HORRENDOUS 5ghz speeds on brand new m2 mac mini

[Geordiekeith]

I just posted this in the Apple Discussion forum:

Ok, I received my new Mac Mini M2 Pro last Friday and spent the weekend backing up and transferring my data from my Mac Mini 2018. This is my work/office machine and is set up with dual screens, a back-up 1 TB SSD for work files and a back-up 8GB La Cie Porsche drive for personal files - music, photos, software, etc.

On Sunday night I "dropped" the M2 pro in in place of the 2018 machine and connected everything.

On Monday I lost a day of possible work trying to get a constant Internet access despite a strong wi-fi signal...

I spent the day rebooting the router, rebooting and replacing the extender receivers we have (my partner and I have offices on the top floor of the house so use extenders to boost the signal from the modem on the ground floor - she works on a Windows laptop in one room and spends a lot of time on Teams and had no problems with wi-fi or internet. I could never get a consistent internet connection for more than 5 minutes at a time despite a strong wi-fi signal in my office and as I work with Microsoft Office with OneDrive for my files (lots of scientifc papers and articles) that interfered with my work-flow.

Then I tried the unplugging and restarting of the Mac Mini and that solved the problem for 10 minutes, until it went to sleep... and woke with the same problem.

Now I knew it is not the wi-fi or internet connection as my M1 MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and iPhone had no problem getting full speed internet in exactly the same location. In fact I ended up using the MacBook for urgent work and e-mails, but it was not in my dual-screen set-up.

So finally, I relocated the extender in my room which fortunately has an ethernet socket, and placed it behind my desk and connected it with an ethernet cable to the Mac Mini, and voila, I have the high speed Internet connection I was used to.

So this tells me that the wi-fi set-up - card, software or firmware - in the Mac mini M2 Pro is screwed up, and as is obvious from all the comments here, it is a common and known problem - SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT APPLE?????

BTW, I do not want to return the machine - I bought it from an official Apple reseller in our village (in the Netherlands, near Amsterdam) as I prefer to support local businesses so they do not have a genius bar, and I am guessing the "genuises" in Amsterdam will not have an answer either. I just want a fix for this issue.

 

[EponymousHoward]

I just posted this in the Apple Discussion forum:

Ok, I received my new Mac Mini M2 Pro last Friday and spent the weekend backing up and transferring my data from my Mac Mini 2018. This is my work/office machine and is set up with dual screens, a back-up 1 TB SSD for work files and a back-up 8GB La Cie Porsche drive for personal files - music, photos, software, etc.

Didn't realise there was another thread. Just posted this, which may be helpful. The M2 Pro seems to be hypersensitive to iffy HDMI (maybe other ports) connections: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...es.2379220/page-3?post=32110868#post-32110868

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"So finally, I relocated the extender in my room which fortunately has an ethernet socket, and placed it behind my desk and connected it with an ethernet cable to the Mac Mini, and voila, I have the high speed Internet connection I was used to"

Looks like you have found "the solution".

If ethernet is "what works" for you, use it.
Stop worrying about wifi. Ethernet is probably somewhat faster, anyway

 

[EponymousHoward]

OP wrote:
"So finally, I relocated the extender in my room which fortunately has an ethernet socket, and placed it behind my desk and connected it with an ethernet cable to the Mac Mini, and voila, I have the high speed Internet connection I was used to"

Looks like you have found "the solution".

If ethernet is "what works" for you, use it.
Stop worrying about wifi. Ethernet is probably somewhat faster, anyway

Indeed - if the layout of my house wasn't so awkward I'd run a cable (and might yet if I get time over summer).

 

[Bearygoodfries1]

Didn't realise there was another thread. Just posted this, which may be helpful. The M2 Pro seems to be hypersensitive to iffy HDMI (maybe other ports) connections: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...es.2379220/page-3?post=32110868#post-32110868

Iffy? Excuse you, but my connections are lovely and perfectly fine 😤😆

In all seriousness, even if that was the issue, it seems a tiny bit more widespread than a one or two-off manufacturing issue, and should be resolved by Apple.

OP wrote:
"So finally, I relocated the extender in my room which fortunately has an ethernet socket, and placed it behind my desk and connected it with an ethernet cable to the Mac Mini, and voila, I have the high speed Internet connection I was used to"

Looks like you have found "the solution".

