iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite users have been plagued by a host of Wi-Fi problems since Apple’s two latest operating systems were released. Apple has released updates for both, but to no avail: People keep suffering through Wi-Fi drops, seemingly at random.
What the heck’s going on? According to one developer, the issue is caused by the custom technology that Apple uses for AirDrop and AirPlay on both iOS 8 and OS X. And there’s a way to fix it!
Mario Ciabarra, the developer behind MiWi, explains the issue on Medium:
I’ve narrowed down the issue to the use of Apple’s Wireless Direct Link (AWDL) that is used for AirDrop, AirPlay, and Gaming connections. I’ll go out on a limb and say the WiFi issues are because of Apple’s choice of using Bonjour over AWDL and that, given the constraints of the WiFi hardware, this will be difficult to get right. But perhaps I’m crazy, and this is just a bug that can be fixed by Apple.
You can duplicate the problem yourself by performing a speed test, then opening Control Center while it’s running (as seen in the video below).
So how do you fix the Wi-Fi problem? If you’re running iOS 8, and have a jailbroken device, you can download a package from Cydia called WiFried that will allow you to disable AWDL, and can conveniently be turned on and off under the AirDrop settings in Control Center.
As for OS X Yosemite? Just open up Terminal and type in the following command to disable AWDL and AirDrop:
sudo ifconfig awdl0 down
And to restore AirDrop and AWDL:
sudo ifconfig awdl0 up
I’ve been lucky enough not to experience the rampant Wi-Fi problems other people are reporting, so let us know if this works for you!
Source: Medium
