MacBook Pro M1 WiFi issue

ping-time and success/failure is too coarse a measure to suggest what the problem might be.

Option-Wi-Fi snapshot or at least your observed RSSI can be helpful:

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My MacBook Pro M1 bought in January 2021 has the same problem: Dropping of the wifi-connection randomly in the exact same location where my older Macbook Pro or my iMac have continuously stable connections using the same network.

The number of identical negative experiences on this forum hints to a hardware problem around the wifi-reception on the new M1Apple computers rather than a software problem or an external issue.

If this were a software issue, it would have been resolved with one of the recent updates, which it obviously has not been.

Does someone have a technical clue where this problem could be located in the computer hardware (wifi-antenna, shielding, overheating of an electronic part, et cetera)?

Thanks in advance for your answers, best wishes

Christoph

I use a 2.4 GHz band Router with auto settings (20/40 MHz) yet still have this drop wifi connection.

In my case, it can't be about 5Ghz at 80MHz. I live in a small apartment with two bedrooms, and the router is in the center of the unit. My friend who also owned MBA M1, even living in a smaller apartment, also having this issue. Other non-M1 Macs and Windows PCs, including other wifi-connected peripherals are having a safe connection.

I am assuming, by this far, the wifi inside the MBA M1 is having a thermal issue, that they stop working at some point of heavy loads. Yes, heavy loads. The connection drops when using such a long video conference. This is a very noticeable occasion, obviously.

I am living in Jakarta, with a warm, humid climate. The ambiance temperature is between 27-29 degrees Celsius without air conditioning.

However, there should be an empirical experiment to test the wifi working temperature.

I am looking forward to solutions.

Edit:

For additional information, I am using a ZTE F609 router. To access more optional changes to the router setting, actually, there are two accounts. One is the "user" level with minimum options, and the other is "admin" for more flexible settings. Perhaps other ISP would do the same for their level of security.

For those of you worried about 80MHz channel width being a problem, that's not likely in the cases of people continually dropping from enterprise WiFi while never having problems with home WiFi. In office environments the channel width is usually kept small -- 20MHz or maybe 40. Otherwise the co-channel interference kills you.

My freshman who couldn't keep an internet connection for more than a couple of minutes at a time sent her MBA home and her parents took it to the Apple Store over the weekend -- one of her USB ports was broken. She brought it to me today having just gotten it back -- and it had a totally rock-solid internet connection the whole time she was in.

It was exhibiting a different bizarre symptom with the podcast app, not sure if that's related.

I was wondering if the Apple Store could repair a damaged USB on an MBA, and wondering if they might swap it for new hardware. If they did, and the new hardware has no problem, that would certainly argue for it being a HW problem. If they did repair it, I'm then suspicious that they did something like re-seat the antenna.

(This would work a lot better if I had possession of a failing device rather than having to borrow it from an 18-yr-old who thinks I'm just making excuses for "crappy WiFi". Anybody up for a road trip LOL?)

I have an app called wifi explorer and one of the things it does is show me all the versions of my wifi that are available and which of those I am currently actually connected to. I have a satellite system (Orbi) and it operates 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands. Sometimes I get slower connection because it switches to the 2.4 Ghz band, which is just slower.

My old Intel laptop seemed much more stable and stuck with the 5 Ghz network as it should. Since I have a satellite it has to pick the best of my 4 choices: 2 2.4 Ghz networks and 2.5 Ghz networks. It was that bouncing around and sometimes picking the weakest network from the other side of the house that seemed to be my issue.

I would turn of 2.4 Ghz altogether except I am pretty sure my printer only handles 2.4 Ghz unfortunately.

If you option-click your network icon, it will show you more details of your connection, including your transmit rate. As you can see I am currently at Starbucks ...

The antennas have been in the back near the air exits under the bottom edge of the display.

Wi-Fi is impeded slightly by ordinary furniture and construction materials, and heavily by heavy masonry like chimneys.

If this improves your reception, consider placing your Router up on an a higher surface, so that it is not transmitting through your table.

Purchased a M1 MBA for my wife in October. Came with Big Sur. Still using it. Experiencing the same wifi drops as all of you have. Spoke with Apple support briefly a couple of weeks ago. Only thing we tried was starting in Safe Mode which did nothing since it can't be replicated on request. So, randomly, the MBA shows it is connected to wifi, but it is not connected to the internet.

