I took my new Macbook to my friend's house who also has ATT (former SBC) and a 2Wire router and I connected immediately (using $ sign) with no problems.

I then noticed that although his router looks identical to mine, he has model 1000. Mine is a model 1800.

The tech at 2Wire support told me that the model 1800 is the one with the problem(s), although I purchased it less than a year ago. ATT refused to give me a new router so after much deliberation, I am opting to let go of my land line and DSL and I am switching to cable. I hate to do it, but this experience and the lack of support from ATT have left my opinion of them soured. Good luck to you all.

...Mine is an 1800 and works... even with WPA and SSID hidden.... Sorry.

This seems to be looking like a case by case type of failure issue.

New MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo Does not work with old 2Wire
 

PROBLEM: Got a new MacBook Pro C2D and could not connect to my home wireless 2Wire 1800 modem. Tried all suggestions here. Did not work.

SOLUTION: Went to my Internet supplier chanched to the 2Wire 2700 wireless modem. It Works !

Apparently 2Wire models 1700 and 1800 use 32 bit or something like that and the MacBook can not get an IP from them.

I have tried other wireless access points like Symbol, NetGear and they work fine with the MacBook.
Hope this helps.

Yes I'm from Mexico and I still have some problems with wireless conection at home, when the electricity goes off to the 1800 2wire tower the problem starts again and i have to try several times opening and closing the wireless conection before I manage to conect again to the network.
I have the same problem with windows and still don't know how to fix it there.
Im still looking for new answers to our riddle.. hope we get the solution some day some how.

2WIRE Mexico
 

Yes I have the same problem. The 2wire 1700 Modem at my office in TJ does not work with my new Mac Core 2 Duo laptop. Tried everything here. But the 2wire 2700 at my home works FINE!
Time to get the 2700 for office.

Tully Mars

I just got a brand spanking new C2D 15" macbook pro today, connected to my wpa2 tkip+aes encrypted network instantly. I use linksys, I think most of these problems are with 2wire, and in the past I had to use a $ in front of the passkey to connect to an encrypted wireless network.

Anybody else fixed the problem that way?

This discussion sounds very much related to my issue with a couple of exceptions (see below).

Here's my story:

This morning I connected to my wireless network (DSL 2WIRE modem/router, model 1800) with no problem. This afternoon I returned and Airport refused to connect, giving me the error message, “Airport is unable to connect to the wireless network…” The network shows up as being available, but when I attempt to connect, it wont. (I didn’t make any changes or install any programs this morning).

Here’s what I’ve done:
[1] Restarted the router
[2] Repaired permissions
[3] Deleted the network’s entry in Keychain Access
[4] Re-entered my WEP code (assuring it is in correctly; I’ve tried both with the “$” and without)
[5] Used interface robustness and without.
[6] Attempted to join the network from the System Preferences>Network.Airport route.
[7] Created a new account and tried connecting.
[8] Tried turning off the WEP code and could connect. (Since I share files on my home network, this isn't a "solution").
[9]Tried Resetting the MacBook Pro System Management Controller (SMC)(See: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319). I did this (I think -- there wasn't any indication that the reset "took"), but alas -- no luck.
[10] I gave Apple Care a call, but the support guy, while courteous and all, didn't have anything to offer other than telling me to take it in to an Apple Store for a repair/ My MacBook can connect to another (unsecured) network that I can “see” in my house, so clearly it isn't a hardware issue.

Why I don't think this is problem with the router:
[1] Two other MacBooks in the house connect to the network with no problem (with the WEP code intact).
[2] My MacBook has been working just fine with the network ever since I got it 3 weeks ago

Heeellllppppp!

I'm a veritable network idiot, have a 2WIRE 1800, a MacBook Pro (not the C2D), and I never have an issue connecting, whether at startup or after extended sleep..... and I use wpa+tkip.

What it all means...? who knows.... if new modem/router solves problem, then modem/router, if not, then airport.... I think the users with problems should try new routers.... that's a relatively easy thing to try....

I had the same problems (MacBook Pro, 2WIRExxx Office Portal,
my Windows PC was successfully connecting wirelessly, the MB was not).

I connected the MB via an Ethernet cable to the 2WIRE, typed in "home" in the address bar, and changed the Wireless Channel from 6 to 7. My Airport meter is now at 4 bars - success!

2Wire Invalid Error (My Solution)
 

Well folks, I think the last security update did the trick and "broke" something that wasn't before.....

Since I applied the latest updates, I sadly have had a horrible time with my airport.

While it still works, I am suffering from dropped connections fairly frequently! In most of those cases, I can turn off and turn on my airport card, and I am OK....

I hope it really is the security update that affected this, and they find a fix.

..and today.... things are working with one small change. I have left the broadcast SSID turned on on the 2WIRE.

