Good call. Best of luck! It’ll be interesting to see how this works out. Please keep us posted.
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2018 MBP Slow WiFi on Wake
- Thread starter mcaswell
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Good call. Best of luck! It’ll be interesting to see how this works out. Please keep us posted.
Over 24 hours, and the connection to the new access point continues to be rock solid. At this point, I think it's fairly safe to say it has to be an incompatibility between the USI WiFi chip in the MBP (and iMP) and the Velop's Qualcomm chip. Netgear's Orbi also uses Qualcomm... I'd be interested to hear if any of those users are having these kinds of problems.
Just to chime in, I seem to be seeing similar issues with linksys wrt1900acs, which I think use atheros/qualcomm chips too.
I bought a Macbook pro 2018 on December 1st.
I have been experiencing the exact same issue as mcaswell.
I tested on two routers:
- TP-Link Archer C7 - Qualcomm QCA9880 3x3 MIMO
- eero (1st gen): Qualcomm QCA9882 2x2 MIMO
Tests performed:
All tests were performed two different channels: 36 and 149 on 5GHz AC with 80MHz channel width
- iPerf3
- bought external USB wifi adapter: edimax AC1750 3x3 MIMO
- 2014 Macbook Pro 3x3 MIMO
Results:
- With both routers, speeds (Tx rate and iPerf tests) on the 2018 Macbook Pro dropped at random intervals and picked up at random intervals.
- RSSI was good and Noise was low, so SNR was around 67-70 dB.
- edimax AC1750 speeds were excellent and consistent.
- 2014 Macbook Pro performed excellent and was consistent, the Tx Rates were 975Mbps and iPerf3 tests were 350-380Mbps.
I have been experiencing the exact same issue as mcaswell.
I tested on two routers:
- TP-Link Archer C7 - Qualcomm QCA9880 3x3 MIMO
- eero (1st gen): Qualcomm QCA9882 2x2 MIMO
Tests performed:
All tests were performed two different channels: 36 and 149 on 5GHz AC with 80MHz channel width
- iPerf3
- bought external USB wifi adapter: edimax AC1750 3x3 MIMO
- 2014 Macbook Pro 3x3 MIMO
Results:
- With both routers, speeds (Tx rate and iPerf tests) on the 2018 Macbook Pro dropped at random intervals and picked up at random intervals.
- RSSI was good and Noise was low, so SNR was around 67-70 dB.
- edimax AC1750 speeds were excellent and consistent.
- 2014 Macbook Pro performed excellent and was consistent, the Tx Rates were 975Mbps and iPerf3 tests were 350-380Mbps.
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Thanks for posting your observations. I also wanted to point out that since I originally started this thread, I updated my MBP to Mojave, and this issue continues.
I have a 2017 MBP bought very recently (Black Friday deal). Currently running macOS 10.13.6. I'm using it with my TP-Link router at home (haven't had the chance to test this with other wifi networks yet because I am stuck at home on maternity leave). And I notice that basically every time I wake my computer from sleep it will say it is connected to my 5ghz network but things like sync and loading web pages don't work. I have to turn wifi off and back on to get a usable connection. I hadn't thought to check speeds (I don't know much about network stuff). But it sounds like I might have a similar issue?
I have 2 other Macs in the home, a 2015 MBP and a 2013 MBA (neither is on high Sierra or Mojave though), and neither have this issue on the same wifi router and network.
I have 2 other Macs in the home, a 2015 MBP and a 2013 MBA (neither is on high Sierra or Mojave though), and neither have this issue on the same wifi router and network.
Has anyone found a solution for this?
I'm seeing the same issues on a Synology RT2600ac router and a relatively new 2018 15.4" Macbook Pro. 2018 MBP seems fine with my old Time Capsule. Rock-solid 800-900Mbps + from my work spaces, all day long.
But on the Synology, it will be fine for anywhere from a few seconds, a few minutes, or perhaps an hour or two, then will spontaneously drop to 13-14 Mbps w/ a MCS of 0 or 1, even when 1 foot away from the router. No changes in signal strength, location, power status (AC power, actively working on the MBP), and no other 5Ghz interference in my home. I've tinkered with channels, widths, various settings (MU-MIMO, DTIM, etc), nothing seems to help other than the fact that changing these settings bounces wifi, which fixes it for a bit. Everything is running up-to-date software. It's very frustrating since it's not even fast enough to surf when it's acting up, let alone do anything productive like move files across the network or remote into servers.
