My Mac is not connecting to Starlink wifi.

Update macOS to 13.4, and—if any are installed—remove any add-on VPN apps.

Check for Wi-Fi router updates, too. (Are you using a Starlink-provided Wi-Fi router, or some other router?)

I’m here assuming the MacBook Pro is connecting to Wi-Fi, and is not wired to the Wi-Fi router.

DNS generally doesn’t come and go, it’ll usually show as a ~30 second delay or as an unavailable network connection for anything attempting a domain name translation. And most stuff does translate domain names. The following ping command does not translate names and does not use DNS. This ping command will check basic connectivity, and will run until ^C is (control C) is entered, or the Terminal.app window is closed.

Launch Terminal.app from Applications > Utilities, and enter the following:

ping -i 5 8.8.8.8 

Every five seconds, that’ll check for connectivity to and from a Google server. That’s entirely independent of DNS, too. You’ll either get a response from the Google server and elapsed response time in milliseconds, or an error. Leave it run ing in the Terminal app window, and check back when there’s an outage. (Independent of the network connectivity check provided, I’m also mildly interested about the ping times achieved via Starlink, too.)

Also see if wireless diagnostics show any issues:

… If your Mac isn't connecting to the internet over Wi-Fi - Apple Support

PS: A Mac Pro is a very different computer from the MacBook Pro that you have here. mac Pro is a big computer.

Yeah; some part of your IP network link is incurring massive packet losses; unusable.

You can try the same ping to your Wi-Fi router, and see how well that link holds:

ping -i 5 192.168.1.1

If the pings to the Wi-Fi router show packet losses, it’s very likely a local issue with the Mac, the Wi-Fi, interference, or maybe the Wi-Fi router. Not Starlink.

Are the wireless diagnostics reporting any issues?

Router firmware updated?

Once the network is stable, then add the VPN into the mix.

bddtf86 wrote:

Macbook Air will not stay connected to Starlink Wifi. All other devices in home have no problem connecting including Iphone 13, nest cameras, smartTV's.

If there are add-on security apps, add-on VPN apps, add-on cleaner apps, add-on anti-malware apps, add-on privacy apps, or similar, installed here, remove all of those per the vendors' instructions, restart, and test again.

Relocate the MacBook Air to another Wi-Fi network, and determine if there's something happening with the Wi-Fi within the Mac, or with the Mac network connectivity.

If that fails to resolve this, please re-post your question with the previously-requested block of PHY / BSSID / RSSI / transmit rate / etc data into your own and new thread. (I'm currently following you, so I will see that new posting.)

And yes, posting what may well be an unrelated question onto any other thread—particularly a multi-page thread—is just going to cause confusion, and can also reduce the number of replies.

Remove the add-on VPN app. Ignoring the privacy issues inherent in add-on VPN services, they can also mess up connectivity, as that second VPN tunnel inherently messes with your routing. What you’re reporting reeks of routing issues, too. (Though… where?)

Risks? Wrapping a second and weak tunnel around the primary tunnel and for just part of a network connection always seemed weird, particularly when it centralizes your traffic and makes personally-identified data collection vastly easier, and when the primary tunnel connection is well-secured and well-encrypted end-to-end, and while the second tunnel uses widely-known credentials and is thus weaker.

if you have another Router operating in the same area, the two may be competing and clobbering each other's data. The simple solution to this dilemma is to set each Router to "automatic" channel selection. Then when each Router starts up, it will listen to the airwaves for a moment, then choose the least-busy channel(s). It is not an accident that every troubleshooting procedure starts with 'Cycle the power to your Router'.

There are built-in tools in MacOS Wireless Diagnostics including a 'Scan' function. You can invoke the MAIN pane of Wireless Diagnostics by holding the Option key while clicking on the Wi-Fi Icon in the menubar, then choosing Wireless Diagnostics off the menu that pops up.

From Wireless Diagnostics Window menu, choose Scan, which can tell you if two are DIRECTLY on the same channel. It will be a start, but is not completely helpful because the amount of Spectrum used around each nominal channel swamps MANY adjacent channels.

(Drag and drop on Preview to see larger)

The inexpensive and free-trial version of Wi-Fi Explorer has a SPECTRUM display, which is MUCH more useful:

.

Yeah, those ping times and the ping failures usually mean the Wi-Fi is malfunctioning or there is interference.

I also use WiFi Explorer app, because of its graphing abilities. That app will show other Wi-Fi networks, but will not (directly) show other sources of interference.

In addition to posting the graph, post the signal quality values from the Mac. Option-click on the Wi-Fi icon in the Mac menu bar, and copy the noise, RSSI, MCS, data rate, and Wi-Fi network type here. (Or post a screen shot of the pop-up, masking out the MAC (colon-separated) values before posting.)

So I was having this same issue and as a quick diagnostic I hooked up my TP link extender since my iPhone was connecting to my starlink but not my MacBook.

After connecting my extender to the starlink WiFi I was able to connect my laptop to the extender no problems.

it has to be an issue with iOS and the router itself.

channel selection:

Not being able to change the channel manually is aggravating. But one possibility is that the Starlink Router is ALREADY set for "automatic" channel selection.

if it is, and you power off the Router, count slowly to ten, then power it on again, it may choose a channel NOT already occupied by your neighbors' Routers.

that is the data snapshot. it show good signal (RSSI) and higher than expected Noise. that is step 1)

2) from that same menu choose 'Open Wireless Diagnostics'.

its window will open, and offer you the opportunity to check for common mistakes in setup.

