Mac Mini M2 wifi issues

I'm having wifi issue with our m2 mac mini as well.

My internet plan is 150 and I'm getting about 60Mbps download 30~35Mbps upload, sometimes worth.

I get 150~170 Mbps, both upload and download, on all other devices on the same wifi network including two iPhone 13s, 2 iPads (m1 ipad pro & ipad gen 6), and my work issued Thinkpad x13 gen 2 amd. Even 10 years old late 2012 MBP had no issue getting the 150 up/down.

We sold 10 year old late 2012 MBP to upgrade to this mini, and it's really disappointing to see this wifi issue. Especially when internet/wifi is almost necessary, key function in this age. Our newest tech purchase has the slowest wifi.

And, all this network setting/troubleshooting mentioned in this thread seem very techinical and an average consumer shouldn't need to worry about this in my opinion.

Is this a hardware issue or something that software update can fix? I need to make a decision to return this or not... and pretty soon.

I use the Fios G1100 router with separate names for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. It connects OK before and after Ventura 13.2 upgrade the same day I setup the mini. I tested the speed from the provider and Google and they both say good connection--the speed as I subscribed. The issues here seem to be with certain WiFi routers with tri-band and using the same WiFi ID. So far my connection experience with that oldie router in the closet has been good.

IMO, based on the little testing this is not a video cable issue, these new mac’s have a bug in the Wi-Fi stack.. I solved the problem by connecting to Ethernet - that’s not the long term plan and if apple does not acknowledge or resolve in the next 10 days i will need to return.

PS. I am running an eero mesh network for the last 5 years, i have many new apple devices working wireless w/o issue.

apple give me a reachout

Add me to the ever increasing list of people experiencing the same issue.

On the day I received my Mac mini M2 I started to go through the setup process and immediately noticed that it wouldn't connect to my WiFi 6 router's 5Ghz network. My old 2012 Mac mini sat next to it on the same desk works perfectly. I eventually discovered that it would work on the 2.4Ghz network but at seriously slower speeds (50% or so). Not having had a WiFi-6 enabled device before I assumed it was something I hadn't configured correctly.

However, after trying everything I can think of, including updating to Ventura 13.2.1 it's made no difference at all. I have no ethernet connection to use instead so I'm having to live with slow Wi-Fi.

Occasionally it will connect to the 5Ghz network but soon disconnects, so I revert back to 2.4Ghz - at least that allows me to use the computer albeit with much slower Wi-Fi than I should have. Even my iPhone 12 on the same desk can get the full Wi-Fi speed of my fibre internet connection.

Very frustrating for a £1000+ computer especially as my 10-year old Mac mini works better in this regard!

I picked up a Mac mini M2 Pro yesterday, not being aware of these issues. I'm at 13.2.1, and experience the same issues noted here. Wifi performance is acceptable for a short period of time, then I experience high latency and significant packet loss (continual ping to my router). No other device has these issues, and all get a solid 600Mbps AX 5Ghz transfer speed no problem. My access points are only configured for 5Ghz.

I just ran a CAT 6 cable across the floor to see if it's any better on a wire.

So, this is a real issue with Apple. I am on my second unit and today I have just started experiencing the same issues as I was with my original unit (packet loss, internet connectivity dropping, applications glitching/stopping).

This time around I did not upgrade to 13.2.1 and I'm still seeing this issue.

Something is going on here that really needs to be addressed by Apple. How many replacement units will it take?

Interesting!

At the moment i only have these packet loss problems when using my separated 2.4ghz WiFi.

No problems in the 5ghz wifi.

But i am still wondering wether this is a hardware/design problem. If so, i could still return my Mac Mini within the next 2 weeks.

Nothing seems to have changed or improved for me in the macOS Ventura 13.3 update:

What's new in the updates for macOS Ventura - Apple Support

If I use the 2.4Ghz network, things work, but slowly with occasional dropouts. If I use the 5Ghz network, the internet drops out every time I use anything that uses AWDL it seems.

Same findings, still not fixed on 13.3. I may create a new thread with what i've found, to get more traction. Only a few of us are still here. Most have unsubscribed, just linger, click on "me too", or only read the first post.

I'll leave this video up until it expires; I think 30days? Everyone should download it, open a case with Apple, and use it to push this issue. It shows in detail the resolution working. There is still no excuse for Apple to force the world to use 6/149 (UK 44). It's not feasible, and it breaks a bunch of self-healing routers.

[Link Edited by Moderator]

Unfortunately, that made no difference in my case.

When connected to my 5GHz Wi-Fi the internet connection (although fast) drops as soon as I click AirDrop in the side panel of any Finder window, or access the Displays system settings pane, or wake a nearby iOS device.

When connected to my 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi, AirDrop and Displays system settings don't cause the connection to drop, but the internet speed is around half of what its capable of, and ping times fluctuate wildly.

I'm monitoring my internet connection/ping times using the free Pingr app from https://getpingr.app/ (no affiliation, it's just a useful tool).

From reading in different forums there are many with this same wifi instability issue including myself. My mac mini M2 pro is not my first mac.....but it may just be my last. This is a known problem and has not yet been fixed. I will be on the phone with apple support again tomorrow. If this problem is not rectified I will be seeking a full refund and they can have this expensive brick back.

Also, mesh halves your WiFi speed on satellite AP’s.

Here’s document from Meraki (Cisco). The section you’re looking for is “Impact of Meshing on Throughput“. This link may take you right to it however.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Wi-Fi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Wireless_Mesh_Networking#Impact_of_Meshing_on_Throughput

Consumer mesh systems purposely hide this. It would hurt sales.

Just dawned on me, why not try the hotspot on my phone and run the test?... Removing home networks from the equation. Make a wild guess what hard-coded channel it uses.

I'll give you a hint, no jitter/high latency when pinging the gateway.

I'm not sure how yours doesn't re-enable automatically, for everyone else, it does. This is a popular script written specifically due to that.

https://github.com/jamestut/awdlkiller

It won't hurt to give what said a try. Again, please use "ping".

I had the same issue April 15th on Spectrum default WIFI AP again. None of the recommendations previously worked, including turning off AIRDROP and bluetooth. WIN10/11 worked, android worked, but not M1, M2 macs. I went out and bought cat5e and it worked again, SUPER DUPER FRUSTRATING. 8 HOURS OF TROUBLESHOOTING yielded nothing. It then worked again after 2 days. I know my WIFI RSSI was 60 and my noise was 60. I have NO IDEA what the problem is but when I got closer to my Spectrum Wifi6 AP it started to work again. After 2 days I can now use my mac 15 feet line of site to the spectrum AP. I dont know if its apples fault or spectrum, but it is insanley frustrating. Before the 15th both my mac mini m2 and my m1 mbp 2022 were working fine.