macOS 11 Big Sur support of 802.11k and 802.11v

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Level 1

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macOS 11 Big Sur support of 802.11k and 802.11v

It appears that macOS Catalina, which I am currently on, does not support IEEE 802.11k or 802.11v. I am still hesitant to update to Big Sur, but would if it supported these standards. Does it?

Repeated disconnection from the network because the AP (AVM Fritz!Box) is searching for a preferred user of 5GHz bands such as radar is beginning to annoy me, especially if it happens during video calls. And it doesn’t happen on my iPad or iPhone, as they do support 802.11k and v...

Posted on Jan 8, 2021 6:46 AM

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Answer 1

Phil0124

Level 10

216,896 points

Jan 8, 2021 7:29 AM in response to gfilmstudios

See here: macOS wireless roaming for enterprise customers - Apple Support

macOS doesn't support 802.11k. macOS does interoperate with SSIDs that have 802.11k enabled.

macOS selects a target BSSID whose reported RSSI is 12 dB or greater than the current BSSID’s RSSI. This is true even if the macOS client is idle or transmitting/receiving data.

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Answer 2

Jan 8, 2021 7:24 AM in response to gfilmstudios

You did not mention which Mac you have. Without that, the

only thing I could say is that perhaps your Mac does not

have the hardware to support these standards. 802.11 standards

are more hardware oriented than operating system.

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Answer 3

Phil0124

Level 10

216,896 points

Jan 8, 2021 8:58 AM in response to gfilmstudios

Nope.

Maybe because it's unlikely that a Mac will actually be roaming around like an iOS device.

Even MacBooks would be more stationary than an iOs device when working. Its hard to think you are walking around with the Mac and need constant internet access. It would make sense to just get connected once you arrive at wherever you are going to place the Mac and look for the connection there, rather than needing the Mac to automatically roam from hotspot to hotspot.

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Answer 4

gfilmstudios Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 8, 2021 10:04 AM in response to Phil0124

Well that does make some sense. Sadly, as I said, in Europe wireless APs are required to periodically check if a 5 GHz band is in use by some preferred actor such as weather radar and for that scan to happen the AP tells the device to switch to a different band — thus making .11k and .11v beneficial even if the device is stationary.

Anyway thanks!

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Answer 5

gfilmstudios Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 8, 2021 8:07 AM in response to woodmeister50

We have a MacBook Air 2014, an iMac 5K (don’t remember if there were different models of that one) and a few older iMacs.

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Answer 6

gfilmstudios Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 8, 2021 8:05 AM in response to Phil0124

Ok what a bummer. Sorry, I did search beforehand but didn’t find that article. Any Idea on why Apple wouldn’t implement it on macOS even though iOS supports it?

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macOS 11 Big Sur support of 802.11k and 802.11v

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