Resolving usually requires a recycle of the Synology or MBP Wifi. Very rarely it will "creep back" up on it's own, with signal slowly recovering to a shaky 200-300Mpbs. A Wifi recycle blasts it back to 866+. An older 2014 Air, a pair of 2014 Macbook Pros (all on Mojave), as well as every iOS device in my home (new iPad Pro's, iPhone XS's) and other devices all work fine with the Synology. It's just this 2018 MBP that has issues, and just on the 5Ghz AC side. And as I said, the 2018MBP seems fine with the TC's 5Ghz AC.
Curiously, the RT2600ac *also* uses a Qualcomm chip, the Atheros QCA9984.
Frustrated, I assumed it was a problem with the Synology and returned it, which sucks because it was otherwise a great router. But now I find this thread. So did Apple screw up Wifi on 2018 MBP's? Has anyone worked with Apple Support on this?
I'm seeing the same issues on a Synology RT2600ac router and a relatively new 2018 15.4" Macbook Pro. 2018 MBP seems fine with my old Time Capsule. Rock-solid 800-900Mbps + from my work spaces, all day long.
But on the Synology, it will be fine for anywhere from a few seconds, a few minutes, or perhaps an hour or two, then will spontaneously drop to 13-14 Mbps w/ a MCS of 0 or 1, even when 1 foot away from the router. No changes in signal strength, location, power status (AC power, actively working on the MBP), and no other 5Ghz interference in my home. I've tinkered with channels, widths, various settings (MU-MIMO, DTIM, etc), nothing seems to help other than the fact that changing these settings bounces wifi, which fixes it for a bit. Everything is running up-to-date software. It's very frustrating since it's not even fast enough to surf when it's acting up, let alone do anything productive like move files across the network or remote into servers.
Resolving usually requires a recycle of the Synology or MBP Wifi. Very rarely it will "creep back" up on it's own, with signal slowly recovering to a shaky 200-300Mpbs. A Wifi recycle blasts it back to 866+. An older 2014 Air, a pair of 2014 Macbook Pros (all on Mojave), as well as every iOS device in my home (new iPad Pro's, iPhone XS's) and other devices all work fine with the Synology. It's just this 2018 MBP that has issues, and just on the 5Ghz AC side. And as I said, the 2018MBP seems fine with the TC's 5Ghz AC.
Curiously, the RT2600ac *also* uses a Qualcomm chip, the Atheros QCA9984.
Frustrated, I assumed it was a problem with the Synology and returned it, which sucks because it was otherwise a great router. But now I find this thread. So did Apple screw up Wifi on 2018 MBP's? Has anyone worked with Apple Support on this?
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Interesting to see reports of this trickling in... still no solution here (though, admittedly, I stopped spending time working on it once I added the RE9000 access point, since this is pretty much the only room in which I use the MBP).
I think matters improved slightly from july to september, but then wifi remained untouched since, but looks like latest 10.14.4 beta has a new wifi firmware, so some hope that matters may improve.. or not.
I've got similar issues with a linksys acs1900 that's also I believe got a qualcomm.
I've got similar issues with a linksys acs1900 that's also I believe got a qualcomm.
Hi! I'm experiencing the same issue with a 2018 MacBook Pro and a FRITZ!Box 7590. After wake (even if the sleep was only for a few seconds) often, but not always, the Wifi is extremely slow, showing the same 14 Mbps Tx rate as already discussed.
My findings so far:
First of all, the Tx rate is the transmit rate. The receive rate Rx is not shown in the extended Wifi dropdown or - as far as I know - anywhere else in macOS. The system info also only displays the Tx rate, while the Network Utility show complete garbage in my case (always 54 Mbps).
Luckily, the Fritzbox has a screen where all connected Wifi devices are listed including both the Tx and Rx rates and this is very interesting:
The exact numbers fluctuate a bit, but you'll notice something: The Rx rate is not only MUCH higher (what explains why speed tests are slow, but not as slow as they should be with ~ 14 Mbps), it also is around the max rate of a 1 x 1 connection.
I also noticed, that my Wifi power plug (Koogeek) - albeit using the 2.4 GHz n network - often shows a similar behavior, having a Tx rate of around 27 Mbps and an Rx rate of only 1 Mbps.
With all my 20 years of computer networking experience, I now strongly suspect power management here (which generally comes straight from hell in computer world). It seems to me that the MacBook while sleeping goes down to some very efficient power saving mode, where receiving is reduced to 1 x 1 for some reason, while transmitting with very low power and thus lowering the rate to this very low one. So the real solution can only be a firmware or driver update supplied by Apple. Until then, the "disable Wifi and enable it again" fix seems to be the best we have.
Nevertheless you can always make your life easier by automating things! Check this blog post out, I've just found it:
https://medium.com/@airbagmoments/is-your-macos-wifi-groggy-after-sleep-ebf510011dd5
My findings so far:
First of all, the Tx rate is the transmit rate. The receive rate Rx is not shown in the extended Wifi dropdown or - as far as I know - anywhere else in macOS. The system info also only displays the Tx rate, while the Network Utility show complete garbage in my case (always 54 Mbps).
