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Macbook Pro 13" 2018 WiFi randomly drops

R

RipNoCellular

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2018
29
11
Leuven, België
So my WiFi on my macbook is randomly dropping. The WiFi icon still shows it's connected to the accespoint but when I try to load a webpage or something it doesn't work, simply turning on and off WiFi always fixes this issue.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out? Because it's kind of driving me crazy.

Many thanks in advance.
 
Which AP? Maybe you can provide some details about how the wifi is setup?
 
judeluo said:
Hi, you might like to set your Wi-Fi location to Home/Office instead of public.
Click to expand...

This is already the case

Howard2k said:
Which AP? Maybe you can provide some details about how the wifi is setup?
Click to expand...

It's a wifi connection at home, my macbook is connected to the 5GHz signal, 802.11anac (which is the only option available), WiFi-Channel is set to automatic, Current WiFi-Channel is 112, WiFi Bandwidth is set to 80 MHz.
 
RipNoCellular said:
This is already the case



It's a wifi connection at home, my macbook is connected to the 5GHz signal, 802.11anac (which is the only option available), WiFi-Channel is set to automatic, Current WiFi-Channel is 112, WiFi Bandwidth is set to 80 MHz.
Click to expand...


So there’s probably this funky box thing with point plastic-y things pointing out of it. That’s you’re wireless AP, probably. What manufacturer and model is that? :)

10.14.4 includes some specific wifi fixes too. Might be worth a look.
 
Howard2k said:
So there’s probably this funky box thing with point plastic-y things pointing out of it. That’s you’re wireless AP, probably. What manufacturer and model is that? :)

10.14.4 includes some specific wifi fixes too. Might be worth a look.
Click to expand...
I wish I could tell you but it seems like it's an accespoint made by my provider, they are also the ones who installed it. The only info I could find about it was this : 24*8 DOC 3 WIRELESS(DOCSIS)

I'm from Belgium and my provider is Telenet.
I don't have any issues with my other devices like iPhones, iMac etc...

Edit: Forgot to mention that I also installed the new MacOS version from today but the issue still persists.
 
That makes it difficult to troubleshoot :).

Assuming you've :
* power cycled everything,
* tried a different channel that is clearer,
* tried reducing your channel width (20MHz),
* set your SSIDs for 2.4Ghz and 5GHz to separate networks;

I would go to a local electronics store and buy a wireless router or AP, and then front end it against the current device. Use a different IP subnet (if you're using 192.168.0.0 on your current network use 192.168.1.0 on the new one) and plug the WAN port of the new router to the LAN port of the current ISP one.

If everything works great with the new router, it might be a compatibility issue or configuration issue with the old one. If the new one doesn't work them perhaps the wifi in the MBPro is dodgy.
 
RipNoCellular said:
So my WiFi on my macbook is randomly dropping. The WiFi icon still shows it's connected to the accespoint but when I try to load a webpage or something it doesn't work, simply turning on and off WiFi always fixes this issue.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out? Because it's kind of driving me crazy.

Many thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Hi RipNoCellular,

Your problems sound just like mine. If so, then your WiFi is still working, but your 2018 MBP looses its DNS information which disconnects you from the Internet and also potentially from your other LAN machines. The DNS problems can be verified by running the following Terminal command:

> date; ping www.apple.com; date

When the DNS is not working, this command returns an error stating that:
"ping: cannot resolve www.apple.com: Unknown host"

If DNS information is available, then you will see the received packets:

"PING e6858.dsce9.akamaiedge.net (104.112.255.7): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 104.112.255.7: icmp_seq=0 ttl=47 time=71.718 ms
64 bytes from 104.112.255.7: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=68.654 ms
64 bytes from 104.112.255.7: icmp_seq=2 ttl=47 time=63.294 ms"

and you will need to ^C (control-C) the ping command.

I find that these WiFi connection issues are rare (a few times a day), random (they occur while running any utility or app), and often intermittent (they often fix themselves in 1 to 10 minutes, but I've also had them last for 16 hours). These WiFi disconnects cause numerous other problems for me. For instance, Software Updates have failed, Mac App Store updates have failed, Time Machine backups to a Time Capsule have failed a number of times, AirDrop failures, ping failures, rsync failures, ssh failures, Safari failures to load web pages, etc.

I also experience rare, random, and intermittent bluetooth disconnects, especially with my Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. Now bluetooth is still working, and often only one or the other will loose connection (and the battery levels are 90+% when I get a disconnect) with the remaining one still connected.

On a scarier note, I have even seen the macOS (on a clean reinstall with no other software loaded) inappropriately delete a file from an SMB-mounted HDD, once again probably caused by a WiFi disconnect in the middle of modifying the file.

I have carefully documented all of these problems and uploaded the documentation to Apple, but to no avail. Since the machine (my third 2018 MBP) passes hardware tests, Apple says there is nothing wrong with it.

I have found no fix for these WiFi/bluetooth problems (except manually power cycling the WiFi/bluetooth), and I believe we just have to live with them if you wish to continue using your 2018 MBP.

