HORRENDOUS 5ghz speeds on brand new m2 mac mini

[patearrings]

Just received my brand new mac mini today and my 5ghz speeds are beyond horrendous. I have non stop packet loss and constant drop out no matter what channel i put the router on.

The macs sitting next to it run at full speed internet with no problems over wifi. The M2 either drops packets constantly, doesn't get above 10% of my actual internet bandwidth or both at the same time.

The mac is basically unusable, even opening web pages takes over 10 seconds.

I have tried every single fix i can find online as it seems this was a HUGE problem with the M1 mac mini (which i wasn't aware of) but nothing seems to improve it.

If i run on 2.4ghz it works fine with no packet loss, but of course, speed is at about 10% of what i get on 5ghz.

I have spent 7 hours on this today and am now considering sending back my less than 12 hour old M2 mac mini.

EDIT: Have also booted into safe mode to test, same result.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

You haven’t said what your router/network setup is

 

[patearrings]

Diagnosed it myself. Wifi cards in M1/M2 mac minis are crap. Am hard wiring the whole house at the weekend 😂

Tons of posts already all over the apple forums about how bad the 5ghz on the mac minis is. Same story with the M1 mac mini's too. Wish i'd have known in advance

 

[cupcakes2000]

You haven’t said what your router/network setup is

Still hasn’t.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Tons of posts already all over the apple forums about how bad the 5ghz on the mac minis is. Same story with the M1 mac mini's too. Wish i'd have known in advance

If it’s 12 hours old you should give it back. Either exchange it or get your money back and buy a different product.

 

[Pressure]

If your Wi-Fi isn't set up properly for Macs then it will obviously perform subpar 🤷🏼‍♂️

Do you have Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5 (ac), Wi-Fi 6 (ax) or Wi-Fi 6E (ax with 6GHz)?

 

[tstafford]

If your Wi-Fi isn't set up properly for Macs then it will obviously perform subpar 🤷🏼‍♂️

Do you have Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5 (ac), Wi-Fi 6 (ax) or Wi-Fi 6E (ax with 6GHz)?

Curious - what does Mac require that is special in how one sets up Wifi?

 

[MajorFubar]

I've got a 13 y/o Mac Mini that can open webpages allegedly faster than yours.
So something doesn't add up.
If the issue was as widespread and as show-stopping as you're finding it to be, I think there would be a fair few more threads about it, and also the reviewers would have mentioned it, same as the well-known BT issues.

 

[Pressure]

Curious - what does Mac require that is special in how one sets up Wifi?

Apple Silicon Macs only supports 2/MIMO maximum spatial streams and up to 80MHz channel bandwidth.

802.11 standard, name, frequency	Maximum PHY data rate	Maximum channel bandwidth	Maximum MCS index
ax @ 5GHz	1200Mbps	80MHz	11 (HE)
ac @ 5GHz	866Mbps	80MHz	9 (VHT)
a/n @ 5GHz	300Mbps	40MHz	15 (HT)
ax @ 2.4GHz	195 Mbps	20MHz	9 (HE)
b/g/n @ 2.4GHz	144Mbps	20MHz	15 (HT)

These are the absolute perfect condition numbers with no interference, line of sight from access point to computer, only 1 device connected, and nobody breathing in the same room. Suffice to say you will never get these results in a normal environment.

Most access points only have 4 spatial streams on 5GHz so they can serve two 2/MIMO devices simultaneously with no delay. Multiple units trying to grab the bandwidth available will lead to stalling / lag the more devices are connected to the same access point on the same frequency since they are now waiting on response from it.

Here you can learn a bit about deployment in a busy environment: Optimise your Wi-Fi networks fr Apple devices.

 

[patearrings]

I've got a 13 y/o Mac Mini that can open webpages allegedly faster than yours.
So something doesn't add up.
If the issue was as widespread and as show-stopping as you're finding it to be, I think there would be a fair few more threads about it, and also the reviewers would have mentioned it, same as the well-known BT issues.

Ok, some more colour.

The brand new M2 mac mini is set up in a room with a 2019 imac and 2013 imac (yes 10 years old) that are also connected over 5ghz wifi and have zero problems, they run at the full speed of my internet (400mb). These machines are literally 2 feet away from the mac mini.

Secondly, if i unplug the mac mini and put it directly next to my router downstairs, i get no packet loss and full speed. So it is clear the issue is the radio/wifi card in the mac mini is crap, as it is the only connection that drops once you move a few metres away from the router.

The reason i didn't post my set up is because i had essentially resolved the issue myself by this time and no amount of changing things around would be able to fix it. I spent 8 hours yesterday messing with channels/bandwidths etc to no avail.

Finally, if you google "5ghz mac mini slow wifi" your monitor will explode with the posts about it all over the official apple forums. So to say it is not a show stopper is somewhat understating it.

NB: I spoke to apple at length about it last night and as usual with complex issues, they were absolutely zero help. I knew before i called them they would not be able to do anything to fix the problem, so instead resolved to rewire my house so all machines can use ethernet.