If ethernet is "what works" for you, use it.
Stop worrying about wifi. Ethernet is probably somewhat faster, anyway

I originally thought the same thing, but even if that was an alternative, I paid for a product that is supposed to work as it should.

 

[EponymousHoward]

Iffy? Excuse you, but my connections are lovely and perfectly fine 😤😆

In all seriousness, even if that was the issue, it seems a tiny bit more widespread than a one or two-off manufacturing issue, and should be resolved by Apple.



I originally thought the same thing, but even if that was an alternative, I paid for a product that is supposed to work as it should.

Yes, I think this is a design defect (not to be confused with defective by design!). My 2018 Mac mini does not exhibit this behaviour, with the same HDMI lead, but does exhibit other flakiness that should have pointed me to the lead (rather than the port) earlier. I think the wireless antenae may be too close to the hardware ports on the M2 Pro (maybe all M2s - dunno).

 

[Jayson A]

My M2 mini was fine when I first setup the wifi, but I noticed today that some videos were struggling to load, so I did a speed test and it was like 50mbps (should be around 700). Checked my iPhone and it was over 500mbps.

Just plugged ethernet back in and it's back to 700mbps.

 

[EponymousHoward]

My M2 mini was fine when I first setup the wifi, but I noticed today that some videos were struggling to load, so I did a speed test and it was like 50mbps (should be around 700). Checked my iPhone and it was over 500mbps.

Just plugged ethernet back in and it's back to 700mbps.

Out of interest had any of the leads been disturbed, even slightly?

 

[Jayson A]

Out of interest had any of the leads been disturbed, even slightly?

What do you mean?

 

[EponymousHoward]

What do you mean?

I had dreadful interference on the 5GHz band (making it unusable) for ages until, after a lot of testing involving the M2 Pro and the 2018 Intel mini is superseded, I was able to finger the HDMI lead not being properly seated as the culprit (it's old, and I suspect has a worn pin or two).

The Intel machine would, occasionally, have the screen go fritz (but no wifi issues), which I perhaps should have recognised as a symptom

 

[djc6]

I received today a base model M2 mac mini that I got on sale from Amazon for $500 to replace my parent's 21.5" Late 2013 iMac.

First thing I did was run a speed test on 5Ghz and I was getting 7Mbps down and 10Mbps up despite my parents having a 250/10 plan with Cox. Switching to 2.4Ghz the mac mini gets about 270Mbps down and 10Mbps - great speeds.

The router is a TP-Link Archer C7 version 4.0 that is in the same room about 15 feet away.

I still think the m2 mac mini is best solution to replace their aging imac that doesn't receive software updates anymore, is there any reason to bother exchanging it? It came with macOS 13.2.1 - I'm going to try updating it, and I will also bring it to my house to see if it behaves differently on my Orbi mesh router.

I did try the m2 mac mini with HDMI cable unplugged - I setup the speedtest.net app from app store with the same server that the 2.4Ghz network used successfully, then unplugged the HDMI cable and powered off monitor. I unplugged the keyboard so the only cables were power and the usb mouse. I then used the mouse to blindly click the speed test GO button - and I got the same abysmal speeds. So its not the HDMI cable.

 

[oneseattleguy]

Sometimes it is due to router/network setup.

 

[phrehdd]

I have had years ago and of recent challenges with some Macs and WiFi. Back when I wanted to stream from my NAS to my Mac via WiFi. Back then it was all "802.11 draft n." I was able to do some streaming of videos by having two routers in bridge mode and cabling my Mac to the 2nd router. The routers did the heavy lifting. This worked fine for all DVD movies and yes some blu ray for the most part if the media was cached slightly on the Mac.

Today - I have two 6e routers in bridge mode. My Mac and a couple of other items are cabled into the router and I get excellent speed. My routers can handle a couple of 2.5 gig Ethernet and thus my Studio is cabled for 2.5 gig as is one of my other devices. While we shouldn't have issues with Minis or Studio etc., sometimes simply removing the variable does wonders.

Modem --- >Router 1 (2 devices connected via cable) -------bridge--------Router 2 (3 devices connected). Only my iPhone and iPad engage WiFi. I also keep the 2.4 gig Wifi separate. (Using Asus routers)

 

[StoneJack]

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.

your internets pipes are broken

 

[colodane]

I'm going to try updating it, and I will also bring it to my house to see if it behaves differently on my Orbi mesh router.

