Macbook Pro random dropping wifi with Google wifi

Did you have any more luck with your troubleshooting process? What you described is very similar to what has been happening to two of my wife's macbook pros over the past 2 years or so. Had Google wifi with 3 APs and she started complaining about random drop outs. Got to the point where we just hardwired her in with an ethernet cable because it was interrupting her work and meetings. The issues spanned two macbook pros over those 2 years and the issue never affected any other device on the wifi network.

We ended up moving houses and when we first moved in I only had the time to set up one router/AP in the living room where she did most of her work and she didn't have any drop outs so I thought that maybe it was an interference issue or something else at the previous house. Problem was my office was too far out of range to get signal so after a week of having a cable going out the window to my office I finally got around to hooking up another AP in my office to extend the wifi. Well, she immediately started having issues. I unplugged the second AP it and things were fine again instantly.

Strange, right?

So I thought, similar to you, that I should go ahead and throw money at the problem and upgraded to 3 Nest Pro wifi APs. I finally got around to swapping them in last night and of course we're back to problems with her macbook pro losing internet randomly but no other devices in the house suffering the same fate.

At this point I think that there is something inherently wrong with the mesh capabilities of Google/Nest wifi products since the problem did not happen when only 1 AP was used. But when I started reading your deep dive into troubleshooting I got hopeful, so I just wanted to see if you had any updates before I throw it all away and get another system.

Thanks!

<< my tentative thoughts on these tests...

• It seems to me that safe mode itself didnt have much of an impact but the process of rebooting seems to have flushed something in memory etc that resulted in better performance for at least 24 hours. To me this points to an Operating System issue... >>

Au contraire, that exonerates Operating System Items.

Safe Mode precludes loading many third-party items -- the most obvious Bad-Actors on that list are third-party Virus Scanners.

'Works in Safe Mode' and 'fails in regular mode' implies "It's something you added." NOT MacOS.

<< At this point I think that there is something inherently wrong with the mesh capabilities of Google/Nest wifi product >

it is important that you change settings on the access points so that only the Main Router is providing IP addresses via DHCP service. Apple calls this "Bridge" mode, but other vendors use 'bridge mode' for a different feature, and every vendor seem to have their own name for Access Point only and NOT DHCP on the Access points.

--------

if you use Ping tests, are you using all-numeric IP addresses? if not, it is likely each Ping is preceded by a DNS lookup to translate that alphabetic name into an all numeric "internet phone number". The DNS lookup could be the weak link.

MANY networks set themselves up with the local Router as the (only) named DNS Server, which will then forward to stored DNS numbers in the Router as the secondary sources. Any weak link in that chain could give poor performance.

Some users have resorted to manually entering DNS Server address on their Macs for a variety of reasons, including performance issues. DNS numbers entered manually will override the ones in your Router (typically provided automatically by your ISP when your Router gets its IP address from the next upstream Router controlled by your ISP.)

System Preferences > network > wifi > (adnvanced) > DNS

¿what DNS numbers are shown there?

I've been having this exact same issue for the last two years. This started happening when I changed my old MacBook Pro 14'' 2015 for a MacBook Pro 17'' 2019.

It only happens at home, it happens once a day or sometimes once every few days or it could be 2-3 times a day. It's sporadic. It takes 5mins and gets resolved by itself. It only happens on my Mac, while other devices (even in the same room) don't have any issues.

A few months ago I changed my Mac to a MacBook Pro 17'' M1, and to my surprise the issue is still happening.

Already tried everything, like the flytripper, with no luck.

I was suspecting a USBc HDMI adapter was the issue, but the new Mac has built in HDMI, so no adapters are required.

At the office, this does not happen, so this is definitely a Mac+GoogleWifi combination issue.

Now, 2 years into this issue, I just wait for 5mins and grab a tea while it fixes itself...

Oh, one more thing. When I leave a ping running, when the issue gets resolved I see a bunch of ping replies with many seconds reply time. It feels as if there is a dam blocking traffic, that eventually gets resolved and queued packets are sent/received.

<< When I leave a ping running, when the issue gets resolved I see a bunch of ping replies with many seconds reply time. It feels as if there is a dam blocking traffic, that eventually gets resolved and queued packets are sent/received. >>

If any part of the connection is encountering errors, the protocols will discover that issue a re-transmit of the damaged data, through the same marginal link it has been using. that will behave just as you describe.

it sounds like there may be marginal connections, either Mac-to-access-point or access-point-to-Router. Let me post some diagrams to think about.

This is the typical setup with access points and Routers using 'over-the-air' connection between devices. You can see that a portion of the bandwidth in your network neighborhood will be consumed by access point to Router traffic, whether that is on the same channel or a different channel.

when fewer bands were available, this cut your available throughput dramatically, because devices and access points were competing for the same channels. But unless you live deep in the woods, your neighbors' Routers are competing for that radio spectrum at the same time, and their traffic may come and go to interfere with yours at higher or lower rates..

when you run an Ethernet cable or a wireline ethernet between access points, the Radio spectrum changes. now it looks more like this:

<Apple graphic above>

If you hold down the Option key while you click on the Wi-Fi Icon on the menubar, you get access to additional information.the first is a snapshot of wifi operation at this moment. like this older one:

if you transcribe or post yours, Readers can attempt to analyze what might be happening.

what can be very helpful in a complex network or dense neighborhood is to look not just at what channel, but how much spectrum is consumed by each device that is using Wi-Fi, yours AND neighbors.

WiFi Explorer is an inexpensive tool that has a free trial. it can show Spectrum graphs like this one:

the users of those networks are not getting a lot done. their traffic is interfering all over the place.

Same here, I'm a Microsoft software developer, and suffering Macbook + Google Wifi combination..........

FooKoo --

This thread is already WAY too complicated to get thoughtful answers for YOUR situation. You need to start a NEW discussion, with a Title that might attract readers who can help you think about your problem.

Be sure to include your Mac model, screen size, and model year, and your version of MacOS. It would be helpful to include an Option-WiFi snapshot as well.

I have the same exact issue. After reading through the thread decided to switch to Amazon mesh 6e

if you have poor signal, using a mesh solution is a great idea.

if your network neighborhood is too crowed already, (more than about SIX other networks visible) adding an over-the-air access-point connection could make your situation much worse.

this arrangement uses up a lot of network bandwidth sending your messages a second time, Router-to-Router. if overcrowding is the issue, adding another makes it worse.

I connect the points with Ethernet cable in series. What do you think about this solution?

<< I connect the points with Ethernet cable in series. >>

that is a GREAT solution!

I live in a house far from neighbors, BUT, the solid masonry construction and wire-lath behind the plaster makes it a WiFI dead zone. I have FIVE wired Routers/Access-points to cover just the house and garage.

Apple recommends connecting in parallel, if possible:

This kind of solution works in crowded network neighborhoods without adding more wifi traffic at the same time.

The network created by your router can freely mix Ethernet cabled and wi-Fi connected devices as well. So don't dismiss pulling an Ethernet cable to the far end of the house and just plugging it in to a computer there.

Thanks, actually I have already replaced Google Wifi with eero pro 6 mesh last night (after @thetolga said he replaced them with eeror pro 6e), I already have ethernet cables to each floor in series, like this,

Modem ----> eero gateway ----> eero point 1 ----> eero point 2

After replacing the new devices, it works fine with the Macbook for now.