when trying to go to any website, it never loads anything, nor does it show as disconnected. As soon as I turn WiFi off and back on, everything works fine again. I have to do this many times a day. I was never able to fix this issue on MBP 2014 or MBP 2016.

I'm so livid right now, I just wanna smash the damn thing against the wall. 🤬🤬🤬

😭😭😭
 
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Never had any WiFi issues with over a decade of Apple laptop usage across 3 different models.

EDIT: today I bought the 2.6 i7, 32gb ram, 1TB SSD w/ 8gb 5500m so I’ll report back on WiFi use when I get it in 10 days
 
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It's not a router issue. Since 2014, I've gone through several routers, different brands, WiFi issues have persisted on every single MBP.

None of my iPhones or iPads since 2014 have ever had any WiFi issues.

MBP's are definitely the problem. I just can't for the life of me figure out what exactly is causing MBP to drop the connection.
 
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sniffies said:
It's not a router issue. Since 2014, I've gone through several routers, different brands, WiFi issues have persisted on every single MBP.

None of my iPhones or iPads since 2014 have ever had any WiFi issues.

MBP's are definitely the problem. I just can't for the life of me figure out what exactly is causing MBP to drop the connection.
Click to expand...

Have you tried using any Windows PCs on the network? I’ve never had any issue like that though, if I did, it was usually the router at fault. And I’ve went through plenty of them as well.

What is the current router you’re using? ISP? MacOS version?
 
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Do the problems always happen in the same location? When you take the laptop to a coffee shop or somewhere else with different WiFI, is it replicated?

I've lived in old houses and apartments where the wiring was crap. Dirty power lines would cause all sorts of odd intermittent problems.
 
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sniffies said:
It's not a router issue. Since 2014, I've gone through several routers, different brands, WiFi issues have persisted on every single MBP.

None of my iPhones or iPads since 2014 have ever had any WiFi issues.

MBP's are definitely the culprit.
Click to expand...

Have you ever concidered the idea that there might be a 2.4 or 5G interferience in you area?
It does not mater what router do you have if RF environment around you is littered with other signals.

For example, I have problems using 2.4G in my appartment because I have too many neighbors, however, I have no issues with 5G.
 
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SuperSonic80 said:
Have you ever concidered the idea that there might be a 2.4 or 5G interferience in you area?
It does not mater what router do you have if RF environment around you is littered with other signals.

For example, I have problems using 2.4G in my appartment because I have too many neighbors, however, I have no issues with 5G.
Click to expand...

We have 2.4G congestion issues in my neighborhood so I added a 5G router. That made things better for a while but there was second-floor coverage was spotty. So my solution was to run PowerLine Ethernet to the particular room and that solved the problem. It's a wired connection to the computer. I could also add another WiFi router but it doesn't appear to be necessary. WiFi problems can be caused by any piece along the way.

We have 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015 MacBook Pros running off of WiFi - none of the issues that we've faced have been due to Mac hardware or operating systems. If there are WiFi or connectivity issues in general, I hear about it fairly quickly.
 
While I have same opinion of OP's rhetoric skills like the rest of you, what he said is not completely baseless. I have also experienced occasional WiFi issues on my 2018 model, where restarting the machine or something resetting the WiFi module would fix it (other devices would work flawlessly at the same time). I suspect it is a software bug in the stack.
 
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Every few weeks I'll experience a dropout like that, but I just turn WiFi off and back on, and it fixes the issue. I live in an apartment complex, so I just wrote it off as rare, occasional interference or some random issue with my ISP.

(2015 MBA running Mojave)
 
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sniffies said:
WiFi menu icon shows as connected, but when trying to go to any website, it never loads anything, nor does it show as disconnected. As soon as I turn WiFi off and back on, everything works fine again. I have to do this many times a day. I was never able to fix this issue on MBP 2014 or MBP 2016.
Click to expand...

I'd check your DNS settings, especially if this is happening in one place, or the same place, in particular. Had this happen a while ago until I figured it out.
 
TechRunner said:
Every few weeks I'll experience a dropout like that, but I just turn WiFi off and back on, and it fixes the issue. I live in an apartment complex, so I just wrote it off as rare, occasional interference or some random issue with my ISP.

(2015 MBA running Mojave)
Click to expand...