Good luck,
Solouki

EDIT: And yes, I just experienced another WiFi disconnect under 10.14.4.
EDIT 2: I have also experienced WiFi disconnects under 10.14.5 too.
EDIT 3: I have also experienced numerous WiFi disconnects under 10.14.5 Supplemental Update,
including when no software besides the macOS has been installed and no peripherals were attached.
 
Last edited:
RipNoCellular said:
So my WiFi on my macbook is randomly dropping. The WiFi icon still shows it's connected to the accespoint but when I try to load a webpage or something it doesn't work, simply turning on and off WiFi always fixes this issue.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out? Because it's kind of driving me crazy.

Many thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Are you using a USB-C adapter when your MacBook have WiFi issues?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...al-bus/usb3-frequency-interference-paper.html

Some adapters do cause WiFi interference (described in above Intel paper), cuz they are poorly shielded.

Feel free to check out our USB-C adapters WiFi test.
 
solouki said:
Hi RipNoCellular,

Your problems sound just like mine. If so, then your WiFi is still working, but your 2018 MBP looses its DNS information which disconnects you from the Internet and also potentially from your other LAN machines. The DNS problems can be verified by running the following Terminal command:

> date; ping www.apple.com; date

When the DNS is not working, this command returns an error stating that:
"ping: cannot resolve www.apple.com: Unknown host"

If DNS information is available, then you will see the received packets:

"PING e6858.dsce9.akamaiedge.net (104.112.255.7): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 104.112.255.7: icmp_seq=0 ttl=47 time=71.718 ms
64 bytes from 104.112.255.7: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=68.654 ms
64 bytes from 104.112.255.7: icmp_seq=2 ttl=47 time=63.294 ms"

and you will need to ^C (control-C) the ping command.

I find that these WiFi connection issues are rare (a few times a day), random (they occur while running any utility or app), and often intermittent (they often fix themselves in 1 to 10 minutes, but I've also had them last for 16 hours). These WiFi disconnects cause numerous other problems for me. For instance, Software Updates have failed, Mac App Store updates have failed, Time Machine backups to a Time Capsule have failed a number of times, AirDrop failures, ping failures, rsync failures, ssh failures, Safari failures to load web pages, etc.

I also experience rare, random, and intermittent bluetooth disconnects, especially with my Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. Now bluetooth is still working, and often only one or the other will loose connection (and the battery levels are 90+% when I get a disconnect) with the remaining one still connected.

On a scarier note, I have even seen the macOS (on a clean reinstall with no other software loaded) inappropriately delete a file from an SMB-mounted HDD, once again probably caused by a WiFi disconnect in the middle of modifying the file.

I have carefully documented all of these problems and uploaded the documentation to Apple, but to no avail. Since the machine (my third 2018 MBP) passes hardware tests, Apple says there is nothing wrong with it.

I have found no fix for these WiFi/bluetooth problems (except manually power cycling the WiFi/bluetooth), and I believe we just have to live with them if you wish to continue using your 2018 MBP.

Good luck,
Solouki

EDIT: And yes, I just experienced another WiFi disconnect under 10.14.4.
EDIT 2: I have also experienced WiFi disconnects under 10.14.5 too.
Click to expand...

I finally found what the issue was for me. It had to do with one of the settings of my router. I changed the channel width of my 5 GHz signal to 40 MHz instead of 80 MHz.
It hasn't dropped connection since!

Thanks everyone for the help!
 
RipNoCellular said:
I finally found what the issue was for me. It had to do with one of the settings of my router. I changed the channel width of my 5 GHz signal to 40 MHz instead of 80 MHz.
It hasn't dropped connection since!

Thanks everyone for the help!
Click to expand...

If you still using 5Ghz, even 40Mhz is wider than the standard 20 MHz for a channel.
 
RipNoCellular said:
I finally found what the issue was for me. It had to do with one of the settings of my router. I changed the channel width of my 5 GHz signal to 40 MHz instead of 80 MHz.
It hasn't dropped connection since!

Thanks everyone for the help!
Click to expand...

Glad you were able to solve your problem by lowering your bandwidth. Of course, doing so may also lower your LAN throughput. When you do this, what QAM are you using? (256QAM?) And, if you don't mind my asking, what router are you using?

I did try using 2.4GHz with 20MHz bandwidth on two different routers, but I still had WiFi disconnects even then. I'm not in a WiFi intense situation with lots of potential interference from nearby wireless routers, and my signal-to-noise ratios are very strong (>40dBm), so my issues are not related to interference or signal strength -- rather my issues are related to brief losses of DNS information. What causes this DNS loss I'm at a loss (pun intended) to figure out, it just happens at rare, random, and often intermittent times. But when the WiFi disconnects it results in the failures of numerous other WiFi dependent programs, such as failed Apple's Software Update, Mac App Store update failures, failed Time Machine backups, AirDrop file transfers fails, SMB-mounted disks improper ejections, rsync backup failures, ssh lost pipes, ping failures, Safari lost Internet connections, etc.
 
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