why does airport disconnect itself often on my mac

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I just bought my wife a mac, so far I am pretty happy, mainly because she is happy. Unfortunatly airport disconnects from my wireless signal frequently. neither of the other two computers nearby do it(one is windows the other is Ubuntu) when it happens I click on the upper airport icon and it will search out, find, and reconnect quickly, but I have no idea why it does it in the first place. It is connecting to a DSL belkin 2wire router/modem.
 

chscag

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Any cordless phones operating in and around your home? Something is probably causing the signal to drop below manageable levels for the airport card to handle in the MacBook. Cordless appliances operating at or around
2.4 Ghz are famous for interfering with wireless signals. Might even be a neighbor with a cordless phone or another wireless network interfering with yours.

If that's what's happening to your signal, try changing the channel your wireless router is broadcasting on. Most routers default to channel 11 but you can easily change that in the router setup menu under WAN wireless options.

Regards.
 
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thanks I will try that. We dont have a phone, but the neighbors do I think...
 
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If that's what's happening to your signal, try changing the channel your wireless router is broadcasting on. Most routers default to channel 11 but you can easily change that in the router setup menu under WAN wireless options.

Regards.

is there something specific you should change the channel to? i have had this connection issue since ive moved into an apartment complex and need to change some of my linksys's wireless settings. thanks
 

chscag

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To Poose22:

Yes, try changing it to channel 6. That "should" get it far enough away from the center of the 2.4 GHz interference. You might also try re-locating your router as distant as you can from any walls to the outside of the house or if an apartment any adjoining walls. (separating the apts)

In busy apartment buildings it's sometimes very difficult to get a clear wireless signal without some sort of interference. If that's your situation, you may have to resort to using an ethernet cable instead.

Regards.
 
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ok so i just went to check my channel and it already is set to channel 6. besides from trying to relocate my router, is there anything else i could try??

this whole thing sucks cus i have a macbook which is newer and i never had problems until i moved into my appartment

and i have started to play xbox 360 online and when i would be playing someone online, i would just open up my macbook and it would disconnect me from xbox live when it finds a signal. it's weird cus my xbox is not hooked up wirelessly, its corded.
 

chscag

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OK. Try changing the router to channel 11 and let me know if that helps.

Regards.
 
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The channel does not matter, it is almost like the mac has a "5min internet" mode. It disconnects, the tries to reconnect right away, I should mention that none of my other computers do this.
 
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I posted a similar thread where my wife's macbook drops the connection periodically, mainly after coming out of sleep and then about once every 30-60 minutes. One of the things I did early on was download AP grapher. It's free and displays all the networks in your vicinity and shows what channel they're using and signal/noise levels. By using this program, I found I really didn't have any interference issues and was using a channel no one else was. So it helps you rule out a problem with the signal itself. What I did find troubling was that my transmission rate would fluctuate from zero to very high speeds over short time periods, so I'm assuming whatever my problem is must be affecting my transmission rate.
 
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I solved most of it, for one reason or another it was having a problem with the wireless router, I had another handy and so now I am running two. My ubuntu computer hooks up secure to one, and the mac hooks up secure to the other. It still kills the connection when you close the lid though. I tried changing the power settings to have it on all the time but it still does it...
 
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The channel does not matter, it is almost like the mac has a "5min internet" mode. It disconnects, the tries to reconnect right away, I should mention that none of my other computers do this.

This is the exact problem I am now having. I have 3 other laptops that connect in the home to the wireless network but my Mac Pro connects in intervals........ I don't get it :(
 

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