Wireless Woes and Worries

[kbeartx]

I posted about this a coppola muntz ago, and somebunny recommended MacStumbler as a way to get to the bottom of this, but no joy.

Austin is a pretty well-wired city [I dunno how it compares to others, I'm not a Road Warrior], w/ WiFi hotspots all over the place.  All Austin Public Library branches provide 24/7 open WiFi networks, as do many of the Hospitals and Courthouses.  There are even WiFi hotspots in places like a Bar and a Burger King right near The University [UT].  

I connect automagically at all the Libraries, the Hospital, and the Courthouse, at many restaurants, and at Whole Foods Market headquarters; if I've been there beef-ore, it just connects after bootup, and if it's a location new to me, it presents me w/ a dialog box that states,

'None of your Trusted Networks are available.  Would you like to connect to the Open Wireless Network  [insert network name here]?  

There are a few locations at which I am offered that option [to which I respond by clicking 'Yes' or OK', I forget which] and then nothing at all happens.  No connection, no error msg, no dark bands on the 'baseball diamond'.

Sometimes, only sometimes, if I wait long enough, I am presented w/ a msg stating, 'There was a problem connecting to [insert network name here]', but no other info whatsoever.

MacStumbler has proven to be No Help At All, except to display ALL wifi networks in the vicinity, most of them WEP-protected, and to inform me of the relative Signal Strength of each network.

Are there some WiFi routers that just don't work w/ Macs, or some config option that is set in such a way as to prevent OS-X from connecting?

EnnyBuddy have a clue as to what's going on in these cases [or suggestions for how to figure out this puzzle]?

TIA,

Kbeartx

[sandbox]

Well.....Mr. K..one of the reason I didn't purchase a macbook was because reviews were not good on wifi reception.
There might be some value in this thread, there are a few suggestions. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4977197

[chriskleeman]

Funny, my daughter has been having similar problems with her fairly recent MacBook Pro, where one of her roommates can access a signal she can't... on a PeeCee of course... interesting link SB...

My iBook seems to connect almost anywhere

I dunno...

[sandbox]

Chris the iBook has the best stats for wifi. Plastic cases are better than metal. I've seen just recently that the new macbooks will be metal in the future. The story could have no substance what so ever but it stuck with me because so many people I know, and have read about, that have metal cases have had low reception in comparison to the iBook.

Mr K look around here see if one of the widgets they suggest works better,
http://lifehacker.com/software/wifi/call-f...tool-200533.php

[chriskleeman]

SB,

It's somewhat of a paradox... her MBP had no trouble connecting here at home through the Apple Extreme Base Station, same signal strength as  our iBooks... go figure... I do remember seeing various posts in a couple of different threads here at TS about the behavior of some Macs with different wireless routers, in fact I think I started one when I was looking at buying the AEBS...

I'm going to send her your link to my daughter, and see if she gets any improvement... and hopefully Kbear will see some too...

At least for now, she's got her own DSL on ethernet, and isn't hijacking someone else's wireless!!!

Chris

[kbeartx]

[Mayo]

FWIW, my impression when this has happened to me is that while there is enough signal strength for a LAN to show up on the list, it isn't a strong enough signal for a reliable connection. If your unsuccessful connections were with supposedly strong signals, then I haven't a clue... When it happens to me I just figure that it is the nature of the beast and I don't worry about it. Wireless LANs can be fickle even under presumably ideal conditions, so I don't expect much when I attempt to connect to open LANs that I discover when I travel.