Do you experience the same issue if/when connecting to other Wifi networks? It can be a problem with the router or it's settings.
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Wifi issues? M1 Macbook Air or Pro
- Thread starter JustCrusin
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To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ll try and remember to bring my MBP with me the next time I go to my folks house.
The number of identical negative experiences on this forum hints to a hardware problem around the wifi-reception on the new M1 Apple computers rather than a software problem or an external issue. If it were a software issue, it would have been resolved with one of the recent updates, which it obviously has not been.
Does someone have a technical insight to where this problem could be located in the computer hardware (wifi-antenna, shielding, overheating of electronic parts, et cetera)?
Thanks in advance for your answers, best wishes
Chris
If it were a hardware issue, I'd be having this issue wherever I go. But it seems that I only have issues while at home, unfortunately. I haven't gotten out much lately, but managed to get to a friend's house and connect there without issue. Came home and was again having issues. And this issue only seemed to crop up after one of the recent macOS updates.
Thanks for your post. However, we still have to go by the M1 weak wifi problem being rooted in hardware, since the many reports of the issue in this and other forums are ongoing to this date - also "after one of the recent macOS updates"...
Visiting friends, as you have described, you will be likely meeting in the living room or another central room where the router is close by and the signal is solid and strong. Also the net time you visit your friends with your computer will be rather short compared to the time your computer is at use at home.
So there are quite a few external factors explaining, why you've experienced these problems of dropping out of the wifi connection rather at home.
Best wishes, Chris
This is also not the case for me. Both homes I've visited, the Router was either upstairs in a back room or located in a basement, while I was in the living room (far away). And both of these times I was there overnight and thru the morning.
At home within 7 feet in my own office where my router is, I'm able to connect without issue. But I'm unable to get online. I can connect via ethernet thru a dock without issue.
Thanks again. From what you describe, your wifi connection problem at home seems to be related to your wifi at home.
If you are "unable to get online", as you write, then the phenomenon that you are experiencing is different from the one commonly described with the M1 wifi problem, which is that the connection drops inexplicably.
If you are "unable to get online", as you write, then the phenomenon that you are experiencing is different from the one commonly described with the M1 wifi problem, which is that the connection drops inexplicably.
Correct. I know it’s many pages ago, but I indicated the same issue. I can reboot, it’ll connect and for a very brief time, I AM able to get to various web pages and things work, but then after an unknown but small amount of time I’m no longer able to get out to the web, but am still connected to my home connection. The issue I am having is the same as what was initially reported in this thread, but I’m only having this issue at home.
Are you still seeing this problem on the latest 11.5 beta? I've been having the same problem with my M1 Macbook on comcast xfinity xfi.
Data just stops. Fixes when I turn wifi on/off and re-connect. Multiple times per day. Seems to have started with 11.4.
Has anyone else resolved their issue?
I am still having this issue on today’s macOS 11.5 RC 2, also on Comcast Xfinity.
FWIW, recently, I've turned off the 2.4Ghz on the comcast router. I've also removed all networks from the Mac's "Preferred networks" except for the main 5 Ghz I connect to.
Also unchecked iCloud keychain, so the entry for the separately named 2.4Ghz network in the front of the house doesn't get sync'd back.
Seems to have made it a little less frequent, but still happens. Doesn't happen on any other devices.
(Shrug).
I have another 5Ghz router in the front of the house with the same SSID/password in bridge mode, which is connected to the comcast router by ethernet. This was never a problem before. And according to the NetSpot app, the only other networks in any channels are all below -85db.
I have an LG 5K monitor which in theory should have had its shielding issues fixed.
I have the issue of when my MBA M1 comes out of sleep mode, it sporadically will take about 90 seconds to get internet access. I'm on latest MacOS and have an ASUS AC88U. It's definitely not a signal strength of Wifi LAN connect issue. If I switch to 5Hz to 2,4Hz (or vice versa) it fixes it. I have all MACs recorded and DHCP leases permanent for most devices.
