migration assistant unable to connect: problem+solution

I was recently trying to use migration assistant to transfer data to a 2023 MacBook Pro from a 2020 MacBook Pro. Every time I tried I got the same "unable to connect" problem, and subsequently found many posts on this subject in the community forum. I tried many solutions but had no success until I came across the recommendation in this thread written by Old Toad.

"Using WiFi with Migration Assistant is almost always a receipt for failure. Try connecting the two machines via Ethernet. It'll be much faster and more reliable."

Thank you Old Toad for this suggestion - it worked! HOWEVER, it is extremely difficult to get the computers to connect via ethernet once they attempt to connect via wifi.

TLDR version: 1) once both computers are on the same wifi network, migration assistant will always prioritize wifi over ethernet; 2) it is extremely difficult to get either computer to stop using wifi (turning off wifi on the original computer doesn’t work - migration assistant turns it back on; turning off wifi on the new computer is impossible - once it connects to a wifi network it remembers those credentials and will reconnect even if I tell it to switch to a different network, and there is no way to turn it off).

In the end I had to unplug my wifi access points to force the computers to use ethernet. This worked, eventually. Initial transfer speeds were over 2 GBps but gradually slowed to almost zero. So it took a loooong time.

Hope this helps...