Macbook Pro frequently experiences drops in WiFi connection with Linksys WAG120N

Question

I have a non-retina mid-2012 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and this issue has been plaguing me for a while.

During regular use of the laptop, while connected to my home WiFi network (to which no more than three other devices are usually connected), I keep experiencing sudden and complete drops in connectivity. It happens more than once every hour, usually while I'm browsing the Internet on Chrome and I'll see my loading tabs hang there with no response. The OS does not seem to notice this drop in connectivity, and keeps showing the WiFi icon as connected. To get the connection back I either have to wait till it returns (usually after a minute) or disconnect and reconnect the WiFi.

I think the issue is with the Macbook itself or between the Macbook and the router, because during these drops I won't even be able to connect to the router itself (by opening its web interface), and the Macbook seems to completely ignore the lack of connectivity.
The other laptop in the house (running Windows) does not experience these connectivity drops.

I have tried resetting the router, making the Macbook forget about it and then re-configuring the connection and changing WiFi modes but none of these things worked.

Here are a few more details:

Router

Model: Linksys WAG120N;
Firmware version: V1.00.16 (most up to date);
WiFi mode: Mixed (running in G-only or N-only mode still causes issues);

Macbook

15" Macbook Pro from mid-2012 (non-retina);
Processor: Intel Core i7 2.6GHz;
Software: OS X 10.8.2;

Answer 1

1. Do you have DHCP enabled? Your laptop might be loosing its connection to the router due to IP conflicts resulting from other devices on your network using the same IP address.
2. Try using different broadcast channels. I think the default Linksys channel is 6. I usually use 8 or 1.
3. How good is the signal strength? You might have to boost the antennas transmission signal.
4. Make sure someone like your neighbors are not running APs with the same SSID.
5. If you use signal encryption try using different key encryption WPA/WPA2-PSK(AES/TKIP).
6. and the obvious one, run software updates, just to make sure that there is no new firmware for the MacBook NIC.

Answer 2

When your wifi connectivity is active , run the Wireless Diagnostics and monitor the WIFI.

Unzip the report and look at the file wifi-5gUAEy.log. 5gUAEy name is specific to that particular diagnostics report.

In the wifi-xxxxxx.log , check for the text "Will not continue auto join". If the below issue exists in your report follow the steps to fix the issue. airportdProcessSystemConfigurationEvent: Processing 'Setup:/Network/Interface/en0/AirPort' AutoJoin: AUTO-JOIN triggered (Network Service Changed) AutoJoin: user: WiFi interface is OFF, will not continue auto-join

1). Open the terminal and Go to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration 2). Ensure your user has the appropriate rights to access the airport utility and network related files . 3). Provide appropriate permissions to the files and your problem will get resolved.

I had the same problem with my macbook air(OS X Mavericks & Yosemite) and tried all the resolutions given in almost all of the forums , but nothing worked.Above fix resolved my problem now, Good luck.