MacBook Pro drops WiFi connection exactly every 10 minutes for 4 seconds

I have exactly the same issue. I updated from Mojave to Big Sur straight. This is the "only" thing which changed on my computer.

I also recognized it during zoom calls since they are critical in terms of connection loss, even for a short time.

I dropped DHCP lease which didn't help. I switched from 5GHz to 2,4GHz which didn't help.

The Router is exactly the same (AVM Fritz!Box 7490). I updated the firmware to 7.21 some weeks ago which worked perfectly fine with Mojave before.

@haydnspaß: which router are you using?

I have the Macbook Pro 13-inch, 2017.

Other Computers (Win10) do not have this issue. The time between dropouts is also about 10 minutes.

This is a typical ping during this behaviour:

64 bytes from 193.99.144.80: icmp_seq=45 ttl=247 time=9.646 ms
64 bytes from 193.99.144.80: icmp_seq=46 ttl=247 time=10.541 ms
64 bytes from 193.99.144.80: icmp_seq=47 ttl=247 time=9.514 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 48
Request timeout for icmp_seq 49
Request timeout for icmp_seq 50
Request timeout for icmp_seq 51
64 bytes from 193.99.144.80: icmp_seq=52 ttl=247 time=9.488 ms
64 bytes from 193.99.144.80: icmp_seq=53 ttl=247 time=9.553 ms
64 bytes from 193.99.144.80: icmp_seq=54 ttl=247 time=13.535 ms

Any ideas?

Can i somehow deep dive into wifi log to what causes the drop?

After digging around i found the solution in my case. Latest Firmware-Updates enabled WPA3 for Wifi on my router (AVM FRITZ!Box 7490).

Since i still used Mojave on my macbook pro it still used WPA2 for connection security. After updating to Big Sur my macbook was able to also use WPA3. This constellation caused the network drop every 10 minutes. Manually setting wifi security to WPA2 on my router fixed it. Hope that helps for people googling this specific issue.

Have a look around your house (or neighborhood) for some electrical equipment that is switching on or off at that 10 minute interval. Especially devices with higher currents - eg heaters, cookers, motors (eg fridge).

Also see if it happens when your macbook is not connected to power.

It is possible for (especially) higher power devices, or devices with electrical windings (like motors) to send out a pulse of interferenece when switching that will cause wifi to drop.

Possibly - but it could also be that the macbook is more susceptible to the interference. - eg because of specific antenna geometry.

Either way, the 10 minutes is a clue. You have to look for somthing else that is happening at that 10 minute interval - whether it is stuff switching or apps doing somthing.

Here is an extreme example of what interference can do (18 Months 18 MONTHS! :-D )

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54239180