2016 MBP Touch Bar - TERRIBLE Wifi speeds

(Interesting. Will run Wireshark myself as well to find the culprit on my machine)

Would you suggest a bug report at the applications causing it? (i.e. http://sqlitebrowser.org, http://www.texstudio.org/)

Or would you suggest a bug report at Apple?

Just had a nice call with Apple.

We booted into recovery mode - opened the terminal. Ping times were much better.

Then reset the SMC => and everything was fine again.

I'll keep looking for any changes. Maybe this helps you as well.

Cheers!

The SMC happiness was not very long-lived. Pings got worse quickly. But I think I narrow it down more and more.

The MacBook is always connecting to 2.4 GHZ even though 5 GHZ is available. If I separate the SSIDs and force it to 5 GHZ it is much better. Lets see how long this goes ...

There are still once in a while spikes beyond 180 ms when pining local - but the average is around 2 ms.

I'll keep testing - I have seen different behaviour depending on the router. This may be setup related.

Well I did both the SMC and PRAM reset, it does not work

in my case the ping to the local gateway (home router) is constant below 2ms

but when I ping to the internet e.g. www.yahoo.com or www.google.com or 8.8.8.8

it has drop packets and pings going as high as 20000ms !!! insane!!!

So after rebooting countless of times (disappointing for a Mac) I decided to go reboot my router and guess what... the ping times goes down to below 350ms ... which is not favorable but hey it's better than 20k.ms. It does have drop packet after 10 or so pings but at least I can do my work now.

another thing I found is the If I connect to my iPhone hotspot via USB i get good timing over my 4G network but got crappy when I use Wifi Hotspot ... I think it is the wifi issue on the MBP TB ... dammit!!!!

Have been testing with PingPlotter for days. Then yesterday MacOS High Sierra released. Had no expectations, but installed right away.

WiFi is super smooth now. No packetloss anymore. No high ping spikes of 5-10 seconds. No bluetooth devices disconnecting.

Will give it a few more days but so far it looks very very promising. Feels like I finally received the fast MacBook Pro 2016 I ordered earlier this year.

I highly recommend updating to High Sierra to see if it fixes everything for you as well.

I had problems on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks.

So far, I have only been able to test it on 5Ghz networks. Works perfectly now.

No USB-C peripherals. Apple USB-C Power Adapter plugged in. Tried both left and right ports.

Can't believe it. It seriously lasted a full 24 hours after updating to High Sierra.

Now it's back to the usual packet loss and high ping times again. Also on 5Ghz networks.

Makes me feel like it's a software problem. Something running that (re)creates this problem.

Ok, I have the same issue. 2016 MBP with Touch Bar.

Ping on this machine ..

PING www.google.com (108.177.119.104): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=0 ttl=45 time=31.510 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=1 ttl=45 time=29.431 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=2 ttl=45 time=31.633 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=3 ttl=45 time=79.243 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=4 ttl=45 time=30.348 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=5 ttl=45 time=28.524 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=6 ttl=45 time=665.584 ms

Request timeout for icmp_seq 7

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=7 ttl=45 time=1099.114 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=8 ttl=45 time=870.447 ms

64 bytes from 108.177.119.104: icmp_seq=9 ttl=45 time=902.018 ms

However Ping on a 2011 MBP is buttery smooth. This machine has is a clone of the one with the problems (both installed from the same Time Machine backup). That rules out issues related to software and clearly points to a hardware/settings issue with these Macbooks.

2.4 GHz

I have the power supply plugged in on the right hand side.

No USB-C peripherals but I have a USB wireless mouse plugged in via an adaptor.

I don't think any of those are the issue as a simple reboot has made the problem go away for now. Also, why would the same peripherals not cause the issue with the 2011 MBP? It's an OS/Hardware issue clearly.

If you have access to a Dual-band Router that can use the 5GHz band, you are more likely to have better Wi-Fi reception. It may be worth buying a new Router or asking your ISP to provide one if you have only 2.4GHz available. You can also combine the one you have with a new one to provide a Home Network with better coverage.

--------

The Hardware for the 2016 and 2017 models is completely different.

The Different Wi-Fi chips are now soldered directly to the board, and the placement of those chips inside the computer is quite different. USB-C is now used for all External connections, where there was nothing quite like it in previous models. The power adopter uses a USB-C cable, which was never the case before.

If this problem is, in fact, caused by interference, then USB-C peripherals may be making the problem worse. These device may (or may not) meet their EMI-RFI** Interference goals, but they have not necessarily been tested in close proximity to MacBook Pro running full-speed Wi-Fi data at the same time. There could also be Bad batches of these devices that although they were type-qualified, individual units may exceed the recommended levels due to errors in manufacturing.