Yep, same here. I do have to agree that it is very annoying when it happens though, as there seems to be no reason for it whatsoever, every other Apple device is connected without a problem. I'm on a 2017 MBP btw.

It also happend to my 2015 12" MacBook and the 2015 rMBP. So, I have had the same issue with most of my MacBook's like the OP. However, it only happens to me every now and again, I would say maybe 1-2 a month.
 
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I have used a 15" MBP everyday at work for years with a WiFi connection and have never had a problem. I've also never had a problem at home in 10 years. I'd suggest the same thing the OP has some interference issue. Many years ago when nobody even heard of WiFi I had it with PC Cards that plugged into slots on my laptop. It cost about $900 for a router and two cards back then. Worked great until one of my neighbors bought a new phone on sale at Walmart or something. Never worked in that location again. I moved about 3 months later and it worked fine at the new location.
 
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Your router assigns an address to each device connected. This creates a LAN which is your network and the other side of the router- the world- is the WAN.
It gives each device a 'lease' for this address and that can be configured for anything from a few seconds to indefinite.
It sounds like your problem is somwhere there. Either it's losing the address for some reason or the lease is set to some small value meaning it only re-connects when you force the router to give you another one.
Or there's interference so you need to try another channel, or your router uses power saving and that's cutting in (I have seen that be a problem). I can be pretty confident it's something in the router from what you've said.

I assure you this really isn't normal for the MBP-on the contrary they are really good at keeping a connection so I'd start checking out the router if I were you.
 
A good approach is to try wired into the router. If that works, then try wireless next to the router. If that works, gradually try it farther away. If wired doesn't work, then it's clearly not a WiFi problem.
[automerge]1573998126[/automerge]
If this were a common problem, we'd have multiple threads on it in this forum.
 
Ruggy said:
Your router assigns an address to each device connected. This creates a LAN which is your network and the other side of the router- the world- is the WAN.
It gives each device a 'lease' for this address and that can be configured for anything from a few seconds to indefinite.
It sounds like your problem is somwhere there. Either it's losing the address for some reason or the lease is set to some small value meaning it only re-connects when you force the router to give you another one.
Or there's interference so you need to try another channel, or your router uses power saving and that's cutting in (I have seen that be a problem). I can be pretty confident it's something in the router from what you've said.

I assure you this really isn't normal for the MBP-on the contrary they are really good at keeping a connection so I'd start checking out the router if I were you.
Click to expand...
I see a button in Advanced Network Settings (TCP/IP tab) labeled "Renew DHCP Lease". If the OP's problem is lease-related, would clicking that button fix the issue at least temporarily? If so, this may give some info on where exactly the problem lies (router or computer).
 
If you take the MPB "out", and try to connect to the wifi there, does it still have the same problem?

Tell us about your home wifi setup.
- What kind of internet service do you have? (cable, dsl, something else?)
- Who is the provider?
- What kind of modem/router does your ISP provide?
- Do you have another router connected to it?
- Do you use anything unusual, like VPN, etc.?
 
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Thank you all for the replies and the follow-up questions. I'm not gonna reply to each individual post, but will try to answer most questions in one post.

I rarely travel with my MBP outside the house, but have been with it to my parents' house as well as school and work once or twice. I can't say for sure whether or not I had WiFi issues in those places as it's intermittent and random. It mostly sits on my desk at home. When traveling, it's always iPhone and iPad that are with me, which never ever had any WiFi issues (be it motel, hotel, friend's house, airport, etc.).

I live in a house pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and there are no other houses or buildings/structures in the immediate vicinity.

My internet provider is Optimum, using Arris modem and Sagemcom router. The average download speed is 100mbps, and upload speed 20mbps. I'm connected to 5G, not 2.4G.

In addition to MBP, there's also one iPhone, one iPad, and one Apple TV in the household connected to WiFi at any given time.

No VPN, no FireWall, just very basic internet usage.
 
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OP wrote:
"It mostly sits on my desk at home."

Here's one of Fishrrman's dumb but cheap solutions:
Get a USBc - ethernet connector. They don't cost much at all.
Use that to connect to your router via ethernet.

Since you don't move the MBP around, it should work well enough most of the time, give you the fastest speeds possible, and no drop-outs.
 
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