AirPort dropouts in Snow Leopard

Many users have been finding that under Snow Leopard they are having dropouts while using wireless internet via AirPort. Most users report that other non-Mac machines on the same network have no issues connecting using wireless and all wired connections are fine.

Apple Support Discussions user "Torn Barb" reports:

I have a MBP with SL installed, ATT U-verse with a 2-Wire wireless router. I've had no problems with my connection until the update to SL. My pings are good, MBP hardlined in works with no issues. I have a server hardlined, gaming console hardlined, no issues. I've checked all my settings on the MBP and nothing that I see is set to cause the network drops. Same goes for the 2-Wire. I did some test by setting up my Linksys wireless router, the MBP continued to drop the signal.

Other users echo the problems "Torn Barb" has seen. After a series of failed troubleshooting attempts "Torn Barb" reported a solution that seems to have worked:

Changes made:

1. Turned off auto channel and made a dedicated one [choose a single channel (i.e., 3 or 9)]
2. Changed my network [security] to WPA

I did some more research and contacted a few of my network friends about the issue and they have stated that Snow Leopard is having issues with auto channel on certain routers. Not saying that Snow is having issues with auto channel or WEP vs. WPA all the time, just certain routers.

Other troubleshooting tips for networks include:

• Delete unused locations from your Locations list (System Preferences > Network > Location > Edit Locations)
• Delete unused networks from your Preferred Networks list. Be sure your home network is first on the list. To delete networks, click the Advanced... button in the Network System Preferences. Highlight a network and click the minus (-) button. You can click and drag networks to reorder them in the list.

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