New MacBook Air Owners Complaining of Wi-Fi Issues

[Nightarchaon]

Apples craptastic quality control at its best . Can they even launch a product that doesn't have a problem anymore ?

List of out the gate problems i am aware and experienced either 1st hand, or I personally know a friend or more than one friend who has experienced (often both) since 2008 include

All 1st gen time capsules made with shoddy cheap capacitors that pretty much had a 90% fail rate if put in a box with a non-server rate HDD and no ventilation holes (aka a time capsule) took a class action suit and three years to get apple to admit fault and replace dead units.

iMac screens not being sealed correctly and sucking in dust ,

MacBook pros shipped with a GPU that imploded itself ,

Mac book pro batteries that failed after less than 100 cycles and "bloated" themselves damaging the chassis .

Ipad/iPhone screen yellowing issues

Antenna gate

iPhone 3GS plastic that cracked during normal use

Wifi issues on pretty much every apple product , ever , because they like to use non-standard standards before they are standardised , oh and because a metal case is a crappy place to have a wifi antenna ,

iPhone and iPod batteries that get so hot they burn through your trousers (ios7 beta currently making my iPhone 5 into a cracking hand warmer , something I can forgive for now because its in beta)

Possibly more but those are the top of my head ones. I will never buy a new gen apple product again, I'll always buy one gen behind at the end or middle of a cycle, new apple products seem to be untested prototypes that are trial runs for the real launch 6 months later

 

[Jynto]

Wake up, sheeple! Safari is even less snappy than it used to be. Steve would have never allowed this. Apple can’t innovate anymore. Sell your Apple shares now, and buy a Zune.

 

[bigpoppamac31]

This didn't take long. LOL

 

[SactoGuy18]

Here's the question: which brand and model of wireless router is causing this problem? Without that information, the disconnect issue is hard to determine.

Now, if this problem happens with the Netgear R6300 or Asus RT-AC66U (with both routers running the current firmware), THEN Apple needs to address this problem fast.

 

[iSayuSay]

WiFi .. it's always with the WiFi .. Always

I guess just hates WiFi, or is it the other way around?

 

[MacGuru100]

FORGET GIZMODO


its ALL OVER the place on apple.com discussion


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5100655?start=135&tstart=0



So, so much for the "well, that site stinks, dont trust them"

Its obvious there IS an issume

 

[AidenShaw]

Has there ever been an Apple notebook that didn't have such issues at release?

The PowerBook G5 ? Nobody complained about any issues with them.

(ducks)

 

[ljocampo]

FORGET GIZMODO


its ALL OVER the place on apple.com discussion


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5100655?start=135&tstart=0



So, so much for the "well, that site stinks, dont trust them"

Its obvious there IS an issume

I read most of the comment @ AI, MR, and Apple's forum and yes there is an wifi connection issue BUT it's not a hardware problem. On Apple's forum many who are complaining are the people who use 3rd party router firmware such as tomato and minority routers. I believe this is a user setting problem AND compatibility problem. Most who are not having this problem are also those who are smart enough to use an Apple router with Apple products or major brand that is stock that is known to work well Apple products.

My guess is that those who hack the devices (many Windows geeks) are skewing the support curve, and giving Apple a bad rap. I remember how bad this was back in the clone days and OS9.

 

[appleisking]

Apples craptastic quality control at its best . Can they even launch a product that doesn't have a problem anymore ?

List of out the gate problems i am aware and experienced either 1st hand, or I personally know a friend or more than one friend who has experienced (often both) since 2008 include

All 1st gen time capsules made with shoddy cheap capacitors that pretty much had a 90% fail rate if put in a box with a non-server rate HDD and no ventilation holes (aka a time capsule) took a class action suit and three years to get apple to admit fault and replace dead units.

iMac screens not being sealed correctly and sucking in dust ,

MacBook pros shipped with a GPU that imploded itself ,

Mac book pro batteries that failed after less than 100 cycles and "bloated" themselves damaging the chassis .

