Slow internet with macOS Monterey

I figured out my issue, in which the root culprit was a VPN service that i had already installed on my system; "Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client".

The above VPN application was already installed on Big Sur OS, and had never caused me issues until the Monterey OS update. I suspect there's a slight working change / compatibility issue between my installed VPN app and Monterey OS.

So what i noticed was, even though AnyConnect VPN wasn't actively connected via the app UI, the underlying VPN "Network Service" was still in a "Connected" state.

Also, i noticed the network service will frequently / regularly auto-connect itself (or re-install itself after removal of network service) in the background..

And so, when the VPN "Network Service" was in a "Connected" state, that's when it caused me local network issues, where i suspect it was overriding and interfering with my perfectly normal network settings.

So what i did to resolve my particular issue each time i experience local network issues on the machine, was the following:

1. Open System Preferences > Network
2. Observe the list of services installed on the left pane, and lookout for any VPN services which are "Connected" (also has a green dot icon to indicate connection status). Then, select the particular VPN services which are currently "Connected".
3. Now, on the right pane, there should be a button labelled "Disconnect", click on that.
4. Now refresh your browser / tab, and see whether the service disconnect action restored your network connection back to normal.

• Tip: There's also a checkbox labelled "Show VPN status in menu bar". If you check that, then you can easily disconnect the VPN service from the menu bar in future. It would save you some clicks.

• Tip: Also, you could try removing the VPN network service (or app) if you no longer need it, by selecting the VPN service on the left pane, and then selecting the minus "-" button located at the bottom of the left pane. However, i noticed that the network service reinstalls itself frequently (whack-a-mole...)

I've also attached an accompanying annotated screenshot which you may follow visually, below.

So for the rest of you, it may / may not be a VPN network service which is causing your issue, but some other connected service that could be interfering / overriding normal local network operations on your machine, which may just need to be disconnected instead 🤷🏻‍♂️

This resolved the issue for my case:

from:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253335091?login=true

I was able to work this out with a senior technician at Apple (AFTER updating to 12.1 today).

After doing a million other steps the thing that got my speed back was by going to System Preferences > Network > Location, Edit Location > Hit the plus sign and add a location (I left it "untitled") then hit done.

It took a second for the ethernet/wifi to reconnect and turn green but when they did I ran my speed test which went from 0.09 mbps upload to 50.0 mbps

An interesting point was that the speed was normal (fast) in safe mode before I made these changes.

I hope this helps. Cheers.

The solution for me is to turn off Bluetooth. That makes a world of difference to my Wi-Fi speed.

My connection is through a cellular hotspot which usually gives me about 30 Mbps. That's what I'm getting on a phone and tablet on the same network but only about 5 Mbps on the Macbook Pro. I tried everything else and then saw someone mention Bluetooth. I switched that off and I now get the expected 30 Mbps on the Macbook. I've switched Bluetooth on and off several times and the results are totally consistent.

It's kind of a hassle because I use a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. I guess I'll have to look for some USB alternatives. I didn't used to have this problem. Nothing else has changed so it seems to related to Monterey. Either that or it's a hardware problem.

I'm using a MacBook Pro 2019 on Monterey 12.2.1.

I had an issue with slow connections but not slow internet. I have 1gig service and a velop mesh WiFi 6 system that pumps min 400mps in the whole house set up yet it was mind numbing slow connectivity only on Apple devices not streaming devices or smart home devices etc. I sent through hours of Apple reps via share screen and phone etc. I finally took my MacBook Pro M1 max brand new, iPad Pro and iPhone 13 to the Genius Bar for an appt. They couldn’t find a thing wrong with anything but the rep had a velop mesh system at home as well and told me to try unplugging EVERYTHING modem, router, nodes and then restart. I thought I’d done the reboot with the modem and router but he said to unplug nodes too. It worked. Something causes the communication to mess up I guess and since it was fixed I’ve had to do it one additional time (maybe a month later). So it’s something to be aware of for issues with connectivity.

For my M1 MacBook Air, the excruciatingly slow internet connectivity (download speed only) wasn't fixed by:

• setting up a new network location
• turning off IP protections, reporting stuff to Apple, etc.
• uninstalling all VPNs
• running in Safe Mode
• running as a test user
• reinstalling MacOS
• wiping the disk and reinstalling MacOS

But, over the 12 days since splitting the modem/router's channels to be separate 2GHz and 5GHz connections, I have had no problems, without rebooting once. It has stayed attached to the 5GHz channel without any noticable signal loss or slow-down.

