Network Issues

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Level 1

8 points

Network Issues

I'm running Big Sur at the moment but had this problem in later patches of Catalina as well... at least once or twice a day my 2017 Mac Book Pro will lose its internet connection even though WiFi is connected and I can ping google.com and other sites. No other devices in the household are having the problem... just this one (the only Mac). It will work fine, I'll go away to do something else, come back and then I cannot get to any websites. A reboot is usually required to get the network to work again.

I did a clean install of Big Sur recently in order to hopefully fix this to no success. Anyone have any magic to fix this?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Sep 8, 2021 12:46 PM

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Answer 1

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MSJ_ATL Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 12, 2021 3:06 PM in response to MSJ_ATL

Ok, to close this off... I upgraded my network gear to a WiFi 6 mesh network using equipment from 2021 and everything works properly now.

My old router/WiFi was 4 or 5 years old.

I'm not an Apple developer so I can only guess that the issue lies in changes over time to the network adapter driver or network stack in MacOS since as stated every other non-MacOS device worked without fail on the old gear. Something about the 'suggestions' from the network tool since the suggested configuration was not possible in my old network gear made me look into compatibility issues with the router.

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Answer 2

Erin_B11

Community Specialist

Sep 9, 2021 8:51 AM in response to MSJ_ATL

Hello MSJ_ATL,

Thank you for posting in the Apple Support Communities. Having a reliable Wi-Fi connection is important, and we'd like to provide you with additional support.

For this issue, we think that taking the steps in the Apple Support article below might help:

If your Mac doesn't connect to the Internet over Wi-Fi

Additionally, since other devices on the same network aren't experiencing a connectivity issue, check to see if there are any obstructions in the path of your wireless signal to the Mac such as metal, plaster, concrete, bricks, marble, glass, etc. More details and steps can be found here:

Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference

We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.

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Answer 3

MSJ_ATL Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 10, 2021 6:45 AM in response to Erin_B11

Well, its better now after manually setting WiFi Channels... It would be great if the network utility had a report in the GUI that either gave the list of clear channels or suggested some. Digging through logs to find the right file and then parse out the used channels in a very crowded area for WiFi took more time than it should have.

Still wondering why my Mac is more sensitive to the crowded channels than my iPhone, iPad, a Windows Laptop, and every other device in the house.

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