Ipad/iPhone screen yellowing issues

Antenna gate

iPhone 3GS plastic that cracked during normal use

Wifi issues on pretty much every apple product , ever , because they like to use non-standard standards before they are standardised , oh and because a metal case is a crappy place to have a wifi antenna ,

iPhone and iPod batteries that get so hot they burn through your trousers (ios7 beta currently making my iPhone 5 into a cracking hand warmer , something I can forgive for now because its in beta)

Possibly more but those are the top of my head ones. I will never buy a new gen apple product again, I'll always buy one gen behind at the end or middle of a cycle, new apple products seem to be untested prototypes that are trial runs for the real launch 6 months later

Yes, absolutely true. Apple products tend not to be the best in their initial cycles. That's why you buy them mid-cycle unless u really need it. But to be fair with Apple you can pretty much get a new iphone (refurb) by walking into the store and giving your less than satisfactory one without so much as a warranty check.

 

[MacGuru100]

I read most of the comment @ AI, MR, and Apple's forum and yes there is an wifi connection issue BUT it's not a hardware problem. On Apple's forum many who are complaining are the people who use 3rd party router firmware such as tomato and minority routers. I believe this is a user setting problem AND compatibility problem. Most who are not having this problem are also those who are smart enough to use an Apple router with Apple products or major brand that is stock that is known to work well Apple products.

My guess is that those who hack the devices (many Windows geeks) are skewing the support curve, and giving Apple a bad rap. I remember how bad this was back in the clone days and OS9.

I agree, nevertheless APPLE KNEW that a LOT of these Airs would be used in coffee bars using stone age base stations and protocols......they could have at LEAST upgraded the wifi yet kept the reliability as "backup go to" of the former AIRS.....such that the new AIRS would shunt to "stone age wifi mode" in case connectivity was spotty under the new hardware/firmware

or even in 3rd world countries using who the hell knows what wifi connections. No wifi is perfect, but the firmware etc. should have be precognized that these Airs would be VERY portable and used on all sorts of squirrelly wifi networks.

 

[firestarter]

I read most of the comment @ AI, MR, and Apple's forum and yes there is an wifi connection issue BUT it's not a hardware problem. On Apple's forum many who are complaining are the people who use 3rd party router firmware such as tomato and minority routers. I believe this is a user setting problem AND compatibility problem.

No.

The only way you can guarantee to use an Apple router is to stay home.

A laptop (especially an ultra portable) needs to have maximum compatibility with any situation you use it in.

This is Apple's problem - and one they've had for years with the MBA line. Poor.

 

[macs4nw]

Just make sure you order USB Ethernet adapter with it. It's just $29: Image

That or the TB version, same price. It's a bit of a downer to shell out so much money for a beautiful new machine, and then run into problems right away, but this is quite common and is sure to be addressed fairly shortly.
I'm wondering if it has to do with some incompatibility issue between those new (supposedly backward compatible) 'ac' chips, and the 'n' chips in the routers of undoubtedly most people, who bought those new MBAs.

With returns already taking place because of this issue, the new Airs may show up sooner than usual in APPLE's refurb store.

 

[jcamdk]

Make It Shiny and Pretty without functionality, and they will come...

What another Apple device that doesn't work? It's sad that a company charges such absurd prices for their machines just because they paint their logo on it.

 

[peejack]

wow what a surprise, moaning about new apple products...Didn't see that coming.

 

[blabliblu]

Hi

I'm still buying one lol

Fortunetly for Apple, or even the government, there are people like you

 

[Woyzeck]

Hardware and software problems happen with gear from all brands. Be it premium or not. All my Thinkpads - by that time the best you could buy for money - had issues as well. Same for my Apple computers (even more so the Apple software which I believe to be below average quality).
Don't forget that we're talking about consumer or at best prosumer gear. It's fast, modern, fancy, but less reliable than pro gear. If you want high reliability you have to use hardware that's beyond the ramp-up stage, probably 2-3 years old. But no consumer would buy that.

