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WIFI and Mac Problem. Help Please!

Glynda

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A few months ago we put a new Netgear router in our den downstairs along with an ORBI wireless modem. Upstairs we added one ORBI satellite. We have Comcast/Xfinity service. Since doing so we have been having frequent, but intermittent, problems connecting our MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops to WIFI. It’s been getting worse. Sometimes if we turn off WIFI on our Macs, restart then, and then turn WIFI back on each, we will be successful. However, if we should walk away from them for a few minutes then come back, we will no longer have a connection. The strange thing is that we do have a good WIFI connection on our iPhones and the iPad sitting in the exact same spots in the den. This leads me to believe that it is some sort of problem with our Macs. I do need to add that we have three CPI security cameras which are plugged into a CPI link (router or modem?) and the CPI link is plugged into the ORBI modem. When the CPI installer added this link and was shown the laptop problem, he ran tests and showed is that we had a strong signal and he didn’t have a clue why our Macs wouldn’t connect while our phones would but insisted it was not because of their connection. However, prior to adding the new Netgear router and ORBI modem, we had a combination router/modem by Motorola and our Macs were so much slower that one day I yanked the camera cables from it and we had decent service again. Can anyone help?
 

SmithOp

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What happened to the combo Motorola router/modem you had, was it completely removed from the system? Is it still in place with the wifi still running and possibly interferring with Orbi?

What happens if you pull the CPI link connected to Orbi? Is that interferring?

Troubleshooting network problems is best to remove all devices connected then add them one at a time to see when the problem occurs to isolate the issue.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 

bbodb1

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Glynda,

I wish I had better info for you, but I'm going to add a couple of thoughts since I too am a Mac owner (late 2012 Mac Mini) and have had some disappointment with the quality of my WiFi connections since I cut the cord. One thing I have discovered since cutting the cord is how many broadcasts there are in my neighborhood so even with what seems to be good signal strength, the quality of my connections has suffered since nearby neighbors have boosted their signals recently (or so it seems).

I've used an app called WiFi Analyzer to see the broadcasts from the immediate area around my house - it was an eye-opening experience to see not only how many broadcasts there are in my immediate area, but how strong some of them are. If you live in proximity to others, this may be worth checking out and could explain (at least some portion of) the issue. WiFi Analyzer can help you find areas (channels) of the broadcast spectrum that are less used and that may help the quality of your connections.

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck with this - I know you're not along with this issue because with the increased use of WiFi, this type of problem will only increase.
 

Glynda

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What happened to the combo Motorola router/modem you had, was it completely removed from the system? Is it still in place with the wifi still running and possibly interferring with Orbi?

What happens if you pull the CPI link connected to Orbi? Is that interferring?

Troubleshooting network problems is best to remove all devices connected then add them one at a time to see when the problem occurs to isolate the issue. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for responding! The combo Motorola was removed before I installed the Netgear router, ORBI modem and satellite. At that time I also upped our service with Xfinity to their HSD Extreme 150. When I plugged the three CPI camera cords into the ORBI modem, we could get wifi but it was very slow. That's when I had the CPI tech person come out and he installed the link unit with only one cord going into the ORBI modem instead of three. Since then we've had the frequent problem of being unable to get on the internet with the laptops (though the laptops show us having a strong wifi connection) or if we get online with the laptops and let one "go to sleep" while we raid the refrigerator or something, we come back to being unable to get back on or load any pages. It's just so strange that we get great wifi on our iPhones and iPad sitting at the very same spots, but none much of the time on the Mac laptops! CPI can not explain it.

No, I have not removed CPI link to see if there is a change. I'm a little timid about doing so as I'm not quite sure what all the CPI tech did when he was here. I can always follow the cords I suppose! :) Would appreciate any suggestions! Thanks!
 

Glynda

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Glynda,

I wish I had better info for you, but I'm going to add a couple of thoughts since I too am a Mac owner (late 2012 Mac Mini) and have had some disappointment with the quality of my WiFi connections since I cut the cord. One thing I have discovered since cutting the cord is how many broadcasts there are in my neighborhood so even with what seems to be good signal strength, the quality of my connections has suffered since nearby neighbors have boosted their signals recently (or so it seems).

I've used an app called WiFi Analyzer to see the broadcasts from the immediate area around my house - it was an eye-opening experience to see not only how many broadcasts there are in my immediate area, but how strong some of them are. If you live in proximity to others, this may be worth checking out and could explain (at least some portion of) the issue. WiFi Analyzer can help you find areas (channels) of the broadcast spectrum that are less used and that may help the quality of your connections.