I live with it as I have 3 X86 machines and the HP has done this sporadically since I got the Asus. I think it is a router issue not Wifi NIC card issue (at least in my case). Don't have the issue on my IPhone WAP when I use it.
If you have a Comcast Modem/Router combo then Comcast probably maintains Wifi network setup remotely (some cable companies tack on a 'wifi' charge of a few bucks per month. That's your paid support). Open a ticket and see if Support can identify an issue in the router. May be as simple as a keep alive timer or interference. Worth a try...
I live with it as I have 3 X86 machines and the HP has done this sporadically since I got the Asus. I think it is a router issue not Wifi NIC card issue (at least in my case). Don't have the issue on my IPhone WAP when I use it.
If you have a Comcast Modem/Router combo then Comcast probably maintains Wifi network setup remotely (some cable companies tack on a 'wifi' charge of a few bucks per month. That's your paid support). Open a ticket and see if Support can identify an issue in the router. May be as simple as a keep alive timer or interference. Worth a try...
I have a few too many older devices that can only connect to the 2.4Ghz network. I’ve even checked my xFi router for maybe a recent firmware update or something, but nothing I’ve found to be the culprit.
Have you tried using 5Ghz on one of the lower channels (like 36), and set to 20/40/80Mhz? I set the router to 802.11ac set up like this and haven't had a freeze in 24 hours. I just put it back to 802.11ax on the lower channel and I'll update how it goes.
Re: 2.4Ghz. I've named the 2.4Ghz network separately for older device access (albeit through another router which is connected by ethernet to the xFI router, but it should work the same direct from the xFI). The M1 Macbook only knows about the 5Ghz network. Because everything still goes through the xFI which is the DHCP server, all devices are visible to both legs.
I access the xFI admin interface direcly at http://10.0.0.1 (substitute your router IP address if different) for more direct control.
Yeah, I won’t be able to un-combine my networks here due to a number of HomeKit items along with a StarlingHome Setup, needing to communicate to devices on the same network that connect to both network bands.
I haven’t tried adjusting any of the channels yet, only because it’s just this one laptop having the issue.
It's not just wifi. I get the problem wired as well. I am on an M1 MacBook Pro bought in 2021 May and I have it attached to a switch that is connected to a switch in the router room, which is direct connected to my Rogers cable modem (Gb). I use CAT7 wiring everywhere and all of my desktops and laptops have perfectly stable network interfaces. The M1 drops out for 20 to 40 seconds approximately every 17m. I've verified this for days on end by running a background command that prints the time every minute and a foreground command that pipes the output of 18000 pings once per second through a grep looking for timeouts or no path through network and so on. Only the M1 Mac fails. My 2012 MacBook Pro is perfect. My Lenovo laptops are perfect. My Windows box is perfect. And my Ubuntu box is perfect. This laptop has been no end of trouble in this area. At some point I will have my company send it back and grab the Intel version. Or switch to Ubuntu development instead of Mac unix.
Hello,
I just came across this post because I'm struggling with WiFi issues on my M1 Macbook Air. At first, I was just ignoring the moment when it was slow but it's driving me crazy.
The manifestation of this issue, in my case, is that the connection to any wifi router is stable and continuous but for a few seconds every 30 minutes, let's say nothing is working: pages are not loading, internet speed is at 0.
Anybody who found out a solution for this issue?
I just came across this post because I'm struggling with WiFi issues on my M1 Macbook Air. At first, I was just ignoring the moment when it was slow but it's driving me crazy.
The manifestation of this issue, in my case, is that the connection to any wifi router is stable and continuous but for a few seconds every 30 minutes, let's say nothing is working: pages are not loading, internet speed is at 0.
Anybody who found out a solution for this issue?
I haven't found a solution to this and have been having this issue since the initial betas of macOS 11.5 thru to now on 11.5.1
I've even reinstalled macOS on my M1 MBP and have seen no change. I've got an older MBP that's having no issues, too...
