Internet connection drops from Teams, Facetime and Blackboard

[anjanesh]

My friend's MBA 2020 Catalina is having issues with internet connectivity. Is there some solution to this ? They called Apple Care and the response was to reset the SNC which was done. But the problem persists.

facetime: the video and audio freeze up

teams: sometimes when it's open in the background it says it needs to reconnect. but the bigger issue is being in a call and it dropping the internet. or saying i have a bad connection... when i know i don't

the same thing happens in blackboard collaborate which is an in browser teaching programme (like zoom) - the connection drops. this is why i think it's a connection problem

 

[ght56]

Catalina has been known for having some wifi issues with some users. Are they running the latest .8 version of Catalina? The .8 update contains a fix IIRC.

If that is already done, has wireless diagnostics found anything wrong? (click while holding 'option' on the wifi logo).

If that did not help, have you ruled out USB interference? (unplug all USB 3 devices and see if the issue persists)

If that does not help, have you reset the WiFi router?

If that does not help, have you tried a wifi reset on the MacBook Air with a full wipe of the wifi settings?


Also, does this issue happen on just a single wifi router, or does it happen on multiple different wifi routers?

 

[anjanesh]

I'm running Catalina 10.15.7 (19H2)

If that is already done, has wireless diagnostics found anything wrong? (click while holding 'option' on the wifi logo).

I don't think I've done this

If that did not help, have you ruled out USB interference? (unplug all USB 3 devices and see if the issue persists)

The problem happens even if no USB ports are plugged

If that does not help, have you reset the WiFi router?

Yes

If that does not help, have you tried a wifi reset on the MacBook Air with a full wipe of the wifi settings?

No I don't think so

Also, does this issue happen on just a single wifi router, or does it happen on multiple different wifi routers?

Have only tried it at home because of COVID I have nowhere else to go. But none of the other devices in the house have problems (3 other Macbook Air/Pros and an iPhone)

 

[ght56]

I was off by a .1...the 10.15.7 is the most recent release. I would try to the wireless diagnostics next, as well as perhaps Apple Diagnostics, and if that does not help, possibly booting into safe mode to see if the problem persists. If it does not, then wiping WiFi settings may be a good next step.

Another thing you could try is connecting to an iPhone or Android as a hotspot to see if it drops the connection to the hotspot as well?