slow to connect to wifi... [FIXED]

[fisherking]

i have 2 macbooks; when i wake my pro, i can get online immediately. but most of the time, when i wake the 12" macbook... it takes 30 seconds or so to connect.

same OS's (the current 10.13 public beta).

i've deleted system config files, changed the dns settings, created a new location; even reset the smc.

anyone else having issues? and any ideas about what to try?

 

[fisherking]

fwiw, both my macs are on the same desk. the pro connects instantly to my 5g network, but the macbook mostly takes a long time; i switched the macbook to the 2.4g network, and... instant connection.

so, not sure why the newer mac has a hard time (since PB8) with the 5g network. anyone?

 

[EugW]

How far is the access point located from the MacBook?

5 GHz has worse range. What happens when you move the MacBook closer to the access point?

 

[fisherking]

i'm 4 feet from the router. and this was never an issue until public beta 8. and again, the pro is right next to the macbook, and connects instantly to the 5g network.

so something with the os & the macbook...
for now, am fine with the 2.4, it's working!

 

[fisherking]

what seems to have fixed it: i changed the channel setting for the 5g network from 'auto' to a specific channel, and (so far), it's been connecting immediately when i wake my mac. hopefully, will continue to do so...

 

[EugW]

BTW, which WiFi router/access point? I’ve noticed in the past that we sometimes can get weird issues if we pair Macs with non-Apple equipment. As soon as I switched to Apple Airport Extremes those issues disappeared.

It’s too bad Apple isn’t continuing on with their router lines.

 

[fisherking]

it's a tp-link ac1200; but i've been using it for 2 years without issue. this only started with 10.13 pb8... anyway, it's continuing to behave with a preset channel selected...

 

[EugW]

it's a tp-link ac1200; but i've been using it for 2 years without issue. this only started with 10.13 pb8... anyway, it's continuing to behave with a preset channel selected...

Yeah, par for the course. When I was using non-Apple access points, I would always be a bit afraid of OS X upgrades. Cuz every once in a while they'd screw things up. However, basically never happens with Apple Airport Extremes.

The problem with the Airports though is the limited configuration, and the throughput, particularly in PPPoE mode. The Airports can mostly approach Gigabit transmit speeds but definitely not in PPPoE mode, since the SoC is not fast enough to keep up.

The other thing the Airports seem to do is if you have multiple ones acting as access points, they will more gracefully handoff from one to another, with Apple clients. It doesn't work for non-Apple clients though. When I use multiple non-Apple access points, Macs won't gracefully roam access points (unless it's a dedicated roaming solution like UniFi). I currently have three Apple Airports acting as dumb access points, hooked up to a Bell Sagemcom Gigabit fibre optic router for my Gigabit internet access.