 

[MajorFubar]

NB: I spoke to apple at length about it last night and as usual with complex issues, they were absolutely zero help. I knew before i called them they would not be able to do anything to fix the problem, so instead resolved to rewire my house so all machines can use ethernet.

TBF wires are always the best solution. I keep telling this to people who start similar threads about Mac Mini bluetooth issues, but bless 'em, they keep battling on like troupers, trying to make what is just a low-range weak radio signal work for them when the design of the Mini inherently compromises it further.

I once had similar issues to you with an iMac in the previous house I lived in, but it was because the airwaves were so crowded. I lived on a typical English street corner in a densely-populated area, and on a bad day my computer could detect 19 different wifis, all 3-5 bar strength just like my own. Trying to get my computer upstairs to connect wirelessly to my router downstairs was like trying to hold a meaningful conversation with your mate at the opposite end of a loud rowdy pub, late on a Friday night. To save me from ripping up the floors and installing cat cables everywhere, my solution was to use powerline adaptors.

Just realised my comparison with my 2010 Mac Mini is probably irrelevant because it likely only has 2.5gHz, which possibly had no (less) issues with the Mini design.

 

[patearrings]

TBF wires are always the best solution. I keep telling this to people who start similar threads about Mac Mini bluetooth issues, but bless 'em, they keep battling on like troupers, trying to make what is just a low-range weak radio signal work for them when the design of the Mini inherently compromises it further.

I once had similar issues to you with an iMac in the previous house I lived in, but it was because the airwaves were so crowded. I lived on a typical English street corner in a densely-populated area, and on a bad day my computer could detect 19 different wifis, all 3-5 bar strength just like my own. Trying to get my computer upstairs to connect wirelessly to my router downstairs was like trying to hold a meaningful conversation with your mate at the opposite end of a loud rowdy pub, late on a Friday night. To save me from ripping up the floors and installing cat cables everywhere, my solution was to use powerline adaptors.

Just realised my comparison with my 2010 Mac Mini is probably irrelevant because it likely only has 2.5gHz, which possibly had no (less) issues with the Mini design.

Yeh it's a good point, and i agree 100%. The only thing i WOULD say though is that apple should put in better wifi cards. I don't have that problem on any of my imacs in the same room, even the one that is 10 years old.

I mean, they dropped the price on this new mac mini by $50, i'd rather they had kept it the same and installed a wifi card that did its job. It's not really acceptable that people have to hard wire ethernet cos they install crap cards.

 

[kingdali]

I had the same problem that the connection didn't work at all over a 5 Ghz network or was very slow. The problem in this case was my SSD enclosure which, when placed to the left of the Mac Mini, blocked or slowed down the entire reception.When I place the external SSD behind the Mac mini everything is fine

 

[Fishrrman]

Hmmmm....

You have 3 computers in one room, and ... no ethernet?

Try the new Mini on ethernet. It's almost always better.

 

[staeryatz]

Hmmmm....

You have 3 computers in one room, and ... no ethernet?

Try the new Mini on ethernet. It's almost always better.

Yeah, almost. Not for these people, and these people.

 

[KPOM]

I've got a 13 y/o Mac Mini that can open webpages allegedly faster than yours.
So something doesn't add up.
If the issue was as widespread and as show-stopping as you're finding it to be, I think there would be a fair few more threads about it, and also the reviewers would have mentioned it, same as the well-known BT issues.

I’m noticing it on my m2 Pro Mac mini. The temporary fix is to split my network into 2.4 and 5 GHz and run my mini on the 2.4 but that is less than ideal.

 

[KPOM]

I’m noticing it on my m2 Pro Mac mini. The temporary fix is to split my network into 2.4 and 5 GHz and run my mini on the 2.4 but that is less than ideal.

The “permanent” fix for me was to get a Wi-FI 6E router. So far it is working well (plus my future devices will have Wi-FI 6E support so now was a good time to take the plunge).

 

[marstan]

FWIW, I am not having any problems with WiFi on either of my new M2 MBA or M2 mac mini.

I run the mini connected to ethernet but I turned on WiFi just to test it out; it gets excellent 5g reception from an old Apple Airport Extreme ac router, located a floor below no less. In fact, the new M2s with WiFi6 are much faster and connect better in weak spots than my older Intel machines. Should be interesting when I upgrade to WiFi 6e routers. (note: I have found that 5g works better by assigning separate name IDs for 5g and 2.4g networks; avoids auto assignment of bands which is not always optimal).

 

[gradi]

Apple has had many problems in the communications realm and they just can't seem to make things work reliably. I keep reading about various problems with Bluetooth, wifi, etc. for years.

Remember this other long, ongoing wifi problem? In 2015 I bought an ipad air 32gb with iOS 8.4.1 for something like $550-600, but it had major problems getting and keeping a wifi connection -- wifi would cut out every few seconds, then come back, then cut out, over and over -- made it unusable. Over a few days I had several contacts with Apple and they claimed they had never heard of any wifi problems with the ipad air. I then did some searching and discovered this had been a well known, ongoing problem since iOS 8 and were widely reported in the media. Apple was just lying to me.

