Intermittent and slow Wi-Fi connection on Mac Mini Solved!

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Level 1

1 points

Intermittent and slow Wi-Fi connection on Mac Mini Solved!

Sometime ago i posted a fix but missed some vital information in the title so have decided to repost.

I originally posted the fix asSlow Wi-Fi connection on Mac Mini - Solved!

However this fix will also solve an intermittent Wi-Fi connection!

________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

Hello

This is my first post here @ Apple Support. I may be considered a newb to some Apple veterans as I am relatively new to the Apple World of things but I come heavily backed with tech-savviness 😀

I made a discovery whilst troubleshooting the slow Internet connection I have over my Wi-Fi. This simple configuration will help Mac users with the problem I have been facing for a few months now.

Please note - This will only work if you for some reason have the Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at startup if no keyboard is detected box ticked and/or Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at startup if no mouse or trackpad is detected box ticked whilst not having the device connected to your Mac.

For example if you connect your iPhone to your Mac in order to enable it to be used as a mouse and/or keyboard like I sometimes do the Bluetooth Setup Assistant will remain enabled which will result in very slow Internet over Wi-Fi speeds which is due to conflict between your onboard Bluetooth device and your onboard Wi-Fi device.

Just untick the Bluetooth Setup Assistant for the device that is not in use then restart your Mac.

I have not yet tried this fix on other Mac's however it is highly probable that this fix is not limited to a Mac Mini.

Mac mini (Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 22, 2013 1:54 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

245,195 points

Feb 22, 2013 10:00 AM in response to Orhan360

Thanks for the update! 🙂

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Answer 2

Mar 10, 2013 1:15 PM in response to Orhan360

So, you can't use your bluetooth devices or your wifi gets slow?

"Just untick the Bluetooth Setup Assistant for the device that is not in use then restart your Mac."

I have this issue in my brand new mac mini. Both wifi and bluetooth aren't working properly but I really need to use bluetooth mouse + keyboard setup (and a wifi connection would come handy as well due to so few connection ports)

I have to choose between wifi and bluetooth, is that it?

Thanks

Cheers

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Answer 3

Orhan360 Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 10, 2013 3:20 PM in response to toporempires

You can use both WiFi and Bluetooth simultaneously providing all your Bluetooth devices are connected.

Quick summary for you to understand a little clearer.....

The problem derives from a scenario where by you have the Bluetooth setup assistant for lets say your keyboard ticked but in actuality have no keyboard connected. What your Bluetooth card will do is repeatedly search for a keyboard to connect to and in doing so will cause conflict between your onboard Bluetooth and WiFi cards.

I am not a professor yet 😁 anywho my sum up tells me the conflict is simply down to a combination of interferences between both devices most likely because both are operating on the same or nearby channels frequencies. I havent looked into this mind you its just an observation.

In any event if you have all your devices connected you should not be facing this problem and it just may be that in actual fact its the router that is the problem here.

Hope this helps!

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Answer 4

Mar 10, 2013 4:14 PM in response to Orhan360

But when I active the WiFi the Bluetooth gets slow to crawl, instantly. And I have unticked those boxes you mentioned.

Can't find the solution anywhere... oh well. I'm getting disapointed with apple each passing day. :/

Thanks anyway,

Cheers

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Answer 5

Orhan360 Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 11, 2013 3:54 AM in response to toporempires

Dont hang up your gloves yet.

If your Mac was purchased recently then you have cover and free technical support available.

Give them a call, they may be able to help. If no joy is found there further your research, it is highly probable that others have the same problem.

Best of luck!

http://www.apple.com/uk/contact/

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Answer 6

kajjal

Level 1

35 points

Apr 15, 2013 11:53 AM in response to Orhan360

Thanks for your post !!!!!!!!!

This has been driving me crazy. My download speed is now back to a stable 40mb when before it varied all over the place and kept cutting out. I now know the reason is the Bluetooth setup utility kept popping up since I removed the USB keyboard / mouse.

Thanks again :)

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Answer 7

Orhan360 Author

Level 1

1 points

Apr 15, 2013 12:18 PM in response to kajjal

Good to hear this fix worked for you! 🙂

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Answer 8

kryodawg

Level 1

5 points

Sep 1, 2013 12:19 AM in response to Orhan360

I believe I posted a while back that my issue was resolved, but it is still happening. I don't understand it...going back to ethernet is going to be a pain, but not really much other choice.I hope Apple provides some kind of patch for my WiFi issue. Browsing has become so aggrevating with the intermittent connection speed drops.

All my other devices are working fine on the wifi, only my Mac Mini has the problem.

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Answer 9

lien_80

Level 1

0 points

Oct 19, 2013 6:47 PM in response to Orhan360

Hi everyone,

I seem to be experiencing the same issue with my 2012 Mac Mini. I've further explored the possibility of location and even cross-reffed with other Apple devices around the house, including my wife's Macbook Pro and my iPhone. On both the Macbook Pro and iPhone I'm hitting speeds up to twice what the Mac Mini can pull so it's completely confusing me at this point. I have tried to isolate the bluetooth issue but it doesn't bring about an improvement. As such, my final guess is something wrong with the wireless card in some Mac Minis vs. other apple devices, if not probably another example of Antennagate i.e. the death spot on the iPhone sometime back. Any thoughts?

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Answer 10

Nov 13, 2013 3:41 PM in response to lien_80

Also had the same problem recently, speed lower than 1mbps, started a week ago or so, tried everything suggested here, and a few others too, resetting router, switching wifi on/off, endless restarts with different configurations, nothing worked, was about to reinstall the os, until I though about the ethernet connected time machine.

I reset the time machine to factory settings, and set it up again, and saw an immediate improvement.

The time machine is currently extending the wireless network from an airport extreme acting as router, the ethernet connection is just between the mini and the time machine, the router is in another room. I don't really need the wireless extension provided by the time machine, but I couldn't figure out how to get the time machine to connect to the mini solely via ethernet, prob laziness on my part, it doesn't seem an option from the setup

Still some problems after resetting, unplugging the ethernet cable means the wifi speed from the mac mini drops to less than 1mbps, plugging the ethernet cable back in, and download speed goes back up to 40-50 mbps, I'm guessing there's some funny interplay going on between the time machine, the router and the mini.

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Answer 11

Dec 18, 2013 3:03 AM in response to Orhan360

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. I straight up turned off the bluetooth on my mac mini, restarted the computer and my internet speeds are ten times faster. I was pulling my hair out as I work from home and everything internet related was so slow. I thought it was my ISP. Apple really drops the ball sometimes.

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Answer 12

ralcpa

Level 1

4 points

Jan 12, 2014 6:03 AM in response to Orhan360

Thank you. Having the issue on a recently purchased mini and was driving me crazy. This fix worked nicely. Blazing fast download speed now..really unbelievable.

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Answer 13

Timesync

Level 1

15 points

Mar 31, 2014 2:08 PM in response to Orhan360

My wifi problems on MacMini seem to have started when I switched from a BT keyboard to a USB KB.

It looks like the bluetooth card repeatedly searching for a non-existant BT keyboard to connect to and in doing so causing conflict between your onboard Bluetooth and WiFi cards. Toggling off this BT setup at startup seems to have fixed the problem. This is after every other attempt at exhaustive trouble shooting, including a trip to the Apple Genius bar...

Hope this advice also saves someone else a lot of time!

Thanks.

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