MacBook Pro M1 WiFi issue

Internet issues do not typically happen in a vacuum, they occur in your "network neighborhood" with whatever is already on the airwaves nearby. Many factors are involved, so the easiest way to get some special attention is to start new discussion and post your Mac, your macOS, and your Wi-Fi snapshot (hold down the Option key while ckicking on the Wi-Fi Icon. It looks like this older one:

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current accommodations include:

• Updating to the very latest version of Monterey.

• Checking the [√] ask to Join new networks check box:

AND purging the list of potentially-available networks in this pane:

System preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > (Advanced) ...

... to leave ONLY the networks you might really join:

>> all of these reduce the number of networks your Mac is evaluating on a moment-by moment basis, looking for a better connection.

• if Alex Wasteson's Terminal command to disable AirDrop is also a fix for others, it should be applied as well, but we are still waiting for more "works for me" posts from other Users.

Hi Luca,

I'm not sure if you are still struggling with this issue, but I recently acquired a MacBook Pro 2021 M1 and was getting really frustrated by the slow WIFI speeds too. I spent a lot of time reading through forums and looking at different solutions suggested by Apple and other users, but to no avail. I also have a iMac 2019 that has blazing WIFI 800-900Mbps down/350-450Mbps up, so there was nothing wrong with my network. It had to be something to do with the configuration on the MacBook.

After mucking around with settings I came across this, and with one uncheck of a box my problem was fixed.

I've not looked into iCloud Private Relay, so no idea how this could be effecting the speed so much, but after hours of trying to solve this issue, and then achieving it with one click, there seems to be no question in my mind that this was not the issue.

Before unchecking "Use iCloud Private Relay":

After unchecking "Use iCloud Private Relay":

Interestingly I just looked at the OSX version number on my iMac vs my MacBook and the iMac is running 12.1 and the MacBook running 12.0. On 12.1 Apple have removed/changed "Use iCloud Private Relay" to "Limit IP address Tracking"

I hope this helps some people solve this issue.

I don't know why, but I felt an improvement in my MacBook M1 internet lags after disabling this item "Limit IP Address Tracking" in network settings, being more specific, when it was enabled I saw some disconnections when I was using some call meeting application like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Zoom, and after I disabled it (a week ago) never face this problem anymore.

Posting here just in case this may help someone.

Obs: I guess this is a new feature added on recent OSX versions, I'm using 12.1 Monterey

802.11n is adequate for many uses. Your observation that it could be better with a better Router that supports 802.11ac is certainly true, but in my opinion, that is "fine tuning" to be addressed later once the GROSS issues being reported are made a bit better.

RSSI

A quick reasonableness-check is looking at raw signal strength, (reported as RSSI) in the snapshot available by holding the Option key while clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the menubar:

here are some reference numbers:

• Right next to your Router, you should be seeing RSSI numbers around -50 or slightly better (closer to Zero, so -40 is better still)

• if the signal level declines below RSSI of -70 (or larger negative numbers, so -80 is worse), your Mac will get ready to switch to ANY better network, if another network is available. So -70 indicates miserable signal strength.

• Apple guidance tells system admins to try to overlap cells in a multi access-point setup to get at least -65 at every location, or your network simply will not be reliable enough.

So I just went through a period of flakiness and here's what I saw.

It suddenly decided to switch to my distant -79 Db 5 Ghz router.

10 seconds later it decided to go back:

I have no idea why it would make that choice. When it changes its mind sometimes my internet connection is down.

Driver issue?

Sure feels like it.

I should turn on logging and send it to Apple ... it's just pretty intermittent and I admit I don't know how to do it myself.

I’m having the same types of issues as noted above by Luca although not using any of the apps he mentions. It’s HIGHLY frustrating. It seems to just drop at random intervals. As soon as I reboot it’ll start working again, but then at random times it disconnects. All of my other computers/devices do not have this problem. I’m on a MacBook Air M1 with the latest standard public version of Big Sur as of 5/16.

You are using channel 6 in the very crowded and interference-prone 2.4GHz band. Your RSSI (Raw Signal) of -72 is TERRIBLE.

Within a few meters of your Router (straight line-of-sight with no walls in between) your signal should be stronger than that.

To test whether your antennas are broken, place you computer within a meter or so of your Router.

If your RSSI is not between -50 and zero, your Hardware is broken or your antennas disconnected.

My house is solid masonry construction, and the signal falls off very rapidly because the signals do not go through masonry. I am now up to FOUR Wired Routers at once to get "pretty good" coverage of my home.

Power Interference? My laptop was constantly dropping wifi, no apps being used only chrome for browsing. I unplugged the power adaptor from the Left-hand side and the issue vanished. I will need to test it further with it plugged into the right-hand side to see if it re-occurs. If not it is a quick and easy workaround, but not a great design.

Hi Luca,

Even i am also facing a issue with respect to M1 mac didn't respond to internet connection, i need to reboot multiple times, than system works perfectly, but this is not stable and when the M1 will stop responding to internet i don't know, this problem i didn't face with my windows laptop, even on iPhone.

Rebook also some time work some time it didn't, so i need to do reboot multiple time. Is their a solution for that.

Thanks and look forward to your revert.

Best regards

Himanshu Jain

I have exact same issue, since the update to 11.4, it has become more unstable, with at least 2 disconnections when in the middle of video calls.

I have the diagnostics logs saved, but to whom should I sent them for analysis and fixing ?