Since I am in a residential area without (hopefully) too many serious hackers, I feel the WPA security I have in place will do....

2wire firmware version
 

I am using a 2wire 1800 with FW version 3.7.5. It works fine.

I am curious to know what version of FW you folks are using, that are having problems? I wonder if you are using an earlier version.

2Wire and intel Macs
 

I read your guys problems and thought I would offer some words of advice. When they started putting the core2 duo in the Mac book I had to get one so when I did I went to set it up with my 2wire I didn’t have any issues. I was running a 2Wire 270hg and firmware 5.29.51. Upon reading your issues I decided to do some testing. I had access to a couple different model 2wires besides the one I normally use and decided to test them with my Macbook. Here are the results of what I found:
Using a 2701hg-b running firmware 5.29.47 and an 1800hg running firmware 3.7.1 I was unable to recreate the issue of not working with the 2Wire. I was using a Macbook core2duo with 10.4.8. I tried it before the January 07 airport update, after the January update, and after purchasing the 802.11n upgrade. I tried wep open, wep shared, and WPA on both 2Wire. I also tried wpa2 on the 2701 since it was supported by that model HPL. I encountered no difficulties prior to the updates. After the January update I encountered some minor issues initially with wep. To fix it I cleared my preferred networks (located in system preferences, network, show airport and on the airport tab) and the keychain records of the 2Wire in osx. (Located in Apps, Utilities, then Keychain Access remove all 2Wire entries) After resetting the settings I tried WPA and it worked, then verified all the other forms of encryption worked as well. The most probable cause of the issue is either entering invalid settings or the wrong settings were being stored in the Mac preventing it from connecting. A couple other things that are useful in a situation like this is to change the SSID on the 2Wire so that your Mac treats it like a new network and selecting a custom encryption key (your 10-digit phone number for example to do so go to http://gateway.2wire.net then home network and wireless settings to do change the settings). If you specify 40/128 bit hex when entering the wep key than the $ isn’t necessary. The $ also isn’t necessary when using WPA. Next I proceeded to check the encryption after each of the OSX upgrades that are available with multiple 2Wire modems. It worked properly with the 2701 and the January upgrade and all forms of encryption after my previously mentioned trouble shooting. Upon upgrading to enable 802.11N there were no issues with the 2701 or 1800 with all forms of available encryption. If these suggestions don’t help let me know I will be checking back on this thread to see what I can do to help any one having difficulty. One last note, check your computer’s computer name located in system preferences, sharing. If there are any spaces or special characters in your name it could be causing some of your issue, use only letters and numbers not any of the following ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) { } | [ ] \ ; ’ ” : ,./?>< or any others I may not have listed.

One last thing.
 

If you cant get wep open to work wep shared or wpa should work fine. WEP keys need to be 10 or 26 digit hex numbers and WPA needs at least 8 digits.

It works!!!!!
 

lloydfitzgerald:

You are a lifesaver. The cherry flavored ones. :)

I changed my default name to MyNetwork, rescanned for networks, selected MyNetwork, entered my WEP Open password, then "Voila". I was wirelessly connected to my 2Wire 1800 gateway with my brand new Macbook.

You are on to something. I think it's the setup utility that is run for new Macbooks. When it failed to connect wirelessly, I connected directly via ethernet to complete the setup. The configuration may have been corrupted or something because until I did the above it continuely failed to connect properly.

Thanks so much!!!!

Need to reset SSID continually
 

I have just solved my 1800HG login problem (problem started when I used a new macbook) by following all the helpful advice on this page. Renaming the SSID seemed to be the key. However, when I restarted my computer the problem re-emerged. Was again sorted by a SSID rename (I didn't even bother to change the WEP password). I then for a laugh went back to my original name and it worked fine!

So I am down to renaming my SSID each time I want to close down my computer (a pain as two other computers use the mobile network).

I assume something is happening when the Macbook reboots that affects the log in to existing networks. If it needs to find a new network all is fine. Deleting keychain and preferred networks and renaming my share name with no spaces didn't help by the way.

Any ideas? Seems a bizarre problem at present!

Chris

Preferred networks is problem
 

Sorry for immediately adding to my post. Deleting all the SSID's from the preferred networks seems to be the key to getting my system to work. It looks like I am going to have to do this each time I log on. Fun. I suspect I will upgrade my hub as my internet provider (BT in the United Kingdom) are offering me a new hub if I sign on for another 12 months. Thanks again for all the help from this site and I am happy to check any other things if people have similar problems. Chris

This works to fix the apple security update 2wire connection problem
 

Thanks, this is what I did and it worked great.

when clearing prefered networks chris dont forget the keychain
 

From my previous post:
"To fix it I cleared my preferred networks (located in system preferences, network, show airport and on the airport tab) and the keychain records of the 2Wire in osx. (Located in Apps, Utilities, then Keychain Access remove all 2Wire entries)"