Luckily, the Fritzbox has a screen where all connected Wifi devices are listed including both the Tx and Rx rates and this is very interesting:
The exact numbers fluctuate a bit, but you'll notice something: The Rx rate is not only MUCH higher (what explains why speed tests are slow, but not as slow as they should be with ~ 14 Mbps), it also is around the max rate of a 1 x 1 connection.
I also noticed, that my Wifi power plug (Koogeek) - albeit using the 2.4 GHz n network - often shows a similar behavior, having a Tx rate of around 27 Mbps and an Rx rate of only 1 Mbps.
With all my 20 years of computer networking experience, I now strongly suspect power management here (which generally comes straight from hell in computer world). It seems to me that the MacBook while sleeping goes down to some very efficient power saving mode, where receiving is reduced to 1 x 1 for some reason, while transmitting with very low power and thus lowering the rate to this very low one. So the real solution can only be a firmware or driver update supplied by Apple. Until then, the "disable Wifi and enable it again" fix seems to be the best we have.
Nevertheless you can always make your life easier by automating things! Check this blog post out, I've just found it:
https://medium.com/@airbagmoments/is-your-macos-wifi-groggy-after-sleep-ebf510011dd5
I have a 2018 MacBook Air. The Wi-Fi adapter ID is
AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x843)
The firmware version is:
wl0: Oct 11 2018 22:36:55 version 9.141.4.0.32.6.23 FWID 01-3d163180
I don't have an issue with the 2018 MBA waking up from sleep and not having the connectivity. My issue is the gradual degradation of the access rates. The Tx rate shown (when I Option-click the Wi-Fi icon on the menu bar) gets as low as 13 Mbps. If I toggle Wi-Fi off and on, the Tx rate goes up to 866 Mbps for some time but starts coming down again within perhaps 20-30 minutes.
This is happening with the Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-HD, which uses a Qualcomm chipset. However, the same issue with gradual degradation of the access rates occurs with the Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-IW-HD, which uses a Mediatek chipset. There are also reports of the same issue occurring with the UAP-nanoHD, which uses the same chipset as the UAP-IW-HD.
Moreover, with the UAP-IW-HD, I get a sudden loss of IP connectivity even though the Wi-Fi icon still shows that the 2018 MBA is associated with the AP. The packet loss exceeds 95% and that events lasts between 5 and 20 minutes, when it suddenly resolves itself. I can manually resolve this issue immediately if I toggle Wi-Fi off and on. I haven't experienced this sudden loss of IP connectivity yet with the UAP-AC-HD (Qualcomm chipset), but the gradual degradation of the access rates occurs with this AP.
There are several people on the Ubiquiti support forums complaining about this very issue. They either have 2017 or 2018 MacBook Pros or they have the 2018 MacBook Air. The 2016 (or earlier) MacBook Pros don't seem to have this problem.
Has anyone found a decent AP or Wi-Fi router or a mesh system that doesn't have this issue with the 2017/2018 MacBook Pros? I've spent over a thousand dollars on the Ubiquiti equipment, but this incompatibility with the newer MacBook Pros / MacBook Air is unacceptable.
I don't know if this is issue is Apple's fault or not. Apple is, of course, silent on the issue. In the past, Apple had Wi-Fi issues with some MacBooks/MacBook Pros that people complained for months and years with no reaction from Apple. Then, one of the OS updates would fix this problem. I'm still hoping Apple will fix this issue. Wi-Fi AP/router equipment manufacturers are blaming Apple for this issue. Provided that the iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs don't seem to have this problem, it's only natural to assume that this issue is in Apple's court, but we will never know for sure.
AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x843)
The firmware version is:
wl0: Oct 11 2018 22:36:55 version 9.141.4.0.32.6.23 FWID 01-3d163180
I don't have an issue with the 2018 MBA waking up from sleep and not having the connectivity. My issue is the gradual degradation of the access rates. The Tx rate shown (when I Option-click the Wi-Fi icon on the menu bar) gets as low as 13 Mbps. If I toggle Wi-Fi off and on, the Tx rate goes up to 866 Mbps for some time but starts coming down again within perhaps 20-30 minutes.
This is happening with the Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-HD, which uses a Qualcomm chipset. However, the same issue with gradual degradation of the access rates occurs with the Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-IW-HD, which uses a Mediatek chipset. There are also reports of the same issue occurring with the UAP-nanoHD, which uses the same chipset as the UAP-IW-HD.
