Mac Mini M2 wifi issues

Chiming in to say I'm still having the same issues. Thankfully I have access to ethernet in my spot in my home office, which is the ultimate band-aid fix. If I didn't, my computer would be unusable. Sadly, I've found it more convenient to just plug it in and let it ride with poor wifi but a strong hardwire connection.

Some other bandaid fixes that have worked for me:

• Turning the Mac Mini on its left side (with the front facing power light toward the top increases the signal strength. The wifi antennas must be on the right side of the device. I also bought a plastic Mac Mini stand to keep it propped up well.
• Minimizing the use of the thunderbolt ports in the Mac Mini. When I'm using 2 or fewer of the 4 thunderbolt ports in the back of the computer, my Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) is in the high 30s, with about 30% signal noise. As soon as I plug in a 3rd (and 4th) device to those thunderbolt ports, the noise goes up into the mid 50s and the SNR drops to the low 20s. So if you're able to, try not plugging too many things in to the back of the computer. (Hilariously depressing that a solution to this problem is to not utilize your $2500 computer to its full potential.)
• Again, this computer would be UNUSABLE if I did not have access to ethernet. The Wifi is awful, while every other device on my gigabit network thrives wirelessly.

I've also had some issues with my OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock with transferring data from one drive to another (both being plugged into the dock). Not sure if this is an issue with the Power Delivery of the dock or its relationship to the computer, or something with Ventura or Silicon. All of these things feel like a symptom of the same issue, but I can't be sure.

Truly depressing that Apple has put out a product that is borderline unusable unless the consumer uses a specific setup. I can't believe this thread with almost 300 replies and tens of thousands of views has still been ignored by Apple. A huge betrayal of the company's power users. Shame on them.

Found something that seems to potentially be helping. Under System Settings -> Networking right click "Ethernet" and make inactive. Then do the same to "Thunderbolt Bridge". Not sure why, but after doing this my wifi got dramatically faster and more stable. Have only been testing it about 15 minutes, but so far seems to make a big difference.

**Solution discovered** (but Mac MUST release a fix for this soon. Very unhappy with my new Mac Mini M2 Pro.)

it is a problem with Wi-Fi 6 routers that combine all the bands under one SSID (Wi-Fi name).

If you have Spectrum, their “smart” router doesn’t have the function to separate the bands and therefore will NOT work. You need to get another router and the bands have to be named separately as others have said in the posts.

this is an issue that shouldn’t be an issue, and I’m surprised no fix has come for this yet so regular people don’t have to become network professionals to get their internet to work!

I have the New Mac Mini M2 Pro and I have the same issue. Its practically unusable with WIFI. Everything else works fine. I have 1 GBPS connection but it drops to 264 kbps at times smh for real. Love the chip, but what the ****.

I just bought a 2023 MacBook Pro and have the same issue. Here are some things I've tried that did not help so others can save time:

• Turning off awdl
• Factory-resetting my computer
• Booting in safe mode
• Disabling VPN and/or Little Snitch
• Turning on location services (as suggested by Apple tech support)
• Changing wifi channels

Am currently trying the approach mentioned here, but it's not a long-term solution. Apple needs to release a fix for this ASAP.

It has been suggested to me that, while older devices use 802.11 ac for WIFI, the new MBP uses 802.11ax (x instead of c – this is why, for some people including me, older devices work just fine on the same network). The new Mini uses x as well. I'm also told that, while there should be backwards compatibility in general, there are too many routers to test all combinations and so things do sometimes go wrong, pending a software update.

I have a "Senior Advisor" from Apple's support team looking into this. In my personal opinion, people should hold off on buying these brand-new devices until Apple acknowledges and fixes the issue.

*** PROBLEM FOUND ***

Just separate my wifi network from shared SSID into 2 standalone SSID, 2.4GHz only and 5GHz only.

Now manually connected to "2.4 only", it works perfectly without any problem, the "5 only" somehow works, but not stable, many packages are getting lost, get some big swing on the chart when doing a speedtest.net.

*** UPDATE ***

Disable AWDL will solve the 5GHz connection problem:

Disable: sudo ifconfig awdl0 down

Enable: sudo ifconfig awdl0 up

The airdrop and some other direct link function will be disabled, but at least I can use the 5g WIFI for now, until apple release a solution.

As everyone with an M2 Mac mini is still within their 90 day complementary technical support period, I'd suggest we all contact Apple Support and reference this discussion to hopefully get it some attention, and show it's an issue affecting many people, not just a few.

Apple Complimentary Support - Official Apple Support

Sorry for my late reply.

@Ken Shimabukuro: the displays are connected via HDMI and/or USB-C to DP. As mentioned on side 32 (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254587195?answerId=259394995022&login=true).

I think that the issue is not directly related to the HDMI port itself. I think it is more of an software / design issue. My issue is still under investigation by the software development team. I am still in contact with my technical engineer. Unfortunately, the software development team seems to need very much time for stating a statement.

And, just to mention it, please do not write all the time "the solution to the problem". ;-) All possible ways that are mentioned in this thread (e.g. splitting 2.4GHz and 5GHz, grounding the HDMI port, not using the HDMI port,...) are only workarounds. The issue is produced by Apple and the solution has to come from Apple!

Same issue for me. Attaching the "wifi signal" screenshots from both my M2 Pro Mini, and my M1 Pro MBP which are two feet away from each other.

No reason why these should be this drastically different. Gotta flood Apple with these cases so they make a change in the software if that is indeed the issue.

