My 2012 MacBook Air has problems with Wi-Fi – random disconnections, every few minutes.
The problems occurred with Lion, and persist after an upgrade to Mountain Lion.
It seems the Wi-Fi drops occur more often when I walk with the MacBook Air, or when I have it on my lap. With it on a table, the connection drops much less often.
After the network connection drops, I have to click the name of my network in the list again – the system does not reconnect automatically.
Things I tried include:
- testing other computers on the same network (all computers work fine)
- using the MacBook Air with a network in a different country (the same problem occurs)
- a new network location
- changing the MTU value for the Wi-Fi chip
- replacement of the Wi-Fi chip (no improvement)
- a fixed IP instead of DHCP
- re-installing OS X
- Windows on the MacBook Air – Wi-Fi works fine.
- Using other Wi-Fi channels (both fixed and auto-channel-mode)
I have contacted Apple Support five times but it seems they can't or don't want to help me (they promised to 'look into it' but I haven't heard a thing in three weeks).
Anyone any other ideas? I'm getting desperate – since I got my MacBook Air three months ago I haven't used it a single time without Wi-Fi dropping.
Best Answer
This is a topic I have followed online and in "real life" for several months. Anecdotally, Apple seems to have a wifi problem with the 2012 MacBookAir. I have no firm figures concerning how widespread this situation is, but I know of two other MacBook Air laptops that have displayed this issue:
the MBA I purchased in hopes that I could use it attached to a projector as the remote end of a video presentation at a conference I had to miss for health reasons. I returned the computer one week later after investing ten or so hours trying to fix dropping WiFi connections.
my oldest daughter's 2012 12" MBA that she still has and is now connecting more reliably, close to 95%+
The resulting story is long, but reading the full adventure might help to open your eyes to the minutiae that helped me resolve her WiFi nightmare.
Shortly after purchasing the MBA for my daughter, she started complaining of wifi drops, initially at home and then she began experiencing drops everywhere--but not at my office where my AirPort Extreme literally sits on a shelf, three feet above my head. My initial thought focused on signal strength and distance from the router. While attending college she lives at my parents' home. The walls are lathe and plaster and the WiFi access point was at the opposite side of the house. I don't remember the brand, but it could have been a Linksys or DLink, and was only a 2.4GHz wireless-G unit.
While working with my daughter, I started some online research, including Apple Discussion boards. When I saw how many posts and complaints floated around the internet, and how few people had positive response from Genius Bar denizens, I figured that I would need strong documentation if I was going to get anywhere with them.
I worked to document and remedy connection stability on two fronts.
If you'd rather cut to The Chase and skip the steps that expanded my understanding of the issue, scroll down to the end of my post.
Tracking and replicating problems with her computer
Tracking and replicating problems with the router
Generally, you'll have better connectivity closer to the router. If you have a clear line of sight to the router, you should have a good signal.
I know my daughter got sick and tired of having WiFi drop, rebooting the router and/or her MBA.
How I finally made things better
I ended up controlling the two variables I could directly manipulate: signal strength and age of WiFi router. In the end, my solution improved internet connectivity throughout my parents' home, benefitting everyone.
I started out replacing the router with another older, non-Apple one I had sitting around my office, possibly an old AirLink. No positive affect. Then I replaced it with a third slightly-newer, non-Apple router. Again, no change. In order to re-connect after a drop, my daughter would walk to the other side of the house and reboot the router every time there was a wireless drop.
I brought a 30' length of CAT-5 from the office so I could position the various router closer to her bedroom. WiFi signal strength and overall quality improved, but she still experienced the drops three or four times a day. I think she would have been happy at this point, but the problem had become personal with me.
As I analyzed everything, I decided to introduce the one element she had not experienced from my office into my daughter's home:
properly. However, my parents were still annoyed by the twisty blue
wire running through their home. I figured I was close enough to a
stable solution that I invested some money in hopes of staunching the flow of time and phone calls at all hours of the night. Money became less important than sleep.
password.
The Chase
I think the 2012 MacBook Air WiFi issue might be because Apple has integrated Intel's more aggressive power-saving modes into the laptop. In a drive to maximize battery life, these new low-power modes change how (and how often) the laptop communicates with the wireless access point.
the 2012 MBA's WiFi subsystems. My 2009 MBP keeps the WiFi powered on at all times so will never see the problem introduced when mixing an older router with a newer laptop.
Yes, this is a long-winded and overly-detailed story. I spent several hours this afternoon thinking through each element of the plot as I typed the events, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I completely rewrote the ending because of thoughts developed and linked with random memories that I hadn't seen as possibly being interrelated.
There are many times that my quick, three line answer does not allow me the time to "think with my fingers". Instead of resolving an issue I sloppily (and possibly expensively) slapped a band-aid on the owie.
I resolved the dropped network issue by replacing the "antiquated" WiFi router with a "modern" one. I just happened to select one manufactured by Apple. Either