From HowToGeek:
"mDNSResponder, is a core part of the Bonjour protocol. Bonjour is Apple's zero-configuration networking service, which basically means it's how Apple devices find each other on a network. Our process, mDNSResponder, regularly scans your local network looking for other Bonjour-enabled devices."
"mDNSResponder, is a core part of the Bonjour protocol. Bonjour is Apple's zero-configuration networking service, which basically means it's how Apple devices find each other on a network. Our process, mDNSResponder, regularly scans your local network looking for other Bonjour-enabled devices."
I have been struggling with slow wifi since purchasing my M1 6 months ago. Nothing has helped until I tried this.
That's it, my wifi has clocked an average of 210 mbps on 4 different sites. It's only been an hour or so, but nothing else has ever worked for me. Fingers crossed this is the answer.
- Click the wifi icon in toolbar
- Select 'Network Preferences'
- Click 'Advanced'
- De-select 'Auto Join' for all networks except your primary wifi network
- Click 'Ok'
- Click 'Apply'
That's it, my wifi has clocked an average of 210 mbps on 4 different sites. It's only been an hour or so, but nothing else has ever worked for me. Fingers crossed this is the answer.
I did that. I will check the next days how the network behaves.
The problem, for em at least, was not the internet speed but the consistency of it. Like, every few minutes i have a moment when everything takes way too much to load.
I will see if your solution works and come back with updates.
Updates: I just updated to 12.0 B4 and the problems continue, but I observed something interesting and maybe other people can help me debug it.
My network configuration consists of 2 devices.
1. The Huawei ONT (Optical Network Terminal) in which the ISP fiber goes. This ONT version also has WiFi built-in it (With a max speed of 100Mbps);
2. My router Huawei AX3 Pro (Chinese version) connected directly to my ONT;
Mention: Nor does the ONT or the router have any other cables connected to them.
The odd part happens when I try to connect to the built-in Wifi of the ONT because all the issues disappear: My connection is slow if we consider 100Mbps slow, but CONSTANT. I never get bandwidth drops, no internet connection messages, 1-2 minutes of waiting for a page to load, and so on.
On my router, I tried all combinations possible for security protocols and the frequency of the wifi. Nothing works. I also tested the connection with the same AX3 Pro but the English version and I encounter the same issues.
Any ideas/opinions?
(I moved to Mac this year because of all the hype around M1 but not being able to use my laptop with stable and constant internet connection is on the verge of convincing me to sell this machine)
My network configuration consists of 2 devices.
1. The Huawei ONT (Optical Network Terminal) in which the ISP fiber goes. This ONT version also has WiFi built-in it (With a max speed of 100Mbps);
2. My router Huawei AX3 Pro (Chinese version) connected directly to my ONT;
Mention: Nor does the ONT or the router have any other cables connected to them.
The odd part happens when I try to connect to the built-in Wifi of the ONT because all the issues disappear: My connection is slow if we consider 100Mbps slow, but CONSTANT. I never get bandwidth drops, no internet connection messages, 1-2 minutes of waiting for a page to load, and so on.
On my router, I tried all combinations possible for security protocols and the frequency of the wifi. Nothing works. I also tested the connection with the same AX3 Pro but the English version and I encounter the same issues.
Any ideas/opinions?
(I moved to Mac this year because of all the hype around M1 but not being able to use my laptop with stable and constant internet connection is on the verge of convincing me to sell this machine)
By Jove, I think you solved it for me! On my M1, there is something similar on the Dockworks icon in the header bar at the top that is labelled "Enable wifi auto switch". I disabled that for the first time ever a few hours ago, and my 17m cadence of failures has stopped. WOW! I sure hope that this is not a false hope, but my test script is running clean for over 2.5 hours! Thanks for the hint!
EDIT: As a reminder, I am on a wired connection and WiFi is not enabled. But with auto switch enabled on the dockworks app, I suspect that it tried anyway periodically. Or something equally dumb.
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