MacBook loses wireless connection when iPod touch connects to network

Question

hi
ever since upgrading to 10.5.5. on my MacBook i've had the "intermittent network connection" problems that have been described and discussed (without any real solution from what i can see) in another thread.
PROBLEM: every couple of minutes my MacBook loses connectivity to the network - the AirPort icon still says that i'm connected, albeit with one less bar than before, but i can't connect to anywhere, not even to the wireless router - and to re-establish a connection i need to switch off AirPort, switch it back on, it will then reconnect, and after two minutes or so i have to do it all over again because the network connection drops again.
NOVEL OBSERVATION 1: reinstalling the 10.5.5. combo system updater helped somewhat. i used to get an error in system.log about there being too many state transitions on the wireless network and about network traffic reduction measures being taken to overcome this problem, but after reinstalling the 10.5.5. combo system updater this message never appears in the logs and I get kicked off only sometimes (see what i say in point 2 below)
NOVEL OBSERVATION 2: now my MacBook will only lose its connection to the net if i switch on my iPod Touch and switch its wireless interface on. in fact, the only way to avoid the MacBook getting constantly disconnected is to make sure that the wireless interface on the Touch is switched off in the Touch's system preferences; if I just sleep the Touch (top button) without switching off its wireless network interface first in its System Preferences, then the MacBook will keep disconnecting even while the Touch is in sleep mode (presumably the Touch keeps polling the network or something, even while it's in sleep mode).
DIAGNOSTIC NOTE 1: I have another wireless device (my Nokia E51, which has wifi capabilities) and if I connect it to the wireless interface then the MacBook's connection isn't dropped - i.e. the MacBook only loses its wireless connection when my iPod Touch connects to the wireless network.
DIAGNOSTIC NOTE 2: I have upgraded my wireless router (before I had a Linksys WRT-54GC, now I have a Netgear WGR614v9) but that has made no difference.
DIAGNOSTIC NOTE 3: I have also tried altering the router's settings (i have played around a_lot with this, trying every combination I could think of - e.g. staple down particular devices to particular ip addresses, use only 802.11g versus automatic b/g, etc) but that has made no difference either.
RANT:
The only thing that prevents these disconnections from occurring is to keep the iPod Touch's wireless switched off, which ***** because if I'm in the kitchen I can't have it switched on to monitor my email (yes, I've no life, i hang around waiting for emails), or if I go have a lie down and want to check out stuff on the net, or to browse the iTunes music store or whatever, then I know that my connecting my iPod Touch the computer will be disconnected.
This obviously *****, right? And a lot of people are having wireless problems with their MacBooks, right? And these problems seem to have been around for over a year, right?
So why hasn't Apple solved this problem yet? Or am I just being melodramatic?
Your thoughts on any or all of the above, or flames if that's your preferred method of communicating, are invited. =)
Cheers
dr.colekat

Answer 1

Having the same problem here. As a first time mac user, Apple has certainly made a bad first impression.
For me, the issue seems to occur when transferring files between computers that are connected to the same access point (when transferring files from wired computers on the network there is no issue). My vista laptop and every laptop I have tried has worked perfectly fine with this access point so I am 100% convinced it is the mac. Basically when I copy the files, after about 100mb, I am unable to access anything on the local network or internet until I restart Airport. The weird thing is that even though I am unable to access anything, the airport utility says it is connected. I might also note that the wireless signal strength is full.
If I can't get this figured out in a few days, this computer is going back to the store where it came from and I will officially label myself anti-mac. This type of issue is just unacceptable for something so main stream.