Vodafone VDSL Huawei HG659 iMac Wifi Issue

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essceebird

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Topic # 147124 10-Jun-2014 00:46

Hi there, we have just had VDSL connected at our house this morning. I have since setup the router and have been connecting all of our devices this evening to the new service. I have no issues with my wife's phone (Galaxy S2), iPad Air, PC laptop, my Galaxy S1, and the PS3. I do however have an issue trying to connect our iMac. For some reason it won't connect even though the Wifi SSID is found, I enter the WPA/WPA2 PSK and it states that the connection failed.

This is very frustrating as everything else is working fine. OSX 10.9.2 Mavericks is what the iMac is running in case that's important. Has anyone else experienced this or could offer me some tips please?

Very impressed with our connection now (relative to the "rural" Taranaki ADSL speed we had before!):

PeterReader

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Reply # 1062272 10-Jun-2014 00:46

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

chewster

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Reply # 1062287 10-Jun-2014 01:45

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First thing I'm thinking of is if iMac has been connected to older router with same SSID. Sometimes can cause weird glitchyness and would often be a good idea to delete older version of same SSID name from wifi settings on the Mac. Second thing is reboot router. Third thing would be try changing wifi channel seeing if and 2.4/5GHz + a/b/g/n options make a difference.

DjShadow

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Reply # 1062292 10-Jun-2014 06:29

Best tip I can give with the HG659 is if you can use the 5ghz channels if you can, I would imagine if you are rural then congestion in the 2.4ghz band wouldn't be much of a problem as us city folk would have.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1062319 10-Jun-2014 07:25

How old is the iMac?

Modern Apple devices are terrible on WiFi - in particular all the new Macbooks. Many Apple products are no longer even certified by the WiFi Alliance.

MikeHales

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Reply # 1062333 10-Jun-2014 07:57

Following on from Kieran, swapping the channel to 5GHz should help.

m

Channel Manager, Help & Support @ Vodafone NZ

essceebird

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Reply # 1062531 10-Jun-2014 12:49

Cheers everyone for the speedy replies. Sorry but I don't quite know how to multi-quote on this forum yet so I'll summarise answers below:

@KieranRead
I did forget the old connection on the iMac and ensured that I set up the new connection with a different SSID. I will look at a reboot and channel frequency switch tonight.

@DjShadow (great music artist by the way!)
I hadn't thought about interference issues to be honest, we do have cordless phones in the house so I'll check them out.

@sbiddle
The iMac is less than three months old so it is the latest model which doesn't sound too good based on what you've mentioned about the WiFi.

@MikeHales
Cheers, as above I'll investigate the channel frequency tonight. It is strange that the latest iPad has no issues though but I guess they use a different WiFi aerial/hardware perhaps?

dejadeadnz

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Reply # 1062824 10-Jun-2014 19:42

I'd pretty much second what KieranReid wrote. This router is known to play a bit funny with Apple devices (there are threads on VF Community on this also). When we first had it, having things on 2.4 and 5 Ghz would not work, nor would shutting 2.4 Ghz. In the end what got things going was when I specified a channel and used 2.4 Ghz only, which is quite contrary to the experience of many others (many finding that 5 Ghz only works best). We went from only 1 Apple device connecting to 1 MacBook Air, 2 Iphones and 1 Ipad connecting perfectly.

The Huawai might be big and ugly but in my experience it provides exceptional wifi coverage/propagation, outstanding stability and speeds once everything is set up.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1062834 10-Jun-2014 19:58

If you're bored try searching for WiFi issues on the Apple Support forums, there are huge numbers of recent threads with literally thousands of posts with basically no fixes. There are also numerous threads on WiFi vendor sites such as the aerohive and ubiquiti sites also with constant complaints about Apple products.

dejadeadnz

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Reply # 1062851 10-Jun-2014 20:26

I like Apple stuff (mostly the iOS universe only and the related hardware - I consider my MacBook Air nothing special and OS X to be rubbish) but Sbiddle is right. Wifi related issues on Apple products are so well-known and oft talked about it's not funny. But if you dare mention this on the Mac/Apple fanboi sites, be ready to be abused and worse. The fanaticism of Apple "fans" (all the uuuhhhh, ohhhh and ahhing by the developer fanbois/gals at the recent WWDC for example were close to vomit inducing), along with the pig-headedness of Apple itself, frequently allow issues that ought not remain to, well, remain. From experience I know that others using non-Apple products have little problems with the Wifi of this router.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1062852 10-Jun-2014 20:32

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Apple's solution is to buy their own WiFi kit - and then you start dealing with issues where non Apple products don't want to work on them.

essceebird

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Reply # 1062979 10-Jun-2014 21:57

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Cheers for the tips guys, I have spent the last couple of hours trying the different settings mentioned such as setting the channel frequency etc. All of this was to no avail, i.e. setting to 5 GHz only or 2.4 GHz. I discovered a WiFi best practices document on Apple Support and, blow me down, after following all of their recommended settings all of a sudden it will connect!

It was called "iOS and OS X: Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points" FYI.