MacBook Pro M1 WiFi issue

I am having the same exact issue. New MacBook Air with M1 and it keeps dropping my 5G network and disconnecting my other devices on the network. I know for a fact it is the computer and not the router or network because it literally started once I connected the new macbook air and I never had this issue with my old macbook air. Any solutions besides an ethernet cord or moving closer to the router?

I was optimistic 2.4ghz was resolving the issue but found during a Google Meet that it didn't. I think I had recurring success only because sometimes changing the network gives me some stability for a while, but unfortunately I didn't find that to be the case longer term.

There are clearly many satisfied M1 users without connection issues, so my plan is to return mine, begrudgingly give it 6 months to a year with my old laptop, and hope that if this is a driver issue, it's fixed, and if it's a hardware issue, the next one doesn't have the issue.

It is impossible to debug Wi-Fi issues in isolation, because each Mac is used in a "network neighborhood", not is a clean room. The interactions between your Router(s), your home construction and distance from Router, your neighbors' Routers, and interference from baby monitors, microwave ovens and portable landline phones is very difficult to tease apart.

I sincerely doubt your results will be any different in six months. If you don't have time to start a new discussion and do some debugging now, that may be a solution that works for you now, but is NOT a good recommendation for other Users.

I don't see how any of your answers helps this thread Grant Bennet-Alder... Until apple finds a fix people are gonna keep posting here. Live with it. Is it EMI? is it software? is it hardware? Nobody knows, not even apple it seems. So quit bashing on those who report the problem here. It's is frustrating enough already, there is no need for your negative "waves" here. Please. Best Regards

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

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Grant, that is fantastic and some of us are and will continue to take those steps, including separate threads to work with you. In the meantime, please wait for those threads if you'd like to help specific cases, and the rest of us will continue to identify that there are a large enough pool of users impacted with similar issues to warrant not taking rash actions like buying entirely new modems and routers. In the meantime, as multiple users have requested, please reserve your efforts for those individual threads. Your previous posts are already here, seen, and repetitive.

I had the same issue and just called Apple Service. After troubleshooting for an hour it went for repair to Apple. After a week it was back and work so far (3 month) very good. Today I have the issue back and needed a restart under OS 12.1. No it is back and running so I can sent you this message. Based on the amount people having the same problem I Apple does something about it.

Sorry, besides restart I have no other suggestions.

I am facing the same issue with my MacBook Air since first boot, with a single wifi connection where all my other devices work perfectly.

None of the above solutions have worked.

My connection drops when using no other apps than simply surfing whether on safari.

And the worst! A brand like apple who boasts of the best products and the best service, does nothing better than blaming it on other apps!

Hi, same problem with brand new M1 Pro. Wifi connection is just diabolical. I have a 2012 Pro which has much better connectivity. Hopefully Apple can produce a fix soon. I travel a lot and need connectivity. The personal hotspot connection is generally poor on my macs. Bluetooth is generally poor as well. Never seen anything like these Wifi problems on a $2.5k device. Not Apples finest moment!

Well that was a super clever find of yours, especially if it holds up.

I wonder if you have many networks around you that you would consider joining? Also I wonder if your preferred network is at the top of the list. Oh - and I just reread your message more carefully and see that you asked the same question.

Meanwhile, the 80 mhz vs. 40 mhz made things worse for me, so I went back up to 80. I get 450 mbps via my closest satellite, which then must retransmit to the main router and out to the internet. I think that's pretty darn good considering the 45 networks within range of my laptop.

I routinely prune my list and there's only 5 at the moment, and none of them is a public one like starbucks or some hotel, so really places that are far from each other. I haven't had much trouble since the first few days, and I don't know why, except I deleted my networks and started over.

Anyway - get back to us if this continues to work well for you. I still consider it to be a nasty bug at the driver level most likely, but every little bit helps.

This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I upgraded from a 2017 mbp to this *ultimately superior M1 product* only to not be able to share my screen during a teams meeting from the exact same spot in my house as I used to on the one? How is this anyones fault but the engineers? lol… I mean, I love the 14in MacBooks, but clearly it’s not a good design choice to retire a technology until it’s replacement is available to most of your consumers, right?

Update:   Lately, had a few phone sessions with Apple Support. 1st recommendation was to update to Big Sur 11.6.2 from 11.6.1.  After the update, the wifi random drops ( approx 3-4/day) continued and then it started experiencing kernel panic restarts after long sleep.  

Next Apple support session, a couple of days later, was recommended to upgrade to Monterey 12.1.   After installing Monterey update, it's been 4 days without any wifi drops or internet disconnects. Also, no more kernel panics.  

So, for now, it's looking like the Monterey upgrade did the trick. 

Exactly the same problem: a brand new macbookair m1, ram 16 GB (Big Sur 11.6.2), and whenever I need a stable connection, which -in these pandemic times- means everyday, I've to go back to my Mbp 2015. Same room, same distance from the router, same enviroment, same chair and no Zoom or Meet conference are possible with the M1 connection, but even just browsing on the net becomes an annoying experience. Franckly intolerable. Di anyone solve with Monterey?

I was having the issue with frequent (every 5-10 minutes) WiFi disconnections on my M1 MBP running Monterey 12.1. This happened both at home and at work, both quite low-interference WiFi environments. What fixed it for me was disabling the awdl0 interface by entering this command in Terminal:

sudo ifconfig awdl0 down

Beware that this will disable AirDrop, at least until next reboot. (You can re-enable the awdl0 interface by changing the word "down" to "up" in the command.)

I had a similar issue with a brand new MBK and called Apple Support. We troubleshooted this as good as possible without having Wifi. After an hour they decided that the unit was defect. I got a box next day to ship the unit for repair. A week later it arrived back with a changed motherboard and it works since.

It seems Apple stands behind their products.