Late 2013 Macbook retina wifi issues

[singjai]

This started happening a few months back - maybe after an update??

It has been so frustrating. I've tried searching numerous times on google and still can't find a solution to this..

Since a few months ago, I would notice that the wifi on this laptop would suddenly be incredibly slow. Youtube videos would take forever to buffer and webpages would take forever to load. Then after restarting my laptop, everything was back to normal and was really fast. However, this happens EVERYDAY. I don't turn off my laptop - I don't think anyone does or has to. After it sleeps, I open it and 50% of the time, the wifi is all messed up and I have to restart it.

I've also noticed a big lag burst when opening my laptop to log in. This never happened before. Before when I would open my macbook, everything would be super quick and I would be logged in in 3 seconds. Now whenever I open my laptop, 100% of the time, it just freezes for about 5 seconds. If I try and type my password, nothing. Then after 5 seconds, my password will be inputted but usually it would be messed up and I'd have to redo it.

What's going on? This is my first ever macbook and I wasn't expecting these problems from this kind of laptop. And I really wouldn't want to go back to using a PC. I would call apple customer service but my technical support already expired. What would a genius bar visit do?

 

[ohbrilliance]

I too have had major issues with wifi on my late 2013 rMBP. In my case the connection is there but Internet activity completely stops until I restart the wifi. This may happen every few minutes for days but then not happen for weeks.

I've made several calls to Apple support and visited a genius bar twice. On the first visit, they diagnosed an issue immediately and replaced the Airport card (which took three days). One month later, the same problem came up again. On the second visit the Genius found nothing wrong with the hardware but was unable to access the Internet. He solved it for now by adding a new Location in Network preferences.

At this point in time I think what's happening is that my network settings are somehow becoming corrupted. Creating a new Network location (or deleting the settings of the current location) solves the problem, perhaps for a month. So try creating a new Network Location to see if that helps in your case as well..

Further advice from the Genius: if the problem persists, try reinstalling Mavericks. If that doesn't help then visit the Genius Bar again, and leave the laptop for 7 days or so for full hardware testing.

 

[simonsi]

Worth checking if your router is set to "Auto" on the WiFi channel, it may simply be changing channels while the MBP is asleep causing the WiFi connection issues when it wakes....if you are in an urban environment with lots of WiFi around it may be such an interference-driven issue.....?

Just to add -

Take the channel off auto, there are various apps that will tell you what channels are already in use locally.

Check the DHCP lease expiry isn't set to some short period, possibly try setting your MBP to have a fixed ip from the router to remove another variable....

 

[MetalGamer09]

To me it also seems like something is changing with your router. That's why when you restart the computer everything is back to normal.

 

[Crugga]

The first issue sounds like your internet, may even be worth asking for a new router as we had that issue with my parents house where they had been sent a new router due to changing provider but had left it in the box and continued using the old router, turns out they had to use the specific router, were having drop outs and having to reboot the router often, plugged in the new one and it was perfect.
Mine goes into snailmode every day around 12am for a bit, never understood why.
Regarding the lag, how full is your hardrive?, I know with my precious machines they would do that when the drives were overfull. Personally think thats a seperate issue to the other.
Are all your updates up to date etc?

 

[singjai]

I did a new location name a while ago and the problem still persists. Could it be that I have two routers? I have one router set up at one end of my house. Since wifi doesn't reach my room, I have another router set up that is connected to the first router in the middle of my house. I also always have bluetooth on for my mac so maybe that interferes wi the wifi? But it isn't a problem when I restart, just when waking it up.

Also, could anyone explain the lag I get when waking up the laptop to log in? It lags 100% of the time without fail.

 

[simonsi]

I did a new location name a while ago and the problem still persists. Could it be that I have two routers? I have one router set up at one end of my house. Since wifi doesn't reach my room, I have another router set up that is connected to the first router in the middle of my house. I also always have bluetooth on for my mac so maybe that interferes wi the wifi? But it isn't a problem when I restart, just when waking it up.

Also, could anyone explain the lag I get when waking up the laptop to log in? It lags 100% of the time without fail.

BT shouldn't interfere but how you have your routers setup could very easily. Do you have them set to the same SSID and channel? Is the second router setup as a repeater? Which one controls DHCP?

It isn't "lagging" when you wake it up, it is doing something. When it wakes look for clues in the activity and power consumption as to what it may have been doing.

 

[singjai]

BT shouldn't interfere but how you have your routers setup could very easily. Do you have them set to the same SSID and channel? Is the second router setup as a repeater? Which one controls DHCP?

It isn't "lagging" when you wake it up, it is doing something. When it wakes look for clues in the activity and power consumption as to what it may have been doing.

Not too sure about the routers. I'll check when I'm home. As for the "lagging;" I do have a 27 inch monitor that I have hooked up to my macbook about 80% of the time (it's always there unless I bring my macbook with me). I've had it hooked up for a few months but it used to never do that. I also notice the lag sometimes when I bring it out to the living room and open it.

 

[singjai]

So I went to buy a logitech mouse the other day to connect with my keyboard through a unifying receiver. I stopped using the Apple trackpad and turned bluetooth off and now all my problems seem to be fixed. I haven't noticed the wifi acting up since then and there is no lag at all when logging in. Is leaving bluetooth on really that big of a problem?