I'm back here posting from my new replacement Mac Mini.... aaaaand the problem is still happening. Check out this log of my speeds dropping off. Check it out, multiple times per minute dropping from in the 900s to in the 200s. When it happens I see signal loss notifications on gmail and other apps that says it can't connect to the internet for a few seconds. Interrupts Zoom calls too. Two devices this has now happened on. I'm starting to think it's software, but I still can't be sure. Hopefully Apple will READ THIS.

K2Kevin Siad:

"Mac Mini M2 wifi issues: New Mac Mini M2 has constant issues with wifi. Its unusable. Ethernet works perfectly, but when using wifi the connection will consistently drop packets. Wifi works perfectly with older Mac mini M1, MacBook Pro, Intel Mac in the same small office. I have turned off all other devices and still have same issue. Did a factory reset and same issues."

-------

For reference...

Troubleshooting Mac Wi-Fi:

A few thoughts to try...

I. Clear the Temporary Internet Files:

• Cookies perform remembrance of certain site-entered data.
• Cache keeps a snapshot of the last time you visited a site.
• Go Here: Clear your browsing history in Safari on Mac - Apple Support

II. Restart your Router:

1. Power: off the router
2. Wait: 30 seconds
3. Power: It back on

III. Boot in Safe Mode:

In Safe Mode, Login Items do not run at login, certain preferences are set aside, and damaged system files are then reset. So, once booted in to Safe Mode, wait 30 seconds, and then boot up normally, attempting another update install. For instructions, go here: How to Use safe Mode on your Mac - Apple Support

IV. Try a New Admin User:

What happens when you create a new administrator user, and log into it? Do you still get this error? If not, then it is likely an error with the current user. If so, then it is likely an error with your Mac.

Same problem! I also bought Mac Mini M2 the first day it became available and brought it home and wifi didn't work. It was present for my daughter :( It showed 2 bars of wifi connection but it was no internet connection at all! There was Windows laptop on the same desk which worked perfectly. And PC tower in the same room in even more distance also worked fine. When I placed the mac mini next to the broadband hub it worked (not ideally fast but still it was some connection). And it is even not a long distance. It is the same floor, without any concrete or brick walls in between. We have many device all around the house and in more trouble locations. They all work perfectly!

Such a fail from Apple! Without wifi, mac mini m2 is just an useless brick. Returned it next day.

At first I thought I had a faulty device but then I read it is a known issue for M2 based devices. Apple is gathering statistic now and thinking if it is worth fixing...

It is not acceptable problem for Apple reputation.

Solution: I had the same problem with both Ethernet and WIFI.

Under Networks I disabled/inactivated "Thunderbolt bridge" (translation from Swedish, could be different in your language) and now my internet connection works as it should.

Please replay with your result.

Best regards

My machine:

  Model Name:	Mac mini
  Model Identifier:	Mac14,12
  Model Number:	Z170000FTLL/A
  Chip:	Apple M2 Pro
  Total Number of Cores:	10 (6 performance and 4 efficiency)
  Memory:	32 GB
  System Firmware Version:	8419.80.7
  OS Loader Version:	8419.80.7
  Serial Number (system):	PL4D161CFH
  Hardware UUID:	30FF2CBC-C426-59DB-81B3-4209433C91C2
  Provisioning UDID:	00006020-000810E402C0C01E
  Activation Lock Status:	Disabled

My symptoms:

After a day or two -- my mini drops off the wifi. After awhile, it claims to reconnect but pinging the address of the router fails:

➜  ~ ping 192.168.2.1
PING 192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2
...

Other devices in the same room are fine (this drop has twice occured during a browser based google meet that I was able to quickly rejoin on my iphone).

I have tried all the things here, even rebooting and power cycling don't fix. Restarting the router is the only "fix" -- which is a kick in the nads for all the devices that do work (cause that takes out the TV too and the boss hates that).

It's as though the mini loses crypto and is unable/unwilling to re-establish the link.

The router is a (Canada) Bell Home Hub 3000. My computers all have DHCP reservations (allowing me to have a static hosts file and support ssh, etc without having to monkey with the steaming pile that is mDNS or setup my own). The wifi crypto is WPA2.

So unlike some, I'm not yet convinced that the m2 needs to be returned -- but I agree, it is super <salty language> annoying.

I have a couple more experiments I'll doing the next time this happens -- will follow-up.

Further to my post earlier in this thread, I spent some time over the weekend, trying everything I could think of and that has been mentioned here, to resolve this issue, but to no avail. My Mac mini M2 still won't connect reliably, or stay connected to a combined 2.4Ghz/5GHz network, and offers slow speeds when connected to the 2.4Ghz only network.

I already had the macOS Ventura 13.2.1 update installed, which hasn't helped at all.

Here's what I tried:

• Reset my Calix Gigaspire Blast u6 Wi-Fi 6 router to defaults which created a single combined 2.4/5Ghz network.
• Mac would only connect at 2.4GHz and would disconnect within a few seconds.
• Tried turning on and off and different combinations of various settings in the router (802.11ax, 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, DFS, MU-MIMO)
• Created a separate 2.4Ghz only network which the Mac would stay connected to, but Wi-Fi speeds were around half what the line is capable of (and other devices in the same location work at)
• Disconnected external devices (USB-C SSD, USB-C Monitor, HDMI Monitor) one-by-one and checked connection and speed - no change
• Tried swapping USB-C cables, which port devices were plugged into and a different HDMI cable - no change
• Put the Mac mini in a vertical position on the desk - no change
• Tried the terminal command to disable AWDL but it made no difference and I need AirDrop/Handoff etc. anyway
• My iPhone 12 and 2012 Mac mini sat on the same desk both connect to 5Ghz and at the full connection speed.

I don't know what else to try.