Wireless unusable with newish MBP

[gfroyle]

Internet seemed very very sluggish when working at home via a wireless access point...

Tested with ping and found the reason:

PING rottentomatoes.com (209.237.233.38): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=267.700 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 3
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=5 ttl=54 time=256.533 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 6
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=7 ttl=54 time=258.127 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 8
Request timeout for icmp_seq 9
Request timeout for icmp_seq 10
Request timeout for icmp_seq 11
Request timeout for icmp_seq 12


Yikes... what's going on... almost every packet being dropped causing essentially unusable websites.

Test 1: Unplug wireless access point and plug Ethernet cable directly into MBP

PING rottentomatoes.com (209.237.233.38): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=0 ttl=54 time=257.605 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=255.540 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=256.139 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=255.279 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=4 ttl=54 time=255.586 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=5 ttl=54 time=255.591 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=6 ttl=54 time=256.747 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=7 ttl=54 time=255.630 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=8 ttl=54 time=256.657 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=9 ttl=54 time=255.682 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=10 ttl=54 time=255.122 ms
64 bytes from 209.237.233.38: icmp_seq=11 ttl=54 time=255.626 ms


Conclusion 1: It's not the modem or ISP, but the WAP

Test 2: Try wireless with my trusty Linux netbook...

No problems with dropped packets.

Conclusion 2: It is the MBP + wireless that is the problem


Now what can I do about it?

I have googled around and found some older threads about problems with wireless with OS 10.6.3 and various ad hoc solutions, but nothing really current.

Any suggestions? Either for fixes or additional diagnostics?


System: 15" i5 MBP running 10.6.5

 

[stevemiller]

i really wish i could help you as i most definitely feel your pain.

for months i was in a similar boat, wireless would go down on my macbook pro, sometimes every few minutes, and it could only be solved by cycling my wireless off and then back on again. only happened over wireless, only on my macbook pro (my iphone and old powermac tower both had zero issues and both were on the same wifi network).

eventually, the problem kinda dissipated, but it wasn't the result of some singular fix in my case. i have a feeling its a mix of issues.

on my home network, i had a linksys wrt54g router. dropouts on it were fairly consistent. it improved sometime after 10.6.4, but not immediately, so i'm hesitant to say it was the update.

i was always on wireless at work, and never had any dropouts. conversely, my parents have a really cheap 'trendnet' router that has continued to be problematic to this day. so perhaps it's the router, but again only my mbp would have issues.

in general i'd say osx has flakey wireless drivers that act up more or less depending on what router you own. its a shame that they seem to be able to provide more reliable wifi on an iphone, but that may just be my personal experience, too.

hope yours clears up soon.

 

[gfroyle]

Solved!

Magically solved...

Replaced the wireless access point with an Airport Express that I was using for wireless music elsewhere in the house and the problems vanished.

Something to do with the interaction between the new Macbook Pro and my rather old wireless access point (first gen Netgear WG602)...

I'll try updating firmware etc on the Netgear but at least I know I can replace it and fix things..

Hurray!

 

[mulo]

probably your router, your ping was extremely high too.
for comparison my ping to a friend of mine is 4ms.

 

[gfroyle]

probably your router, your ping was extremely high too.
for comparison my ping to a friend of mine is 4ms.

But I'm in Perth Australia pinging a site in the US over an ADSL connection, so that's about the best ping I ever get... about 20% slower than my work which is a university.

 

[mulo]

But I'm in Perth Australia pinging a site in the US over an ADSL connection, so that's about the best ping I ever get... about 20% slower than my work which is a university.

oh wouw! I feel sorry for you!
but then again, your probably not as "addicted" to the internet as I am