New MBP w/airport issues.

Folks,

I finally replaced my aging C2 Duo from 2006. My wife bought me a MBP 15", 2.4, 8gig, Antiglare. The computer is very sweet and at least 3 times faster than my older one. I have been battling airport connection problems sense new 4 days ago.

The connection won't auto reconnect after sleep or reboot. I have to manually do it. After about 2-5 attempts it will connect. I have flushed out the keychain entries and put only the needed one back in. I have removed all remembered networks but my primary one. The MBP will not remember the password even when its in keychain, I have to enter it each time.

I am using Verizon's Fios router/wifi. I checked the firmware is at the latest which happens to be the one installed when I got the router. I am so frustrated I almost went out and bought a new Airport router and turn off my verizon wireless router part.

GRRRRRRR.

My old C2D and my wifes MBA plus windows machines connect fine.

I have switch off MAC filtering as well as WEP. I reconfigured with WPA/2, seems to be better but still does not reconnect every time.

A lot of problems can be solved by selecting a channel manually instead of auto .

I live in a townhouse community on a tight square block of town homes. There is about 35+ networks all within range. I used some scanner apps and found 1,6, and 11 have about 8-10 networks a piece on them. The other channels all have at least 1-2 on them except channel 9. I switched to 9 about two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, Verizon's routers.... in a word.... suck. They are so horribly outdated and have a single (weak) antenna. They are greatly outclassed by even the worst 802.11n routers on the market. But you MUST use their router in order to use Video On Demand and menus with their set top box.

My recommendation (and what I've done) is to simply switch off the wireless radio in their router's settings. Then, I configured a decent wireless router (D-Link DIR-655) to work on a different subnet other than what Verizon was using. I have absolutely no problems with wake/sleep (although yours is not the first I've heard of with this generation of MacBook Pro). I suspect most of these issues are just due to crappy routers.

You and I must have a different Verizon router then. If I switch off the wireless radio in the Verizon router (which is the latest Actiontech they currently issue) I lose both video on demand and channel lineup. I have spoken with Verizon tech support about this and they confirm that's what will happen. However, I have never had an issue with disconnecting when waking from sleep or otherwise.

chscag said:

You and I must have a different Verizon router then. If I switch off the wireless radio in the Verizon router (which is the latest Actiontech they currently issue) I lose both video on demand and channel lineup. I have spoken with Verizon tech support about this and they confirm that's what will happen. However, I have never had an issue with disconnecting when waking from sleep or otherwise.

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I wonder if your STB is using a WiFi connection instead of going through the coax for TCP/IP. Mine is an Actiontec MI424WR2 if that helps. The wireless radio has been disabled since day one.

Well, now I'm jealous because you have a later model Actiontech router than I do. I thought I had the latest but it looks like you do. Mine is the older M1424-WR, yours is the dash 2 revision which Verizon is now showing on their support site.

Yeah, if I turn that radio off, everything falls flat. And that's right - I don't use a coax connection. I also have an older model power unit in the garage which has no battery backup in the event we lose all power. I do have battery backup for the Verizon phone system but that's about it.

I've spoken with Verizon several times about when they were going to update the systems here in the Dallas - Fort Worth area to the latest but all I get are vague answers. I was honestly thinking about dropping Verizon and going with AT&T but AT&T limits usage and bandwidth while (so far) Verizon does not.

cwa107 said:

I wonder if your STB is using a WiFi connection instead of going through the coax for TCP/IP. Mine is an Actiontec MI424WR2 if that helps. The wireless radio has been disabled since day one.

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What you using for your Wifi? The Dlink or something new?

I suspect he's using the D-Link DIR-655 in bridge mode to provide wireless.

This sounds like there might be something wrong with the wireless card. To test this theory, either find an open wireless network to connect to and see if the problem continues on that network, if it does it is probably a problem with the card and I would take it back to apple and ask for a brand new laptop in exchange. If it works fine, I would start over on you network configuration and set it up again.

As for the Verizon setup for wireless, I battled with how to set ours up. We started with FiOS internet only (before TV existed) we got the D-link wireless router form Verizon. Our Internet comes in through Cat 5e cable. The Router was junk so we ended up replacing it with a cheap DIR-615 wireless n. We just got the TV this year and I had them plug their router into one of the LAN ports on the D-link router and I turned the wireless off. This way none of the computers in my house are in any way relying on their equipment. I don't have any issues with this setup, except their router just seems to stop functioning but that is because it is junk.

Well on open free wifi networks I have no problem. Tested many times on Starbucks wifi today. I took the security off of my router and the problem was not there. Now I took off MAC filtering and just use WPA, seems to be working so far. I have not had a issue yet today.

Yeah, don't use WEP or MAC filtering, both useless technologies that are easily bypassed by any enterprising 13-year-old. All they do is make life more difficult for you. WPA, or even better, WPA2/AES is all you need.

Yeah I would stick with WPA2 if everything wireless you own supports it, if not I would use the WPA2/WPA option (if it is an option), worst case I would use WPA. I say never use WEP, last I heard it can be cracked in 11 seconds on a phone, that is way to quick for something not that powerfull.

I would like to say thanks and I have been wifi problem free for the last week.

Good deal, thanks for the update!