Very interesting. Please post your results here.

 

[djc6]

I received today a base model M2 mac mini that I got on sale from Amazon for $500 to replace my parent's 21.5" Late 2013 iMac.

First thing I did was run a speed test on 5Ghz and I was getting 7Mbps down and 10Mbps up despite my parents having a 250/10 plan with Cox. Switching to 2.4Ghz the mac mini gets about 270Mbps down and 10Mbps - great speeds.

FALSE ALARM - Everything is fine! The SSID of the 5Ghz network had 24Ghz in the name, and the SSID of the 2.4Ghz network had 5Ghz in the name.

So now that the SSIDs correspond to the correct networks, it was the 5Ghz network that worked all along - its the 2.4Ghz network that is slow. My bad. 🙃

 

[SRC1954]

My new Mac Mini M2 won't even see my 5G Wifi network. It sees the 2.4Ghz just fine and connects. I have an iMac, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads and 2 Apple TVs that are all connected to the WiFi network (Netgear Nighthawk 9000) just fine so I don't see how it could be the 5G configuration. Not that I didn't fiddle with it, changing the name, combining the two networks, rebooting the router numerous times.

I also did a cold reboot several times of the Mac Mini and updated it to Ventura 13.5.1. None of this made the slightest difference.

I called Apple Support and got a nice person who told me that she wasn't sure the Mac Mini supported 5G but does support 6E. Anyhow, my wife loves her new Mac and doesn't want to send it back so I am hoping it will get fixed with the MacOS update this fall or I will try at some point to take it to repair, or maybe try to put in a new air port myself. I used to do this all the time with PCs.

It's funny but this was the last piece of the 6-year transfer from Windows to Apple world. Replacing my wife's Dell was the last piece, and the first Apple that doesn't work right. I did have to take several tries on my 2018 iMac to get it to work right with 5G network, but only took a software update then.

 

[phrehdd]

My new Mac Mini M2 won't even see my 5G Wifi network. It sees the 2.4Ghz just fine and connects. I have an iMac, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads and 2 Apple TVs that are all connected to the WiFi network (Netgear Nighthawk 9000) just fine so I don't see how it could be the 5G configuration. Not that I didn't fiddle with it, changing the name, combining the two networks, rebooting the router numerous times.

I also did a cold reboot several times of the Mac Mini and updated it to Ventura 13.5.1. None of this made the slightest difference.

I called Apple Support and got a nice person who told me that she wasn't sure the Mac Mini supported 5G but does support 6E. Anyhow, my wife loves her new Mac and doesn't want to send it back so I am hoping it will get fixed with the MacOS update this fall or I will try at some point to take it to repair, or maybe try to put in a new air port myself. I used to do this all the time with PCs.

It's funny but this was the last piece of the 6-year transfer from Windows to Apple world. Replacing my wife's Dell was the last piece, and the first Apple that doesn't work right. I did have to take several tries on my 2018 iMac to get it to work right with 5G network, but only took a software update then.

Might sound odd but have you ventured over to Netgear forums for that router?

Also
Clear out all networks that have accumulated on your Mac. Start over from scratch. See if your Mac can see both 2.4 and 5 networks. Attempt to only connect to 5g. See if your router is set up to publicly broadcast your 5g network so your Mac can see it. I am sure you may have done some or all of these things already. Check all your setting on the router for 5g to ensure availability.

 

[SRC1954]

I appreciate your comments and suggestions. I was able to go into my M2 settings to see that it indeed did recognize 5G networks of my neighbors, so it was clearly my router. I fiddled some more and got it to recognize 5G for up to 800 speed (40?). But then everything was so slow. I went back to my old settings; still slow. Rebooted everything and back to where I was. LOL

So for some reason the new Mac Mini could not recognize the fastest speed of 5G (80?). As you can see I am not up on the lingo. I might be able to go back down to the 800 speed, reboot all computers, phones, etc. and get it to work at a slower speed. But I am thinking now of getting a 6E? router, which I assume would be backwards compatible.

But I may try your suggestions first. I almost did a reset of my Netgear. The firmware is old but they aren't updating it anymore. I will also venture over to Netgear forums. At least I know now that the Mac Mini M2 is not the fault unless it is just too sensitive.