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck with this - I know you're not along with this issue because with the increased use of WiFi, this type of problem will only increase.

Thank you for responding! What I'm not sure that your info/suggestion would explain is why we get such good wifi on our iPhones and iPad but not on our laptops sitting in the very same spots. We do live in the historic district in Charleston where houses are old, thick walled, but extremely close. Many on our block are connected to one another. However, our house stands alone but it is very close to one beside us. There are 7 condos in that building next door and numerous other neighbors on the block as well. Our wifi is locked and password protected. I did up our service with Xfinity before installing the new router, modem and satellite. I even asked a Xfinity telephone tech person to help me set it up so that our signal would not be able to be accessed as an "Xfinity Wifi Hot Spot" and he walked me through disabling that and confirmed he saw it as disabled on his end.

I'm not sure I would know how to change channels if I found through Wifi Analyzer that others were stronger. But I can search, read and follow directions for most of these kinds of things! Thanks again! I welcome any other suggestions or comments you may have!
 

bbodb1

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Glynda,

Please take a look at the attached screenshot photo - it is a screen capture of the wireless traffic we receive at our house. I should note that we live in Arkansas, in a small town where the common lot size is about 1 acre and the houses are usually at least 15 - 20 yards apart. Having said that, my android phone still sees several wireless networks form other nearby households. Given what you describe about Charleston, I can only imagine you'd find many more wireless networks bombarding you.

You also mentioned thick walled structures - I can tell you from direct experience that cinder block walls and books (yes, books) are natural inhibitors of wireless signals. (I used to work in a university library so I am referring to a LOT of books obviously but depending on how the wireless signal has to travel, the books CAN be a significant hurdle.). If you can find a channel (or channels) that either are NOT in use or only have very weak signals from other networks, you might help your situation.

In the attached photo, please note my network (in blue) has another competing network on channels 2 through 5). Channels 6 though 9 offer less interference for me.

Something you phone has going for you that your older Macs might not is possibly broadcasting / receiving on the 802.11n standard. (Disclaimer: I am pushing the limits of my technical knowledge here...) . My Late 2012 Mac Mini does broadcast on the 802.11n standard (I verified that by looking at the system report available on About this Mac). You mention MacBook Pro and MacBook Air so I suspect these are recent enough units that they too are likely to be able to utilize 802.11n.

One action I took to help balance the load on my networks was/is to use two separate networks (in on the 2.4 ghz range and another on the 5 ghz range). I think just about any fairly modern WIFI router can broadcast on both simultaneously. At any rate, I played around a bit by connecting some devices on the 2.4 ghz based network and others on the 5 ghz based network. That did seem to help me a bit.

But as I said earlier, I am at the edge of my knowledge in this area. The one thing I do feel very confident about here though is that finding how many other networks are bombarding your networks is a useful piece of knowledge and can help you direct further strategy. Pollution (in this case defined by unwanted networks) in the WiFi broadcast spectrum is only likely to get worse as time goes by.

Good luck here.
 

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taterhed

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Glynda

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Glynda,

Please take a look at the attached screenshot photo - it is a screen capture of the wireless traffic we receive at our house. I should note that we live in Arkansas, in a small town where the common lot size is about 1 acre and the houses are usually at least 15 - 20 yards apart. Having said that, my android phone still sees several wireless networks form other nearby households. Given what you describe about Charleston, I can only imagine you'd find many more wireless networks bombarding you.

You also mentioned thick walled structures - I can tell you from direct experience that cinder block walls and books (yes, books) are natural inhibitors of wireless signals. (I used to work in a university library so I am referring to a LOT of books obviously but depending on how the wireless signal has to travel, the books CAN be a significant hurdle.). If you can find a channel (or channels) that either are NOT in use or only have very weak signals from other networks, you might help your situation.

In the attached photo, please note my network (in blue) has another competing network on channels 2 through 5). Channels 6 though 9 offer less interference for me.

Something you phone has going for you that your older Macs might not is possibly broadcasting / receiving on the 802.11n standard. (Disclaimer: I am pushing the limits of my technical knowledge here...) . My Late 2012 Mac Mini does broadcast on the 802.11n standard (I verified that by looking at the system report available on About this Mac). You mention MacBook Pro and MacBook Air so I suspect these are recent enough units that they too are likely to be able to utilize 802.11n.