3) from its Window menu, choose 'Scan' and a window like the scan pane I posted will be shown.

you can screenshot that and post it.

The Option-WiFi snapshot will reveal what channel you connect on:

----

This pane will show you lots of things about networks around you as well. I have multiple Routers with different network-names and its shows signal strength (RSSI) and noise level on the strongest as well:

 menu > about this Mac > (system report) > Network > Wi-Fi

Software Versions:

CoreWLAN: 16.0 (1657)

CoreWLANKit: 16.0 (1657)

Menu Extra: 17.0 (1728)

System Information: 15.0 (1502)

IO80211 Family: 12.0 (1200.12.2b1)

Diagnostics: 11.0 (1163)

AirPort Utility: 6.3.9 (639.15)

Interfaces:

en4:

Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x135)

Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.111.1 AirPortDriverBrcmNIC-1680.11)

MAC Address: 74:1b:...

Locale: FCC

Country Code: US

Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 144, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165

Wake On Wireless: Supported

AirDrop: Supported

AirDrop Channel: 149

Auto Unlock: Supported

Status: Connected

Current Network Information:

Bennet-AlderAssociates_5G:

PHY Mode: 802.11ac

BSSID: d4:5d:...

Channel: 44

Country Code: US

Network Type: Infrastructure

Security: None

Signal / Noise: -58 dBm / -95 dBm

Transmit Rate: 1300

MCS Index: 9

Other Local Wi-Fi Networks:

Bennet-AlderAssociates:

PHY Mode: 802.11

BSSID: 88:1f:...

Channel: 9

Country Code: US

Network Type: Infrastructure

Security: None

Signal / Noise: -84 dBm / 0 dBm

Bennet-AlderAssociates:

PHY Mode: 802.11

BSSID: 3c:bd:///

Channel: 6

Country Code: US

Network Type: Infrastructure

Security: None

Signal / Noise: -75 dBm / 0 dBm

Bennet-AlderAssociates:

PHY Mode: 802.11

BSSID: d4:5d:...

Channel: 1

Country Code: US

Network Type: Infrastructure

Security: None

Signal / Noise: -41 dBm / 0 dBm

Bennet-AlderAssociates_5G:

PHY Mode: 802.11

BSSID: 3c:bd:...

Channel: 140

Country Code: US

Network Type: Infrastructure

Security: None

Signal / Noise: -85 dBm / 0 dBm

<< Based on the small research I made says Starlink Router is limited to adjusting the settings, which includes setting channels. >.

yes, adjust those settings to use a different channel or set to AUTO.

splitting the netework into two names is a common technique when you want to selectively connect to one band or the other -- but will NOT solve this problem, you are barking up the wrong tree.

Exactly what channels are being used? (or post a screenshot)

there are tables that can be used to check for overlap, depending on channel WIDTH 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz.

'forgetting' a network does nothing to its continuing to broadcast its Wi-Fi router signals through the airwaves around you. Powering it off does.

copy an d paste the text,

'Bennet-AlderAssociates' {length = 22, bytes = 0x42656e6e65742d416c6465724173736f636961746573}, bssid=3c:bd:c5:07:fa:0a, channel=[6, width=20], cc=US, type=11n, rssi=-74, rsn=(null), wpa=(null), wep=no, ibss=no, ph=no, swap=no, hs20=no, airport=no,

'Bennet-AlderAssociates' {length = 22, bytes = 0x42656e6e65742d416c6465724173736f636961746573}, bssid=88:1f:a1:32:e3:40, channel=[9, width=20], cc=US, type=11n, rssi=-80, rsn=(null), wpa=(null), wep=no, ibss=no, ph=no, swap=no, hs20=no, airport=no,

'Bennet-AlderAssociates' {length = 22, bytes = 0x42656e6e65742d416c6465724173736f636961746573}, bssid=b0:95:75:33:8e:ef, channel=[3, width=20], cc=(null), type=11ax, rssi=-85, rsn=(null), wpa=(null), wep=no, ibss=no, ph=no, swap=no, hs20=no, airport=no,

'Bennet-AlderAssociates' {length = 22, bytes = 0x42656e6e65742d416c6465724173736f636961746573}, bssid=d4:5d:64:cc:85:48, channel=[1, width=20], cc=US, type=11ax, rssi=-40, rsn=(null), wpa=(null), wep=no, ibss=no, ph=no, swap=no, hs20=no, airport=no,

'Bennet-AlderAssociates_5G' {length = 25, bytes = 0x42656e6e 65742d41 6c646572 4173736f ... 69617465 735f3547 }, bssid=3c:bd:c5:07:fa:0b, channel=[140, width=80], cc=US, type=11ax, rssi=-86, rsn=(null), wpa=(null), wep=no, ibss=no, ph=no, swap=no, hs20=no, airport=no,

'Bennet-AlderAssociates_5G' {length = 25, bytes = 0x42656e6e 65742d41 6c646572 4173736f ... 69617465 735f3547 }, bssid=d4:5d:64:cc:85:4c, channel=[44, width=80], cc=US, type=11ax, rssi=-53, rsn=(null), wpa=(null), wep=no, ibss=no, ph=no, swap=no, hs20=no, airport=no,

or transcribe the channel numbers,

or post a screenshot