M2 Mac mini 5GHz wifi - consistently erratic speeds

[ovbacon]

Ok, now I'm going to be all obsessed by this. Just tested all my mac and as the OP post I see a dip once in while on the mini and not on the others. The MBA is super stable and the iMac fluctuates slightly but the mini will drop from 1000 Mbps to 200 and back up. The drops are very brief and do not appear to be related to a drop in signal.

I have not really noticed a problem when up/down loading but it seems clear that the mini is less stable than the Intel Mac's. Btw, my MBA M1 seems to have an even more erratic connection.

 

[mavis]

If the results from WiFi explorer show channel contention that could contribute to the problem.

There is a fair amount of conjestion in the lower 5GHz channels (36-48) but those are the only channels the Orbi allows you to use, OOTB (it uses a UNII-3 channel for backhaul - 149 IIRC - but fronthaul is limited to non-DFS channels). That said, I installed a third-party firmware (Voxel) last week, for the purpose of testing - with that firmware, you can telnet in to the Orbi and make unsupported changes to the configuration, like switching the fronthaul to unsupported channels, among other things. Even on channel 108 (with zero other competing networks on that channel, or in any of the UNII-2C bands, for that matter) the erratic speeds persisted. So it's not a matter of network congestion. 😌

Ok, now I'm going to be all obsessed by this. Just tested all my mac and as the OP post I see a dip once in while on the mini and not on the others. The MBA is super stable and the iMac fluctuates slightly but the mini will drop from 1000 Mbps to 200 and back up. The drops are very brief and do not appear to be related to a drop in signal.

I have not really noticed a problem when up/down loading but it seems clear that the mini is less stable than the Intel Mac's. Btw, my MBA M1 seems to have an even more erratic connection.

TBH, the only 'solution' I've found is to connect my M2 Mac mini using ethernet, and simply remove the wifi indicator from the taskbar, so I'm not tempted to check it so much. Obviously not a solution - just a bury-your-head-in-the-sand approach, because the problem seems to be unfixable. So I've decided to just ignore/forget about it.

 

[mavis]

It confirms that the problem is with the local network and not some obscure issue with the internet modem. You can also use Network Speed tester, server and client.

Ah, I see what you're saying - sorry for not being more clear. My house is limited to 100Mbps internet speeds (80Mbps, actual) until my ISP upgrades us to g.fast, at which time our speed will be 650Mbps or so. The wildly fluctuating wifi speeds are affecting file transfers between computers on my LAN, not internet speed tests.

 

[mavis]

Sorry to bump this, but I was wondering if anyone had managed to find a solution for this problem. My ISP finally upgraded our building's fiber interface to g.fast, which means the Mac Mini's constant speed drops are affecting not only LAN transfers but now WAN stuff as well. 🤬

 

[bobcomer]

Did you read this thread?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-m2-pro-wi-fi-issues.2379220/page-3

It discusses that it's an HDMI cable issue that's causing the problem. (if you're using the HDMI port on your Mini!)

 

[Fishrrman]

My followup remains the same as my suggestion months ago:
If you have the ability to connect via ethernet, do so.
Problem (at least for the Mini) will be solved.

A similar personal experience:
A few years ago, I bought a pair of Linksys Velop mesh units.
They worked fairly well, it seemed.
Then... I tried connecting using the wifi of the residential gateway (modem/router) that Comcast provides (1gb service).
Amazingly, the residential gateway worked ... better !
So, I unplugged the Velops, and now just use what Comcast provides.
Ethernet is very speedy, too (often around 920+mbps)...

 

[mavis]

Did you read this thread?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-m2-pro-wi-fi-issues.2379220/page-3

It discusses that it's an HDMI cable issue that's causing the problem. (if you're using the HDMI port on your Mini!)

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I read through that thread - within a week or two of getting the mini, I switched to a USB-C to DisplayPort connection to see if it would help. It did not. 😌

My followup remains the same as my suggestion months ago:
If you have the ability to connect via ethernet, do so.
Problem (at least for the Mini) will be solved.

A similar personal experience:
A few years ago, I bought a pair of Linksys Velop mesh units.
They worked fairly well, it seemed.
Then... I tried connecting using the wifi of the residential gateway (modem/router) that Comcast provides (1gb service).
Amazingly, the residential gateway worked ... better !
So, I unplugged the Velops, and now just use what Comcast provides.
Ethernet is very speedy, too (often around 920+mbps)...

Yeah, I'm using an Orbi mesh system and have the mini connected by Cat6 cable to one of my satellites' LAN ports. The thing is, if I could this mini's wifi working, I'd like to move the satellite to a closet, where my NAS is. That's sort of the main reason I want to get this sorted out.

 

[bobcomer]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I read through that thread - within a week or two of getting the mini, I switched to a USB-C to DisplayPort connection to see if it would help. It did not. 😌

Bummer. that was the easiest thing I could think of. The only problems I've had with wifi is the router crashing, which at times, happens a lot. (Xfinity). You could try a new location. Sometimes interference can come from other devices and moving things around can help.

 

[MacDaddyPanda]

Shot in the dark. Do you by chance of QoS enabled on the router? I've had that cause slow downs when enabled. But from all your trouble shooting so far, That's probably not it. But nothing to lose at this point.

 

[mavis]

Shot in the dark. Do you by chance of QoS enabled on the router? I've had that cause slow downs when enabled. But from all your trouble shooting so far, That's probably not it. But nothing to lose at this point.

I just checked and QOS is off (but WMM is on). Maybe I should try disabling that.