These EMI/RFI** tests are typically done a Faraday cage (a room that is made dead to outside magnetic and radio signals) to eliminate outside sources of radiation. The inside of a Faraday cage, by definition, has no Wi-Fi reception.

** EMI/RFI stands for ElectroMagnetic Interference /Radio Frequency Interference

So, long reply and thanks for taking the time but it looks like you didn't read (or I wasn't clear enough) what I posted.

1) No USB-C peripherals.

2) A 2011 (not 2017) Macbook Pro works fine in the exact same environment.

3) The 2016 Macbook Pro worked fine for a week, with no new elements introduced into the environment, then required a reboot to start working properly again. This absolutely rules out interference from other peripherals.

That would lead me to conclude,

a) The Wi-Fi chip on this device needs replaced. As it is an official refurb purchased in the last month that doesn't speak well of Apple.

b) There is an OS/Hardware conflict. Given the number of posts about this exact same issue (and a reboot fixed it) with the 2016 models then I think this is the most likely candidate.

If there is a flaw in my reasoning then please enlighten me.

I read your post with great interest. Since 4,414 people at this writing have looked at this thread, and others in addition to the 33 who have already posted may find this tread by searching and have an Interest in what I had to say, I posted a bit more that you may consider "background material".

Allow me to respond directly to your assertions:

1) >>" No USB-C peripherals."

ANYTHING you have plugged into a USB-C port is what I was referring to as a USB-C peripheral. I DO intend to include BOTH your Power adapter and its cable, and your adapter for a wireless Mouse. If this is an interference problem, those items are likely to be contributing to the Interference generated by your USB-C equipped MacBook Pro.

2) >>"2011 works fine in that environment"

That does indeed say that the environment is not responsible for the problems. I assert that the new MacBook Pro and its peripherals are responsible for the problems, not unknown outside sources. I am sorry if I did not make that completely clear.

3) >>"worked fine for a week..."

I am glad it worked fine for a week. But in my mind, that does NOT rule out interference from the new MacBook Pro and its cables and peripherals -- it only says we do not completely understand the all nuances of exactly what is causing these many different problems that seem to interfere with Wi-Fi operation.

a) >>"The Wi-Fi chip on this device needs replaced."

I do not agree with your conclusion. The Wi-Fi chips in these computers are soldered to the motherboard, rather than being on a replaceable module, and the entire radiation environment around them is completely different. The USB-C cords and cables seem to add considerably to the situation.

While I do not deny that there is a problem, I do not see any meaningful evidence that leads to the Wi-Fi chip as the culprit. You may be able to get Apple to replace the mainboard (which includes the Wi-Fi chip) under warranty. But I am not convinced that will solve this or other related problems.

>> "refurb ... that doesn't speak well of Apple"

Apple-refurbished units are run through the exact same diagnostics and burn in as new units. This in no way disparages Apple-refurbished units. Too Many Users of NEW 2016 and 2017 units are reporting Wi-Fi problems, and there is nothing different that distinguishes your Apple-refurbished from any of the other mysterious aliments users are reporting on NEW units on this and other threads nearby.

b) >> There is an OS/Hardware conflict.

That may be. But I do not see any evidence that that is the case. I think it is far more likely to be as-yet undiagnosed and quite complex EMI/RFI issues cause by a multitude of factors lining up in a diabolical way.

When some Users get relief by moving to 5GHz band, and some Users get relief by swapping their Power adapter to the LEFT side, and some Users get relief by discontinuing the use of the third-party USB-C Hubs, and some Users get relief by installing the firmware upgrade for the Apple USB-C multiPort [display] adapter, it takes a lot of the wind out of the argument that this is somehow an OS/Hardware conflict.

I had the same problems with my MacBook Pro with TB 2017. Messing with the cabling didn't help. If I turned off bluetooth, wifi became great. Turn on bluetooth and blaaaaa. Switched my TP-LINK Archer C7 to 5ghz and that solved everything (for now).

I had exactly the same issue. after days of troubleshooting I found the issue. Whether you believe it or not:

If you are a AVID users (PT, Sibelius...): if you face wifi performance issue (high deviation of latency when you ping your local wifi router) it's to blame AvidApplicationManager. This bloody background service seems to corrupt the wifi adapter which is very nasty and proofs the bad architecture and hardware bonding of AVID products. It took me days to figure it out and as unbelievably as it sounds, it's fact! As soon as this service is stopped your ping times are well!

JR, You're a legend!

I have been struggling with this for days and then read your post and thought: "What are the chances... how can an app cause packet loss?"

And sure enough, killing that the "DB Browser for SQLlite" makes the packet loss go away and 10x improvement in average latency.

Amazing.