Moreover, with the UAP-IW-HD, I get a sudden loss of IP connectivity even though the Wi-Fi icon still shows that the 2018 MBA is associated with the AP. The packet loss exceeds 95% and that events lasts between 5 and 20 minutes, when it suddenly resolves itself. I can manually resolve this issue immediately if I toggle Wi-Fi off and on. I haven't experienced this sudden loss of IP connectivity yet with the UAP-AC-HD (Qualcomm chipset), but the gradual degradation of the access rates occurs with this AP.
There are several people on the Ubiquiti support forums complaining about this very issue. They either have 2017 or 2018 MacBook Pros or they have the 2018 MacBook Air. The 2016 (or earlier) MacBook Pros don't seem to have this problem.
Has anyone found a decent AP or Wi-Fi router or a mesh system that doesn't have this issue with the 2017/2018 MacBook Pros? I've spent over a thousand dollars on the Ubiquiti equipment, but this incompatibility with the newer MacBook Pros / MacBook Air is unacceptable.
I don't know if this is issue is Apple's fault or not. Apple is, of course, silent on the issue. In the past, Apple had Wi-Fi issues with some MacBooks/MacBook Pros that people complained for months and years with no reaction from Apple. Then, one of the OS updates would fix this problem. I'm still hoping Apple will fix this issue. Wi-Fi AP/router equipment manufacturers are blaming Apple for this issue. Provided that the iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs don't seem to have this problem, it's only natural to assume that this issue is in Apple's court, but we will never know for sure.
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Hi all!
I've discovered a couple of days ago my MacBook Pro 13" 2018 suffers from all these WiFi bugs… I tested three routers: Netgear R7800, Linksys EA6400 and FRITZ!Box 3490.
With the FRITZ!Box 3490, I have the same issue as @NeoVg and its 7590 or @mcaswell and its Velop. After a while, the TX Rate in macOS drops till 13Mbps though the distance between the MBP and the FRITZ is just less than 4-5 meters (± 15 ft.)
I don't have this "TX Rate issue" with the R7800 and the EA6400, but I get slower Wi-Fi on wake. TX Rate doesn't seem weird at all, but when I transfer a file from a local server, I only get max 270-280Mbps instead of the max I can get from it (~450-470Mbps).
In all these cases, the "simple" workaround is to turn Wi-Fi off and on again, but it's frustrating. I hope the next Mojave will come with a new Wi-Fi firmware to patch it…
I've discovered a couple of days ago my MacBook Pro 13" 2018 suffers from all these WiFi bugs… I tested three routers: Netgear R7800, Linksys EA6400 and FRITZ!Box 3490.
With the FRITZ!Box 3490, I have the same issue as @NeoVg and its 7590 or @mcaswell and its Velop. After a while, the TX Rate in macOS drops till 13Mbps though the distance between the MBP and the FRITZ is just less than 4-5 meters (± 15 ft.)
I don't have this "TX Rate issue" with the R7800 and the EA6400, but I get slower Wi-Fi on wake. TX Rate doesn't seem weird at all, but when I transfer a file from a local server, I only get max 270-280Mbps instead of the max I can get from it (~450-470Mbps).
In all these cases, the "simple" workaround is to turn Wi-Fi off and on again, but it's frustrating. I hope the next Mojave will come with a new Wi-Fi firmware to patch it…
Hello, just to add that I have pretty much exactly this issue that I've been trying to understand/fix for weeks with my 2018 MBP and Eero wifi mesh. After sleep my wifi is spotty/slow. Turning wifi on and off brings it back to normal, although a full reboot seems to bring it back even stronger. I am running the latest Mojave (10.14.3).
I've still been seeing dropped speeds randomly, the previous beta firmware actually seemed better I think.
I didn't try the beta firmware, but I still have some drops too. Although, there are less than before the update.
Yeah, the updated firmware/driver is definitely better than before.
I have a MBA 2018 and RT2600ac router. Getting same problem. Speeds drop, usually after waking up from sleep. Turning off Wifi on MBA and back on doesn't always resolve. Only sure way to fix is to reboot MBA. Very frustrating as has been happening for 2-3 months. How would you even show this to Apple Genius to fix?
Those of you who have the degrading access rate issue. Do you guys wear an Apple Watch? It seems to be related to the auto-unlock with Apple Watch feature. Several people on the Apple support forum reported that turning off the auto-unlock with Apple Watch feature fixes these wi-fi issues.
Interesting. Yes, I wear Apple Watch. Can you provide URL? Apple products that don’t work well together?
I'm also interested! The Auto Unlock feature is enable on my MBP 13" Touch Bar 2018 with my Apple Watch Series 4. I've just disabled it, let's try…
Is that this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8531525?page=10?
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