 

[StoneJack]

did you reset Mac Mini's network settings?

 

[mavis]

did you reset Mac Mini's network settings?

No, I haven't tried that. But only because it was like this out of the box, setting it up from scratch. So ...

 

[StoneJack]

No, I haven't tried that. But only because it was like this out of the box, setting it up from scratch. So ...

first rule is to reset networks settings. try that

 

[foobarbaz]

I don't need iPerf to tell me that my speeds are fluctuating - macOS is quite clear about that!

Just do be clear, does this mean you haven't actually performed any benchmarks and you're basing that only on the displayed link speed?

Because just showing 866Mbps doesn't mean it's actually transferring that fast. It's not a measurement, it's more like the (theoretical) Wifi protocol transmission rate. It could still be that the error rate is very high and the effective transfer speed is closer to the 130Mbps (which is why macOS or the router then decides to downgrade to a slower more robust protocol).

So, please measure the actual speed. The "wild fluctuations" might be a red herring, and the real problem could be that that the connection is just always bad.

 

[gianry]

I own a Mac Mini M2 ad I'm experiencing the same issue . Very fluctuating wifi speed . I changed three Wifi router .
My Mac wifi speed change from 172 megabit to 866 megabit without reason.
Mac OS 13,5,2

 

[SuperCachetes]

Sorry to bump this, but I was wondering if anyone had managed to find a solution for this problem. My ISP finally upgraded our building's fiber interface to g.fast, which means the Mac Mini's constant speed drops are affecting not only LAN transfers but now WAN stuff as well. 🤬

Does this mean you have executed a speed test to the internet and are not getting the performance you expect? Any specifics?

I have an M2 MBA and just watched the Mac's reported Tx Rate vary wildly between 1,134 Mbps and 229 Mbps. I ran a speedtest to the internet at the same time and got a very constant 600 Mbps. I believe the Tx Rate fluctuation you are seeing in MacOS is not a big deal at the granularity and sampling interval you are looking at. I tend to geek out over these things, especially when I upgrade equipment, and I remember the fluctuating on my previous Intel MBPs as well - including when I had an RBK52 setup (I now have a TP-Link Deco system). Since the Tx numbers change so rapidly and my actual download speeds were within an acceptable range, I never worried about what MacOS felt like reporting.

I own a Mac Mini M2 ad I'm experiencing the same issue . Very fluctuating wifi speed . I changed three Wifi router .
My Mac wifi speed change from 172 megabit to 866 megabit without reason.
Mac OS 13,5,2

Please read foobarbaz' post just above yours. Watching the Tx rate MacOS reports is not the best tool for determining actual network throughput on a moment-by-moment basis.

 

[gianry]

Please read foobarbaz' post just above yours. Watching the Tx rate MacOS reports is not the best tool for determining actual network throughput on a moment-by-moment basis.

Hi,
I read and I agree it is not a right tool for measuring but I checked the throughput with a Nperf tool . it is the medium value between the higher and lower shown in the Mac wifi menu.
Probably it is a software issue because as who started thread wrote with only 1 dB transmission power change there is a lot of wireless connection speed
My Mac is almost near the Access point and all the other devices have constant throughput values

 

[mavis]

Does this mean you have executed a speed test to the internet and are not getting the performance you expect? Any specifics? ... Watching the Tx rate MacOS reports is not the best tool for determining actual network throughput on a moment-by-moment basis.

Yeah, so I just ran three speed tests to the same server - one on wifi, one on ethernet, and one on my iPhone (with the phone laying on top of my Mac mini and connected to the same base station).

Mac mini wifi: 157Mbps down / 44Mbps up
Mac mini ethernet: 432Mbps down / 112Mbps up
iPhone 14 Pro Max wifi: 379 down / 116Mbps up

The Mac mini is less than half as fast as the iPhone when connected by wifi to the base station. It's also less than half as fast as it is over ethernet. I've observed this when transferring files over SFTP as well (it's twice as fast when using ethernet, even though the mini is only about six feet from the base station and none of my other Apple devices or Windows PCs have any issues with wifi in the exact same location).

 

[SuperCachetes]

Yeah, so I just ran three speed tests to the same server - one on wifi, one on ethernet, and one on my iPhone (with the phone laying on top of my Mac mini and connected to the same base station).

Mac mini wifi: 157Mbps down / 44Mbps up
Mac mini ethernet: 432Mbps down / 112Mbps up
iPhone 14 Pro Max wifi: 379 down / 116Mbps up

The Mac mini is less than half as fast as the iPhone when connected by wifi to the base station. It's also less than half as fast as it is over ethernet. I've observed this when transferring files over SFTP as well (it's twice as fast when using ethernet, even though the mini is only about six feet from the base station and none of my other Apple devices or Windows PCs have any issues with wifi in the exact same location).

Interesting. Thanks for checking back in. Sounds like the Mini really is dragging, but I still don’t think the MacOS Tx rates you originally saw were the actual proof. That said, your speed test results definitely point to an issue specific to WiFi on the Mini.

I never tinkered with the Orbi settings as much as you probably have, and I’m sure you’ve already looked at all this - but the only things I can think of are things related to Orbi setup for each client. Is the Mini connecting to the access point furthest away for some reason, is it defaulting to a crowded frequency spectrum in your network, etc.

Now I am really curious what would happen if you tried the Mini on a totally different WiFi network, but that would be quite an effort to test. Likewise, if it were physically possible, I wonder what would happen if you could rearrange access points in your home, i.e. swap the base station nearest the Mini with another unit in the house…