The real problem here is Apple's design philosophy that's just too extreme. Very focused on simplicity, allow no alternatives. That's why we have notebooks with just wifi, knowing that wifi in general is much less reliable than Ethernet.

If wifi fails on my iPad (happens several times per week for various reasons) I switch over to 3G and continue to work. If wifi fails on my MBA I'm lost. In fact I could only unplug my external display and use one of these stupid adapters.

 

[AaronEdwards]

wow what a surprise, moaning about new apple products...Didn't see that coming.

Consumers buying a new, premiumly priced, product should complain (the correct word here, not moan) if it doesn't work, shouldn't they?

Either it just works, or it doesn't.

 

[AnonMac50]

I think you have selective memory. Or maybe you don't recall the 5300 series PBs that would burst into flames? Or the iMacs or Powerbooks that had display issues that Apple chose to ignore for months. Or the '07 MBP with defective battery that caused random shutdowns. Or the original water cooled Power Macs. Or... I can think of so many other Macs through the years that had wholesale issues, most minor, but all required Apple to extend the warranty for that specific issue.

The MacBook cracking cases that Apple refused to acknowledge for quite some time. The capacitor issues with the iSight G5 iMacs. The breaking of the titanium PowerBook G4 hinges.

But I feel the PowerBook 5300 bursting into flames issue is SERIOUSLY blown out of proportion.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The MacBook cracking cases that Apple refused to acknowledge for quite some time. The capacitor issues with the iSight G5 iMacs. The breaking of the titanium PowerBook G4 hinges.

But I feel the PowerBook 5300 bursting into flames issue is SERIOUSLY blown out of proportion.

Can't tell if you are SERIOUS or joking. But if the former, this is from BusinessWeeks review in 1997 of the PB3400 which succeeded the 5300 (bold for emphasis):

Apple's recent notebook efforts have been a disaster. The PowerBook 5300 series, which hit the market months late in 1995, was the first to use the PowerPC processor. But it lacked an internal CD-ROM drive, featured a battery that had a tendency to burst into flames while charging, and included cover hinges that cracked after a few months of use.

So, if you are taking objection, I don't know why. BW was not alone in describing the 5300 this way at the time, just one example. It's not an exaggeration.

Full article: http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1997-03-30/a-pumped-up-powerbook

 

[Wild-Bill]

The Apple apologists in this thread who swear up and down, despite evidence to the contrary, that Apple can do no wrong and it's an issue of end users using "hacked" firmware on unapproved routers is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[WilliamG]

Speak for yourself mine kept connecting and disconnecting from my network and then none of my devices could it, sometimes just one device would see it - if then end I ended up using time machine with a normal external HDD

Well yours was defective then?

 

[Michael Goff]

I'd like to say a lot of these responses are unbelievable... but they're not.

"Don't use a non-Apple wi-fi router!" is another way of saying "Don't ever leave your home". "Fricken Gizmodo" is another way of saying "I don't like this news, so I'm attacking the group that told it". "Yeah, well, Windows machines have problems too" is a way of saying "You know how I said Apple machines are better? They're not really, they have the same problems as everyone else AND I'm paying a premium for it".

Really, I guess it's all about decoding.

 

[malexandria]

damn...

I'm leaning towards buying a maxed out MBA but I've been repeatedly burned by Apple WiFi issues in the past....

 

[malexandria]

For me I've had nothing but bad luck whether it is Netgear, Linksys or Belkin so in the end I've stuck with the Airport Extreme without a problem. It seems that the former three spend too much time on pointless crap rather than just getting the basic fundamentals right with good follow up support in the form of firmware updates.

So if I'm to understand your fanboy ramble - every router company in the world is crap, everyone should just get an Apple Airport and then what? Demand that every where we go everyone else has an Apple Airport? What kind of twisted logic is this?

 

[benny007]

My new Mac Air 2013

I picked up one at the Apple store last week.

No issues with wifi or anything else.

Works GREAT.