Only temporary fix is to toggle wifi off then on again to restore internet. This is absurd. I have been a Mac user for 30+ years. 1st Mac I have had that is unreliable for internet.

same issue with my macbook air M1,

issue description: when doing multiple tasks and putting stress on internet connection (for example, while on zoom meeting and opening multiple chrome tabs), internet become very slow and even disappear (although wifi sign shows full strength) and only return to normal after disconnecting/reconnecting wifi. two visits to apple genius bar with system reinstall but no effect (saying it is a software not hardware issue according to their diagnostics), also three calls to apple support without any diagnosis.

I used to have issue with internet failing to start after waking laptop up from sleep (only solved with restart), but I think it disappeared after 12.1 update

I have a still working mac mini 2011 on same network without any issues

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.

Yes there are lots of well meaning but ultimately unreliable comments.

Personally, having paid a few grand for an M1 I really don't expect to have to be resorting to tech support for something as basic as wifi connectivity, especially with older standard gear.

I have been looking for a solution to my M1 (and wife & sons iPhones) dropping video for a while during calls, and nothing I have found anywhere has solved the problem. (I mess about a bit in IT so not a complete noob here)

I can buy a product for a quarter of the price and it works perfectly.................... that really is a kick in the teeth.

From testing I am pretty certain it is related to my routers that it does not like - if I connect to say my Android mobile via hotspot it seems OK. My wifes iPhones are really not happy either, particularly with Facetime, but equally Jitsi, Whatsapp etc. She has to turn off wifi to make a call.

I have a Gigabit fibre connection through the ISP modem with PPPoE on a Mikrotik router. Data speed tests on the 5Ghz wifi run around 2-300 Mps which is fine for me. I'm after reliability on this, not outright speed here.

I have a bunch of older Netgear PoE APs running 2.4Ghz 'g' fixed 20Mhz and 5Ghz 'an' running 20/40Mhz dynamic as recommended (along with all the other recommended settings I can find eg WMM etc) They all have the same SSID so you can roam easily. It isn't like they are new and flakey. All my non cheaper Apple kit works fine with them with no issues.

Under normal surfing/browsing it seems to be fine with plenty of speed, but video calls are a fail - I can see it sit at around 4Mbs and it then literally just drops, and then after a bit of a pause it picks up again. My even *older* 2.4Ghz 'g' only APs were actually *more* reliable for video (but slow)!! Same results with browsers or apps. I have tested til my eyes bled and I am fed up with reconfiguring things 99 times.

Under Wifi diagnostics RSSI and NSR seem fine. I've removed all other AP settings, renamed an AP SSID to simulate a different network for good measure so it doesn't try and channel hop, and it still does pauses/drops. I can see that sometimes it seems the drops are associated with a drop in speed, but other times it can show a steady 300Mbs and pause/hang the call. The application just sits there and waits for a reconnection. I can only presume that it is the internal hardware or software having a hissy fit and trying to renegotiate something it doesn't need too.

Interestingly, while on a video call on the M1 even pinging my local server or gateway through a terminal times out. That really makes zero sense. Seems like the network is overloaded, even when it is using less than 1Mbs. WHAT???????

Clearly there is an issue with certain access points that no one has got to the bottom of. I have learned a lot about the diagnostic capabilities of a Macbook, some of which is pretty arcane and obscure, and can see certain things in the logs, but depressingly no information on them anywhere. But ultimately if it says it supports some or other protocol, be it b/g/n it has to work.

All in all a frustrating experience for the money, and I won't be doing it again in a hurry. I'll be sticking to my linux based kit in future.

Now off to blow my brains out for a load of new (non Apple) access points because it is easier than fighting this thing. Joy.

"Disappointed"

Hond70--

Are you running Big Sur?

Wi-Fi staying-connected problems are said to be improved in macOS 12 Monterey.

can you post your "spectrum" display From Wi-Fi Explorer?

Luca,

We want to make sure this issue is resolved as quickly as possible. We understand you're experiencing Wi-Fi performance issues when using specific third-party apps.

Since it's isolated to these third-party apps, we'd recommend contacting the developer of each app to determine why this is happening. This is why we've shared links to TinkerCAD's support site, as well as Google's support site.

In addition to the links in our previous response, you can contact Zoom Help Center, Microsoft Support for Teams, and LogMeIn Support for help with GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting.

To address the speed of your internet connection, we'd recommend reviewing the steps in our first response on how to Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference. Please see the section on how to reduce wireless interference for details on devices using 2.4 GHz band.

If you're still unable to resolve this issue after working with each third-party, please Contact Apple Support.

Best regards.

I am having the exact same issues on my brand new Macbook Pro M1.

It seems like internet connectivity intermittently drops - this does not seem to be related to any specific site or product as mentioned above. I also had to refresh this page many times before it finally worked. Is there anything else to do?

I have verified that internet and WFI is fast on every device I have and it seems to work normally, but connection get dropped frequently.