One action I took to help balance the load on my networks was/is to use two separate networks (in on the 2.4 ghz range and another on the 5 ghz range). I think just about any fairly modern WIFI router can broadcast on both simultaneously. At any rate, I played around a bit by connecting some devices on the 2.4 ghz based network and others on the 5 ghz based network. That did seem to help me a bit.

But as I said earlier, I am at the edge of my knowledge in this area. The one thing I do feel very confident about here though is that finding how many other networks are bombarding your networks is a useful piece of knowledge and can help you direct further strategy. Pollution (in this case defined by unwanted networks) in the WiFi broadcast spectrum is only likely to get worse as time goes by.

Good luck here.

I do see 9 neighboring networks right now when I click on the wifi symbol. However, when I removed the CPI link from the ORBI modem, the Macs were back to flying along! No problems. The cameras must be the problem. But beyond my capabilities to reconfigure so that we can have them and performing Macs. And yes, we are capable of 802.11n. Also, I believe that the Orbi modem is operating on one ghz range and the satellite on another. Not sure but that comes to memory from when setting up. Thanks so much! I will study your post later today when I get some time!
 
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Glynda

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FWIW: I'm seeing quite a few threads with others having similar problems.

Check firmware? Consider switching to AP mode vs Router mode or vice-versa.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Or...-and-Apple-About-to-pull-the-plug/m-p/1473832

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/netgear-orbi.2029630/

Thanks for the links! I had visited these forums when first setting up the Netgear and Orbi but it's been awhile and I will revist them. For the most part I feel overwhelmed when reading as I don't understand some of the more technical jargon.
 

Glynda

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What happened to the combo Motorola router/modem you had, was it completely removed from the system? Is it still in place with the wifi still running and possibly interferring with Orbi?

What happens if you pull the CPI link connected to Orbi? Is that interferring?

Troubleshooting network problems is best to remove all devices connected then add them one at a time to see when the problem occurs to isolate the issue.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I did remove the CPI link yesterday and we were immediately back up and running our Macs smoothly and quickly with no problems. When the cameras were connected to the old Motorola combo router/modem we had very slow wifi on the Macs and with them connected to the CPI link we have little to no wifi on the Macs. Without the link or cameras plugged in, we fly! Need the cameras though as we have been able to help the police with a couple of incidents in our neighborhood and feel that they are important to us and our neighbors.
 

Glynda

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Glynda, You also mentioned thick walled structures - I can tell you from direct experience that cinder block walls and books (yes, books) are natural inhibitors of wireless signals. (I used to work in a university library so I am referring to a LOT of books obviously but depending on how the wireless signal has to travel, the books CAN be a significant hurdle.). If you can find a channel (or channels) that either are NOT in use or only have very weak signals from other networks, you might help your situation.

Yes, the router and modem are in the kitchen/family room area which is an addition to the original brick house. So we have the thick brick wall of the original house AND a stainless steel refrigerator directly between the router/modem and the rest of the house. I know it's a problem, however am stymied as to where and how to move it. Thanks again!
 

SmithOp

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I did remove the CPI link yesterday and we were immediately back up and running our Macs smoothly and quickly with no problems. When the cameras were connected to the old Motorola combo router/modem we had very slow wifi on the Macs and with them connected to the CPI link we have little to no wifi on the Macs. Without the link or cameras plugged in, we fly! Need the cameras though as we have been able to help the police with a couple of incidents in our neighborhood and feel that they are important to us and our neighbors.

Yes, I suspected as much when you mentioned it was a problem on the old equipment.

I’m not sure how you can isolate the camera network from your computers. Perhaps you only need the network/internet access when you are away from home, the cameras should record video on the hard drive in the orbi even when disconnected from the router. Maybe you can live with plugging the camera system in at the router when you are away from home for an extended period.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 

Glynda

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Yes, I suspected as much when you mentioned it was a problem on the old equipment.

I’m not sure how you can isolate the camera network from your computers. Perhaps you only need the network/internet access when you are away from home, the cameras should record video on the hard drive in the orbi even when disconnected from the router. Maybe you can live with plugging the camera system in at the router when you are away from home for an extended period. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


Ah ha! So then the only benefit to them being plugged into the router & modem is to be able to view them on our cell phone apps? They are still recording and we can still view the cameras on the small TV we have them connected to in the kitchen when we are home? That could work then...only plugging them in when we are going away. Thanks so much!
 
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