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  • MacBook Air 2013 [802.11ac] Wi-Fi Issues - Fix In Progress

    Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator

    Updated: Oct 24, 2024
    Views: 1.3K
    Apple's newly announce MacBook Air 2013 with the high-speed 802.11ac wireless network capabilities has issues - and it looks like Apple's confirmed that that they're working on a fix. The issue prevented users from connecting to the wireless routers and maintaining a steady connection between the router and the machine.

    9To5Mac reported that a few of the customers have already got their Airs replaced from the Apple retail stores. Apple has not made any official statements yet and has directed all the Genius Bar employees to seize all the faulty machines and return them to the headquarters at Cupertino for further testing and developing a fix.

    applemacbookair-wi-fi-issues

    In the mean time, we'd like to know whether any fix is available to solve the issue at user's end. It's not yet clear whether it's a hardware issue or a firmware issue which can be solved by installing a patch or update. If you've figured out a way to fix this; please do share with all the engineers here.
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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jun 26, 2013

    I read some more information about the issue and it looks like the solution to the problem could be easier - but it'll have to be implemented by Apple at the OS level. Anand Lal Shimpi of AnandTech reviewed the entire system and found that OSX is dynamically resizing the TCP window size when the IPERF is running. But this doesn't happen when files are actually being transfered over the wireless network.

    The TCP requires that the receiver must acknowledge the successful receipt of data at regular intervals and it's the TCP Window Size that determines how much data the transmitter can send before it must stop and wait for confirmation from the receiver. If the receiver doesn't confirm the receipt; then the transmitter tries sending the data again. The larger the size of the TCP Window, the more will be the data sent with fewer acknowledgements from the receiver.

    In some of the tests conducted, The MacBook Air's 802.11ac wireless adapter allowed about 450 Mbps speeds at about 6 feet from the device and it dropped to about 65 mbps at about 65 ft from the client with 3 walls in between.

    Everyone who's facing this issue can expect a fix from Apple really soon.
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