M1 MacBook Pro - Slow WiFi issues?

[delude]

Hey all, I've seen mention of people having issue with slow WiFi, but haven't experienced it myself until now. The Mac itself doesn't appear sluggish, opening/closing apps and general navigating is rapid, but the internet will be super sluggish - really glitchy on video/audio calls on all platforms, etc.

Other devices are fine and the router seems fine too. No bluetooth issues. Have restarted, installed the latest updates, logged out, turned off, etc.

I connect the Mac to an external LG monitor via USB-C which seems okay. I use a USB A hub out the back of the monitor and wondered if this could be interfering (based on other posts) but disconnecting didn't seem to help.

Nothing obvious shows in activity monitor (sorting by high sent/received bytes, and high CPU/Memory usage) so this is super hard to diagnose.

Has anyone else experienced similar and fixed this?

 

[andyessayer]

I experienced wifi sluggish issue on Air m1 in low wifi signal area which I haven't experienced before.
I guess it is due to a little more wifi instability of M1 Mac VS the previous Intel One(2020 i5 4-ports), the latter is more stable to receive Wifi.

 

[BrianBaughn]

When you option-click the WiFi symbol in the menubar, what signal values are you seeing?

 

[jdb8167]

Hey all, I've seen mention of people having issue with slow WiFi, but haven't experienced it myself until now. The Mac itself doesn't appear sluggish, opening/closing apps and general navigating is rapid, but the internet will be super sluggish - really glitchy on video/audio calls on all platforms, etc.

Other devices are fine and the router seems fine too. No bluetooth issues. Have restarted, installed the latest updates, logged out, turned off, etc.

I connect the Mac to an external LG monitor via USB-C which seems okay. I use a USB A hub out the back of the monitor and wondered if this could be interfering (based on other posts) but disconnecting didn't seem to help.

Nothing obvious shows in activity monitor (sorting by high sent/received bytes, and high CPU/Memory usage) so this is super hard to diagnose.

Has anyone else experienced similar and fixed this?

Using an Apple AirPort Extreme 802.11ac (the last generation shipped by Apple) I get pretty close to same bandwidth as a 1 Gbps ethernet connection. So I'm not seeing any issues on an M1 MacBook Air.

 

[delude]

When you option-click the WiFi symbol in the menubar, what signal values are you seeing?

The router is only 3-4 meters away from the desk so I think the signal values should be pretty good? (Although I have no idea how to read them)

Everything seems to be okay now, having weathered an hour or two of it being really slow (and not restarting this time).

I'll definitely view the signal values if I experience this again though.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Using an Apple AirPort Extreme 802.11ac (the last generation shipped by Apple) I get pretty close to same bandwidth as a 1 Gbps ethernet connection. So I'm not seeing any issues on an M1 MacBook Air.

Same setup and overall experience for me as well with my M1.

 

[jdb8167]

The router is only 3-4 meters away from the desk so I think the signal values should be pretty good? (Although I have no idea how to read them)

View attachment 1723687

Everything seems to be okay now, having weathered an hour or two of it being really slow (and not restarting this time).

I'll definitely view the signal values if I experience this again though.

I'm currently seeing Tx Rate of 866 Mbps. So you are getting much slower connection than I would expect. I'm also on a 80MHz 5 GHz channel.

 

[LinkRS]

Hey all, I've seen mention of people having issue with slow WiFi, but haven't experienced it myself until now. The Mac itself doesn't appear sluggish, opening/closing apps and general navigating is rapid, but the internet will be super sluggish - really glitchy on video/audio calls on all platforms, etc.

Other devices are fine and the router seems fine too. No bluetooth issues. Have restarted, installed the latest updates, logged out, turned off, etc.

I connect the Mac to an external LG monitor via USB-C which seems okay. I use a USB A hub out the back of the monitor and wondered if this could be interfering (based on other posts) but disconnecting didn't seem to help.

Nothing obvious shows in activity monitor (sorting by high sent/received bytes, and high CPU/Memory usage) so this is super hard to diagnose.

Has anyone else experienced similar and fixed this?

Howdy delude,

I don't have an M1 Mac, but am very familiar with what you are describing. For the past 4 years now, all of my Apple Devices (MacBook Pros, iPads, iPhones, and Apple TV) get into a state were the Wi-Fi is connected with great strength, but most of the packets are dropped. This only impacts my Apple devices. I have various Windows, smart home, and Android devices all connected and do not exhibit this problem. Throughout all of this, I have had the same Netgear Nighthawk X6 tri-band router. I have been able to work-around the issue be either rebooting the router, or switching to a different wireless network (my router had three, one at 2.4 GHz, and two at 5 GHz) on the Apple device. Well, my wife just recently switched to an iPhone, and been having the same issues with hers, which gave me the justification I needed to finally replace my router, as it was the likely culprit for causing this issue. Either some undocumented incompatibility with Apple Wi-Fi drivers and the Netgear firmware, or the way the Netgear handles Apple devices, I have never been able to figure out why. Well, I purchased a new Asus Wi-Fi 6 router (still Tri-band), and after almost 3 weeks, we haven't had the Wireless issue (knock on wood). So, to make along story short, if rebooting your router makes your M1 Mac Wireless go back to normal, you are seeing the same issue I am. Good luck!