Interestingly, my Android phone has been having trouble, since, as it seems to want to keep switching between 2GHz and 5GHz connections, and often drops the connection completely. The 2GHz channel seems especially prone to causing trouble. So I think that may be part of the problem; previously, the MacBook was most often attaching itself (or being directed by the router) to the 2GHz channel, to minimise noise and signal loss, but this was prone to drop-outs, and the MacBook seemed unable to adequately recover when that happened. I do think this is a bug in the OS somewhere, but I wasn't liking the chances of its being fixed, so am relieved that, so far, using 5GHz exclusively seems to be working.

Also interesting is that a number of users report that using 5GHz, 80MHz is causing trouble. I've not found that here.

I'll post again if my luck runs out!

Thanks Jason. I wouldn't know how to do that in the first place!

Anyway, I sorted out the problem by bringing the router much closer to check if there was a software bug. Nope. When the router's close, the connection is fine. So no software problem on my side. The reality is almost more annoying.

Comparisons with a MacBook Air and iPhone 13 in the same location, have simply demonstrated that the Mac mini M1 has a much lower quality of wifi antenna and reception than the other two machines. If the router is reasonably close, no problem. If the Mini M1 is challenged with more distance and walls, it just loses connection (or barely holds one) while the other two still pull a seriously good signal.

I know the Mini is entry level but I wasn't expecting to see cost-cutting there. It really sucks (for my needs at least). I might offload the Mini and just use the Air, or a good old PC.

What i did isn't that hard. I was having issue wired and wifi. I went to Systems Preferences -> Network. There I added a new location to the default Automatic one. In the new location I selected The advanced button. This gets you to where you can access the DNS settings. In my case I often saw DNS errors on the web page. I made sure that my router is inlcuded in he DNS bying using the +. I also had been using opendns but switched back to google 8.8.8.8. Allis now happy in mac land

I had the same issue with my M1 MacBook Air. After upgrading, the internet connection was slow, while all my other devices kept their usual speed. I rebooted, same issue. I flushed DNS cache, same issue. I changed security settings in Safari (unticked hide IP address from trackers) and updated and the deleted all safari extensions, same issue. I even cleaned up the stored Wifi-networks. Nothing worked. As I got ready to downgrade to Big Sur, I discovered above suggestion of unchecking “send diagnostics to apple” boxes. Well now it seems to work. Thanks!

I upgraded to Monterey 12.1 and also encountered the internet issue mainly with Safai, Onedrive, App store.... intermittently with Firefox. I followed the lead to the webpage

https://osxdaily.com/2020/11/23/how-fix-macos-big-sur-wifi-issues/

and followed point 5 to set up a new location. Then the problem is solved at least in my case.

Hope this is helpful to some of you out there.

Cheers

I experienced this problem after upgrading to 2021 MBP and Monterey. My iphone and older macbookpro, sitting right nest to it, on the same wifi network were 3 bard, very fast, the new MBP with Monterey, intermittent 2 bars, very slow, site loadings would often time out, etc.. I tried everything suggested in this thread. Often suggested sys option turn offs would already be off, I have no watch, bluetooth already always off, etc etc.. all of them. Don't let experts here lead you down a path of "fixing" everything but the mac, or contacting your ISP, etc... it's clearly a Monterey issue. Everything mac here that's not monterey worked dandy.

Here's what worked, see the posts for changing the location in the sys/network/wifi settings, that worked for me. At least for now. At first I thought it didn't.. don't forget to hit the "apply" button!!! Then it suddenly worked

It seems there are many causes, so any one solution has a chance of working, but no guarantee.

For me, splitting the router's channels into separate connections and connecting only to the 5GHz channel is promising, after about a week. I currently think the problem was that, when the connection dropped temporarily, Mac OS wasn't able to reconnect properly - maybe a clash between what the Mac was trying to do and what channel the router wanted it to use.

The signal:noise on the connection is much poorer (due to distance from router), but speed and stability are fine nonetheless.

Had this issue, slow Internet only helped briefly by a reboot. Finally found a solution that worked for me. Went to System Preferences - Sharing and unchecked Airplay Receiver. Download speed goes from about 350 Mbps to about 470. Toggling this setting on again and my Internet slows. Hope this is helpful to all those struggling with this issue.

Following an old thread on Catalina, users found that force-quitting mDNSResponder (findable for me in the activity monitor right at the top on the network tab) completely restored their wifi speeds. I'm on a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro running Monterey 12.4, and this solution is working for me

OK what i did on my intel mac mini was create a new locations and moved my DNS fro opendns to Google (8.8.8.8). and my speed on wired and wifi is back. I think it may have been a dns problem

Appears to be an issue with Monterey. I rolled back to Catalina on my early 2015 MacBook Pro, and I'm getting the usual fast speeds again https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253335091?answerId=256242908022#256242908022