MacBook Pro M1 WiFi issue

If you have a good strong signal, the traditional work-around was to give the 5GHz and The 2.4GHz different names, so that you could selectively connect to one or the other using different network-names. (they remain the same network).

Another alternative was to use an Ethernet adapter, but up to at least11.4, these have a different problem, where they fall apart under heavy load. Users report the sold-in-the-Apple-store model does no better than the others. No word on whether 11.5 provides any fixes for this one.

Readers here be happy to work through this issue with you, But: ...

... this discussion is too crowded to keep each of the many voices separate and work through the details of your setup.

Please start a NEW discussion, and include the specs of your Mac and MacOS.

In addition, I ask you to hold the Option key while you click on the Wi-Fi Icon on the menuBar. This provides access to Wireless diagnostics AND please post a screenshot or transcribe the values shown there. Looks like this older version:

also, how many other Networks do you see?

If you have sync-ing to your Apple-ID of either files or Photos, there will be a huge backlog of synchronization that may need to occur when you first connect your new MacBook Pro. There have been reports that the traffic was so heavy, it reduced performance available to others connected to the same Wi-Fi Network.

This will settle down once your Mac and your Apple-ID are correctly in Sync. Perhaps you should wait until bedtime to connect them, then let it run while you (and others in your household) sleep.

My problem has subsided ... The only thing I did was reboot my Orbi wifi router and satellite... Not sure if that helped or whether it's going to start happening again ...

I was going to try to figure out how to turn of 2.4Ghz on my router because it seemed to be connecting to that network ... although that should be more reliable (slower though ...). But I was dropping packets, a lot of them, so I don't think it was that.

I also deleted my wifi connection for my router and reconnected from scratch. The equiv of "Forget This Network" on iOS devices, basically. Maybe that helped as well.

Fingers crossed.

johnjliu-

Your voice is one of many posted on a discussion that has sprawled to 8 pages of posts. Readers would be happy to give your network neighborhood a detailed analysis, BUT:

It is very difficult to do so on such a busy discussion, because each poster's details merge into one another in the Reader's mind.

For personalized analysis: please start a new discussion.

Post the details of your Mac model and MacOS version.

Hold the option key and click on the Wi-Fi icon on the Menubar. You will get a snapshot like this older one. Transcribe or screenshot the values in that snapshot:

.

MacBook Air (M1, 2020) running OS Monterey 12.0.1

Safari running slower and slower, almost stopped.

Thought it may have been:

Service Provider (complained)

NBN (checked)

Modem (replaced)

Wireless Network (double-checked, connected with Ethernet cable)

Network interference (turned everything off)

Problem was when “Hide IP address” was selected in Privacy settings in Safari. Turned it off and all my slow network problems were resolved immediately.

For me it sometimes helps to adjust the tilt of the display. No joke.

When I see ping drops I push the display slightly (really just a few millimeters) to the back: better reception.

When you inch the display slightly towards you again: bad reception, ping drops.

And anybody saying it depends on the position of the laptop relative to the router: no it doesn't. Tried a hundred times, reproducible in all kinds of settings. Really good Wifi, no other device has any problems, including some other Macs.

I have repeatedly offered to work with users who are willing to post the specifics of the Mac model, their MacOS, and the Option Wi-Fi snapshot, if they are willing to move to a new discussion that is not made more difficult by all the other complaints already on this over 10 pages long discussion.

I would be happy to work with you under those conditions as well.

In this narrow case, exchanging your hardware or taking your computer to the Genius Bar for Hardware analysis, is not exceptionally helpful, because the Apple Store does not have the same network neighborhood you are fighting against at home. The most likely outcome is that it works fine in the store, and fails again at home.

Apple will not be working on a fix until Users can help them figure out what EXACTLY is wrong here. If you are willing to do so, contacting Apple support, working BEYOND the first responders to get to a Wi-Fi specialist, and filing a Bug Report backed by your information for them to analyze would be extremely helpful.

Get Support

.

Alex Wasteson--

have you contacted Apple Support with your discovery?

There are a lot of posts here about Wi-Fi disconnects. Some were solved by upgrade to 12.1.

But I fear not all were solved -- and I did not get the strong feeling that Apple was completely on top of the problem, (but that may be Apple playing their cards close, as usual).

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.

Your Mac is capable of using the 802.11ac protocol; you're using 802.11n. The 802.11n protocol was approved in 2009 and it was superseded by 802.11ac in 2013 and 802.11ax in 2019.

My guess is your modem and router are either old tech, mismatched or both and your new Mac doesn't like it.

I have both a modem and router that support 802.11ac and my speed on a 600 Mbps line is consistently above 500 Mbps for all five of our Macs. Speeds in the 550 Mbps range are common.

If you're looking for top speed, you need to modernize with respect modem and router. 802.11n should be giving you greater speeds than you're experiencing but it is a rather outdated protocol. You also need to look into using different channels in your router and router antenna positioning.

maybe this:

If this is available in yours you could try selecting the 20/40 option rather than the 20/40/80 option.

Good point. I am on 12.0.1 and not seeing any issues anymore.

Sadly I cannot remember if I was on 12.0 when I first noticed the problem ...

Problem resolved! Safari issue. “Hide IP address” was selected in Privacy settings in Safari. Turned it off and all my slow network problems were resolved immediately.