Rich S.

 

[Prorege1]

The router is only 3-4 meters away from the desk so I think the signal values should be pretty good? (Although I have no idea how to read them)

View attachment 1723687

Everything seems to be okay now, having weathered an hour or two of it being really slow (and not restarting this time).

I'll definitely view the signal values if I experience this again though.

Try to set the 5 GHz to channel 36 or 100.

 

[delude]

Howdy delude,

I don't have an M1 Mac, but am very familiar with what you are describing. For the past 4 years now, all of my Apple Devices (MacBook Pros, iPads, iPhones, and Apple TV) get into a state were the Wi-Fi is connected with great strength, but most of the packets are dropped. This only impacts my Apple devices. I have various Windows, smart home, and Android devices all connected and do not exhibit this problem. Throughout all of this, I have had the same Netgear Nighthawk X6 tri-band router. I have been able to work-around the issue be either rebooting the router, or switching to a different wireless network (my router had three, one at 2.4 GHz, and two at 5 GHz) on the Apple device. Well, my wife just recently switched to an iPhone, and been having the same issues with hers, which gave me the justification I needed to finally replace my router, as it was the likely culprit for causing this issue. Either some undocumented incompatibility with Apple Wi-Fi drivers and the Netgear firmware, or the way the Netgear handles Apple devices, I have never been able to figure out why. Well, I purchased a new Asus Wi-Fi 6 router (still Tri-band), and after almost 3 weeks, we haven't had the Wireless issue (knock on wood). So, to make along story short, if rebooting your router makes your M1 Mac Wireless go back to normal, you are seeing the same issue I am. Good luck!

Rich S.

Thank you! I just use my ISPs router (I'm with BT in the UK) which has been fine for the past year, it's only in the last couple of days this has started.

Try to set the 5 GHz to channel 36 or 100.

Trying this now - thank you!


I just experienced a slow down again and this is what the Tx rate has dropped to:

 

[delude]

Apparently, I'm limited by the channels I can select...

I've changed from 6 to 11 on 2.4GHz, and 40 to 48 on 5GHz, so will see if that changes anything.

EDIT 3rd Feb: No dice. Happened again this morning, but seemed to go away after a while of toggling WiFi on and off and pacing around.

My issue is the same as in this thread. I don't have an Apple Watch though, but maybe it could still be caused by Bluetooth? AirPod Pros trying to connect perhaps? I don't know.

 

[MrWolf]

FIXED THE PROBLEM.
MacBook Air (M1, 2020) running OS Monterey 12.0.1
Safari running slower and slower, almost stopped.
Thought it may have been:
Service Provider (complained)
NBN (checked)
Modem (replaced)
Wireless Network (double-checked, connected with Ethernet cable)
Network interference (turned everything off)

Problem was when “Hide IP address” was selected in Privacy settings in Safari. Turned it off and all my slow network problems were resolved immediately!!!!

 

[Kubo381]

Hi, jumped from 10y old Thinkpad ... W11 it was snappy like hell ... only video edit soft was slow...
Now on same fibre optic I see "internet connection is unstable" on Zoom and within the window is ****** quality of picture.

from google.com to here it took me 18s that is beyond extremely bad!

speedometer clocked me 50+Mb/s and option-click on wifi clocks 144 Mb/s so My speed of connection is OK
yet I hear

after writing this the issues started and connection dropped to 5Mb/s
On the same wifi I started same zoom call .... and first 10y old laptop was behind but steady ... and MacBook Pro 2021 started to be laggy and the overall image was better on 10y old laptop with ancient wifi card ... guys seriously we need help

OK just disabled in safari hide my IP address ... in Privacy as MrWolf suggests and will report later

 

[SaguaroSeven]

Problem was when “Hide IP address” was selected in Privacy settings in Safari. Turned it off and all my slow network problems were resolved immediately!!!!

THIS. Noticed I was only getting 27 Mbps download speeds on 5Ghz with reported Tx rate of 260-350 Mbps. Turned off Private Relay (Beta indeed!) and now it's more like 200 Mbps. Thanks mate!

 

[jav6454]

THIS. Noticed I was only getting 27 Mbps download speeds on 5Ghz with reported Tx rate of 260-350 Mbps. Turned off Private Relay (Beta indeed!) and now it's more like 200 Mbps. Thanks mate!

Well, that is obvious as Private Relay is a middleman to keep your IP safe.

 

[Kgopotso]

Please try turning on QOS. Seems to have worked on my side