I have always had good luck with Linksys and Belkin. What brand do you have?

You could try downloading something like MacStumbler to help assess the signal strength, and see if it's even seeing the SSID of the network - might give you an idea of what the issue might be?

It is Linksys. I haven't updated the firmware in a while. My feeling is that if stuff works - you don't touch it. But I'll definitely try a firmware update.

One more odd thing - I'm no longer able to logon to the router wirelessly, but when I hooked up my laptop via ethernet to it - I could logon.

MacStumbler - I'll try that too Tom. Thanks.

Ray -

I had (have) the same exact issue with my MBP. I practically have to be sitting right on top of or under an access point to get connected. I've call tech support and they suggested sending it back in.

I'd say take a trip down to your local coffee house and see if you have issues there as well before you run out and purchase a new router or even mess with the one that you have.

Scott - the coffee shop is on the way to officemax -so I can do that for sure.

Jay - disable the network connection? Dumb question - but how?

I repeated the firmware update - this time it worked. Now to see if that helps any.

I have had about 10 routers in the past 8 years (Linksys, Netgear, Belkin and Buffalo). The on that I have been most satisfied with is the Buffalo Airstation. Buffalo routers have excellent features (like loopback if you are running a development server) and very nice configuration screens as well as easy setup.

Buffalo also has many other products like nice network storage etc. However, for my next router, I have been considering the new Airport Extreme from Apple. I have heard nothing but great reviews on it:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A...

It is a little pricier but you can do some cool things with that you cannot do with most routers. For one, it does support N and Mac as well as PC. It also has Gigabit ethernet, and a USB port for making your printer networkable, or making a network hard drive. You can even connect multiple printers and drives to it via a hub!

Hey Ray I had that same issue my MacBookPro would not connect but everything else would so I so sick of it I just got the new Apple Airport Extreme and have never looked back, I have never had the speeds it gives me as well and the usb port to serve a printer or hard drive it a great feature.

Ray,

Had/Having the same issue with my MBP and an actiontec router. I have found that decreasing the packet fragmentation has greatly boosted my signal and the effectiveness with which my MBP has been able to connect. Essentially what happens is that the larger your packets the more likely they are to collide and get dropped, and losing a 2000 byte packet is far more detrimental to your connection stability then losing a 256 byte packet. This does introduce overhead but so long as your not planning on transfering huge files across the network with regularity you should be fine.

Also I would grab a copy of iStumbler so you can see all the 802.11 activity going on. See if there is anyone out there broadcasting on the same channel as you. I was able to go from about 30-40% signal strength to 80% by changing channels and decreasing the packet fragmentation.

Worked out quite well for me yesterday. Also I have heard some complaints from friends that their MBPs have issues with WEP, but it sounds like you have been down that avenue.

I have been fighting my Linksys for a few weeks with this very same issue. I finally broke down and ordered a new Apple Airport Extreme which arrived yesterday.

So far so good. My MBP is the Core Duo like yours Ray so no "N" support for me either but the "G" is fine for everything I do.

And as Jay said above, the USB port for sharing devices on the network is a very nice feature. I have a USB hub plugged into mine sharing my printer and a 750GB USB harddrive for backup purposes.

Sorry if i don't reply to everyone - going a bit crazy here with 'real workd' and this.

So I did apply the firmware. I went downstairs to check the router out about an hour later - and the Power light is flashing off and on. This is even though the web admin had told me the firmware updated ok.

To tap it off - now I find that my MBP isn't drawing power! When you hook up the power to the MBP, you get a green or orange light. I had noticed a few times over the last week or so that my MBP wasn't charged. Now I think I've confirmed a problem. I moved it - still no juice. I "jiggled" the connection a bit and finally got it to light up.

This _cannot_ happen before a major conference. Period. It can't. :)

Quick, someone go to Ray's Wishlist and get a router for him or this may be the end of his create cf apps! :)

My Linksys is dead. It doesn't stop flashing even w/ a hard reset. I've ordered the Airport Extreme and did overnight service.

I
Hate
Networking

This is an actual problem with OSX.

You must go into the network setting for your airport card and choose preferred networks. Then remove them all. Click APPLY. The change "By Default, Join:" back to automatic and again click apply. Then reboot the MBP and Voila fixed.

Just for reference it is usually caused when the MBP goes to sleep while connected to the WiFi network. If you need it I can dig up the link to the Apple KB.

I had tried that- it didn't help. And with the router now flashing and not responding at all - I'm thinking it truly did bite the bullet.

So - no blog posts from me at night now. Well, for a day. What is odd is that the ethernet ports still work. So I may move the crap out of the kitchen so I can work tonight.

Wireless routers do die after a while. I had a super cheap Linksys that I got for $20 on sale. After a year or so, it would only work intermittently. I tried to upgrade the firmware, and that killed it off entirely. Got a slightly nicer Linksys, so far so good.