Even with the ipad only 1 meter from the router it still had big wifi problems. Apple kept telling me that despite our 2 Android tablets (different brands) and 2 Windows laptops (different brands) working fine with wifi that I should buy a new router to see if that would "fix" the problem. I asked them how even if that "fixed" it how it would help me at airports, hotels, coffee shops, etc. since I rarely even use the tablet at home? They had no answer. I had already checked it at a nearby place that had free wifi, but it also had trouble there. I was just told that I could still use the ipad for many things without wifi working. I suppose I could use it as a cutting board for cutting vegetables. Maybe use it as a fan on a hot day. I finally got a refund, but Apple was very resistant to letting me give it back even though it was only 3-4 days old. Left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Apple iOS 8.4 Hit By Return Of Crippling Bug

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/24/apple-ios-8-4-old-foe/

Welcome to the nightmare Apple can’t wake up from. After promising to fix the functionality stripped from iOS 8.4 in iOS 9, Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch software has now been hit by an old foe…

WiFried is back with a vengeance. The bug makes any form of Internet access a nightmare by repeatedly dropping WiFi connections and slowing speeds to a crawl and Apple Support Communities has now started receiving WiFried complaints from frustrated users running iOS 8.4.

Apple iOS 8.4.1: Should You Upgrade?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/08/20/apple-ios-8-4-1-should-you-upgrade/

iOS 8 has a notorious history for troubled WiFi, but those who hadn’t experienced previous issues are now finding iOS 8.4.1 is causing new problems.

WiFried: iOS 8 WiFi Issue

https://medium.com/@mariociabarra/wifried-ios-8-wifi-performance-issues-3029a164ce94#.51yu8i51y

Apple customers report devices crashing on iOS 9 update

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/18/apple-customers-report-devices-crashing-on-ios-9-update.html

iOS 9 users reporting Wi-Fi connectivity problems

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ios-9-users-reporting-wi-fi-connectivity-problems-how-fix-them-1520656

iOS 9 brings its own share of inherent bugs and post-update issues such as persistent Wi-Fi connectivity problems like any other major iOS update. Some of the recently reported issues include inability to connect to a Wi-Fi network, unexpected error messages with incorrect password entries, intermittent connection issues and/or extremely slow connection speeds.

Broken Wi-Fi in iOS 9

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2015/10/22/ios-9-problems-fixes/

We’re already seeing complaints about broken Wi-Fi in iOS 9. This isn’t at all surprising given that Wi-Fi problems are among the most common iOS problems.

Apple Releases iOS 9, Update Failures Anger Users

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/09/16/apple-releases-ios-9/

 

[Fishrrman]

^^^^^^^^^^
This is a Mac OS forum, not an iOS forum...

Not the same thing (at least not YET, heh...)

 

[MajorFubar]

Over a few days I had several contacts with Apple and they claimed they had never heard of any wifi problems with the ipad air. I then did some searching and discovered this had been a well known, ongoing problem since iOS 8 and were widely reported in the media. Apple was just lying to me.

Bog standard text-book damage-limitation approach, that I've mentioned dozens of times on here. If there's such a thing as a generic 'Manual For Customer Service Staff' on how to handle customers reporting issues with a product, it's going to be near the top of page one. Even if you are the 300th person to report the exact same issue the same day, they'll always tell you it's a 'rare' or 'isolated' issue that they've 'never heard of before'. It worked well for decades. Maybe for a hundred years. Then in the late 1970's, BBS's were invented, which begat internet forums, where aggrieved owners could join to offload their woes. And said aggrieved owners found out they were not even nearly alone. Since then, it's not worked too well, as approaches go. But it still doesn't stop companies from using it.

 

[gradi]

^^^^^^^^^^
This is a Mac OS forum, not an iOS forum...

Not the same thing (at least not YET, heh...)

You lost the plot. As a reminder, this is what I wrote:

Apple has had many problems in the communications realm and they just can't seem to make things work reliably. I keep reading about various problems with Bluetooth, wifi, etc. for years.

Apple, sadly, has a long history of having communication problems on all their products.

 

[ian87w]

I wonder what wifi chip that Apple uses for these. Sometimes it could be the driver for those wifi chips, which unfortunately usually is not user-accessible on macs (relies on Apple to update them).

On Windows laptops, I have had to use drivers from different laptop manufacturers (but same wifi chip) to fix wifi issues. Eg on my HP laptop, I have to use the wifi driver from Lenovo to fix its wifi issues, and it's a well known issue in forums that HP never bother to fix.

Unfortunately, issues like this is often hard to replicate reliably, and seeing how Apple's snobbish stance over their own customers (you're using it wrong), a fix may never come.

 

[gradi]

Turns out even a wired internet connection to the M2 Mini may have big problems.

M2 Pro Ethernet issues?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m2-pro-ethernet-issues.2378455/?post=31914640#post-31914640

 

[marstan]

Turns out even a wired internet connection to the M2 Mini may have big problems.

M2 Pro Ethernet issues?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m2-pro-ethernet-issues.2378455/?post=31914640#post-31914640

I understand it is only the M2 Pro mini with the ethernet problem. M2 non-pro mini no reported ethernet issues that I am aware of (I have a base M2 mini and no problems).