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MBP C2D WiFi reception sucks

I

ilikebig

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 14, 2006
3
0
I just replaced my iBook G3 800mHz with the original Airport card (802.11b) and got the new 15" MacBookPro Core 2 Duo (the $2500 model). It's nice, but the WiFi reception kind of sucks compared to my iBook. Right now I'm in a location where I get great reception with the iBook, but nothing with my new MBP.

What's going on? I thought I'd get way better reception with this machine because it had much more modern WiFi hardware.
 
Don't forget that the casing of iBook is made entirely of polycarbonate which basically polymer material... However, the MBP casing is made of Al (metal) which is a very good any radio signal or WiFi blocker.... Apple has added a polymer part at the hinge of the MBP which I think it helps much as compared to the original power book G4 design..

I would say that if all your settings are configured correctly, there is no way you can increase the wireless reception of your MBP...
 
Check to see if interference robustness is turned on on your MBP and airport. If it is, try turning it off. I used it with my 12" PowerBook to handle interference, but I found it made things far worse on my MBP, and my reception has been much better since disabling it.
 
I have had my signal drop a few times but for the most part it has been great. In fact I switched from pc to my macbook pro last week and with my pc I was using a pre n card and pre n router. The macbook pro is every bit as fast and possible faster. I did a few test on dslreports.com and was getting great results. Another thing to add is range. With my pc and without my pre n card I could not be in the top floor of my house without losing a connection. With the macbook pro I have full signal and no issues. Go figure, go apple.
 
ilikebigtits said:
I just replaced my iBook G3 800mHz with the original Airport card (802.11b) and got the new 15" MacBookPro Core 2 Duo (the $2500 model). It's nice, but the WiFi reception kind of sucks compared to my iBook. Right now I'm in a location where I get great reception with the iBook, but nothing with my new MBP.

What's going on? I thought I'd get way better reception with this machine because it had much more modern WiFi hardware.
Click to expand...

Might want to consider an external antenna if it's that important to you:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/08/28/55dbi.antenna.for.17.mbp/ - not sure on the quality of that particular product, and I'm sure there are guides out there to make your own. If you're brave enough. :D
 
That external antenna is the ugliest thing ever. Would have been cool if Apple put a good antenna in the computer. I'd hate to mess up my new computer with that thing, but I may have no choice.

As far as WiFi reception goes with computer's I have. This is not causual observation, but looking at reception side by side at the same time at many different places such as home, office, travel.
1. Sony Vaio is the best by far
2. iBook G3 800 MHz with original Airport Card is in the middle
3. MacBook Pro C2D is the worst without question.

I take it "interference robustness" is for when there are a lot of WiFi networks using the same channel in the same area?
 
Crap, I really hoped the reception of the MBP would improve. I mean the reception of my PowerBook (okt'05) is really worse. If the MBP ain't better that would mean I wouldn't find ANY access point. I mean my PowerBook is unable to find the Access Point in the house sometimes, if it fines it has a crappy signal, while our WiFi enabled devices have no problem at all with it.
 
ilikebigtits said:
I just replaced my iBook G3 800mHz with the original Airport card (802.11b) and got the new 15" MacBookPro Core 2 Duo (the $2500 model). It's nice, but the WiFi reception kind of sucks compared to my iBook. Right now I'm in a location where I get great reception with the iBook, but nothing with my new MBP.

What's going on? I thought I'd get way better reception with this machine because it had much more modern WiFi hardware.
Click to expand...

My reception with mine is good but the download speeds are terrible compared to my wife's CD MacBOok pro
 
Does anybody know a third-party Wi-Fi device that I could plug into the USB or Express card slot? Do you have any personal experience with the quality of such a device?

The WiFi performance of my C2D MBP just doesn't cut it for me and it will kill me to permanently scar my new MBP with that big ugly antenna.
 
I just recently switched from a Macbook to a new C2D MBP and am no longer able to get a decent connection at the local university. This would be the same access point that I have used for the duration of time owning the macbook, with the only change being the Macbook Pro. Works great everywhere else, but just does not have the range that the plastic shelled Macbook did.

I just picked up a USB Dlink DWL-G122 (b1 revision), which works with ralink's drivers for Mac. Drivers appear to work fine under 10.4.8. Drivers are very recent and looks like they are fairly well supported. Universal Binary as well.

Something else to keep in the bag for when the internal Airport card lets me down.
 
regardless of interface robustness or not, my connection drops out every few minutes. My Gmail notifier keeps getting disconnected. i'm sitting in a lecture hall, and my signal strength ranges from full to halfway...and i'm sitting still. and firefox is as slow as molasses during drop outs.
 
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