 

[phrehdd]

I appreciate your comments and suggestions. I was able to go into my M2 settings to see that it indeed did recognize 5G networks of my neighbors, so it was clearly my router. I fiddled some more and got it to recognize 5G for up to 800 speed (40?). But then everything was so slow. I went back to my old settings; still slow. Rebooted everything and back to where I was. LOL

So for some reason the new Mac Mini could not recognize the fastest speed of 5G (80?). As you can see I am not up on the lingo. I might be able to go back down to the 800 speed, reboot all computers, phones, etc. and get it to work at a slower speed. But I am thinking now of getting a 6E? router, which I assume would be backwards compatible.

But I may try your suggestions first. I almost did a reset of my Netgear. The firmware is old but they aren't updating it anymore. I will also venture over to Netgear forums. At least I know now that the Mac Mini M2 is not the fault unless it is just too sensitive.

How old is your router? Seems it is not that old and there should be firmware updates but may not be coming as often.

 

[SRC1954]

I bought it about 5.5 years ago. It's been about a year since there was an update to the firmware.

I now have everything working at the medium speed. I went down from 560 according to Speedtest to 430 on my Mac but my wife's Mac Mini went from 95 to 350. I don't notice any obvious difference so far. I probably should just be satisfied. But I pay for 500 Internet, and hate not getting that speed. The medium speed 5G is supposed to be up to 800. I wish I could remember whether that is 40GHz or MHz or if it's mps or mbps.

I have Spectrum Internet but ATT wants me to switch an they will bring in the router, but will that resolve anything?

I wonder if I should reset it. Is it true that you can buy a new router and just rename the network to your old and use same password so I wouldn't have to redo all my smartplugs, homepods, etc.

 

[phrehdd]

I bought it about 5.5 years ago. It's been about a year since there was an update to the firmware.

I now have everything working at the medium speed. I went down from 560 according to Speedtest to 430 on my Mac but my wife's Mac Mini went from 95 to 350. I don't notice any obvious difference so far. I probably should just be satisfied. But I pay for 500 Internet, and hate not getting that speed. The medium speed 5G is supposed to be up to 800. I wish I could remember whether that is 40GHz or MHz or if it's mps or mbps.

I have Spectrum Internet but ATT wants me to switch an they will bring in the router, but will that resolve anything?

I wonder if I should reset it. Is it true that you can buy a new router and just rename the network to your old and use same password so I wouldn't have to redo all my smartplugs, homepods, etc.

Seems your router is one of your weakest links. You might want to invest a little time and catch up with some of the routers that are available now that are Wifi 6 and 6e.

Youtube and this site would not be a bad place to start. https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

 

[MajorFubar]

I called Apple Support and got a nice person who told me that she wasn't sure the Mac Mini supported 5G but does support 6E. Anyhow, my wife loves her new Mac and doesn't want to send it back so I am hoping it will get fixed with the MacOS update this fall or I will try at some point to take it to repair, or maybe try to put in a new air port myself. I used to do this all the time with PCs.

It's funny but this was the last piece of the 6-year transfer from Windows to Apple world. Replacing my wife's Dell was the last piece, and the first Apple that doesn't work right. I did have to take several tries on my 2018 iMac to get it to work right with 5G network, but only took a software update then.

Not surprised you confused them if you used the term 5G. They probably thought you were talking about cellular.

 

[Fishrrman]

SRC1954 --

Some "Fishrrman stupid questions™":

Is ethernet available?
Have you tried using that, instead of wifi?
If the router is in the same room as the Mini, why not just run ethernet to it, and be done with it...?

One other suggestion:
Try a cheap USB/wifi dongle (instead of the built-in wifi).
No promises.

 

[SRC1954]

It's in another room. I tinkered again all day yesterday and am back to my original configuration with 5GHz for everything but the Mac Mini, which is on 2.4Ghz. My wife is able to do her work remotely, watch videos, etc. and is happy.

Tinkering with the Wireless settings messes everything up. I end up having to reboot routers and reset modem both in order to get speeds back up after tinkering. Is it normal that the modem seems to get messed up too? Yesterday I had to do a very long reset of the modem to get Internet speed back to 560 instead of 19!

I probably will buy a 6E router in a month or so since I pay so much for Internet and Macs that I might as well invest in an upgraded router. I am leaning to Netgear AX 7800.

Thanks everyone for your help!