Hi - wondering if anyone can help me, thanks in advance
I have a MacBook Pro (Big Sur 11.5.2) and an iPhone 12 Pro iOS 14.7.1. In the same location accessing the same WiFi router my iPhone outperforms the MacBook by a factor of 10.
Why would this happen? Thanks again
Pete
MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
On the macOS side, Use Wireless Diagnostics on your Mac - Apple Support can help you analyze specific issues. If your Mac doesn't connect to the Internet over Wi-Fi - Apple Support has a section where there are various functions - Scan, Performance, Monitor, Logs, etc.,. which can also help. Check the Performance section. Does the throughput/speed decrease over 5G or 2.4G, or both?
Are you concerned about steady connectivity or overall throughput? Your Mac will switch between 2.4/5GHz bands automatically and manage the connection. 2.4 GHz bands have only three primary channels - 2, 6 and 11. If you have more than one access point, you should check channel assignments. You can set up your gateway to automatically pick a channel, instead of setting one up manually.
The iPhone is connecting to Access Point over which Wifi Signal 5 GHZ AC band and Laptop over 2.4 GHZ or 5 GHZ
If I understand correctly, correct me if not correct, the MacBook Pro. is also on the 5 G Network too.
The 5G network is usually best used with Direct - line - of - sight for full bandwidth which seems the case " If I move my MacBook Pro closer to the router it accelerates fine "
Wireless extenders use 5 GHz spectrum typically, which can cause issues with connections in this band. This is true of most 'mesh' extenders. These provide larger coverage, but compromise throughput. Unless you use very bandwidth intensive applications, you may not see a significant behavioral change.
A wired 'extender' is an Access Point primarily.
Both 5G - as an aside I also have a brand new iMac next to it now (Big Sur 11.4). I am getting 170-200MB download via that, similar to my iPhone and around 5-7MB from my MacBook Pro. Something has changed and I don't know what. If I move my MacBook Pro closer to the router it accelerates fine
Thank you. I would totally agree with you if I was seeing the same from my iPhone and iMac but they are performing fine. Also this is a development with the poor performance from the MacBook Pro. It has worked perfectly for around a year. Something has changed but nothing physical in its location.
Hi - thank you. I agree with you completely. However until a few days ago, things have been fine across iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro - suddenly MacBook Pro (my main tool) has fallen off a cliff with no apparent reason.
We should then leave the iPhone out of the discussion. If the performance of the MBP has changed in the last few days on the MBP, we can look at it specifically. Is the throughput lower than what it as been in the past? Have you recently update macOS on the MBP?
Thanks for your help. The MBP is on auto update but hasn't updated in the last few days. Bizarrely I have, just before sending this reply, carried out another speed check. Its back to previous performance which is great. However I use this machine and location for work and frequent video meetings so reliability is important.
If you have any advice on what this may have been or is (if its intermittent), any comments, suggestions, or thoughts will be gratefully received. Thanks again
Thanks - thats very helpful. I need the speed and reliability to be predictable, which it has been solidly for well over a year since I set this room up as my home office. I am accessing a Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band Mesh Extender which I thought at first was the offending component so did a factory rest and did a complete new set up. That is working fine across various apple and other devices
Hi. It’s a late 2016. The router is AC
Comparing throughput on a 2016 MBP and a 2020 iPhone 12 may not be apples to apples comparison. For example, the iPhone 12 has a Wi‑Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 2x2 MIMO implementation compared to a 2016 Mac. Is your Mac a 13-in model?
iPhone faster than MacBook Pro over WiFi
