Wi-Fi stops working every 10 minutes on Mac OS X

Solution (May 24, 2015)

The unstable connection turned out to be a problem with Mac OS X Yosemite and is apparently a common thing. There are numerous potential solutions to this problem posted all over the internet, but the one that worked for me was found in this Apple discussion thread.

Solution

Move your /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder to your Desktop (so you have a backup) and reboot. OS X will regenerate default network settings upon reboot.

sudo mv /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration ~/Desktop
sudo shutdown -r now

Edit (Nov 8, 2016)

I've moved since posting this question and the problem followed me to my new home (different country, different ISP). I noticed that I could use my laptop on other people's Wi-Fi with no problems, but as soon as I returned home, the problem surfaced again.

The unstable connection turned out to be a problem with the cheap routers some ISPs provide.

My former ISP provided a poorly-reviewed Technicolor unit and my current ISP provided an ancient Cisco unit. As soon as I purchased a decent router, the problem disappeared immediately and has not returned since switching to the new router 2 months ago.

Solution

Buy a decent router and use that for your Wi-Fi.

For reference, the router I purchased was the ASUS RT-AC68U: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC68U/