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Big Sur WIFI Woes

C

Collywobbles

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 17, 2017
85
29
OK, I'm having issues with the wifi. Doesn't work on wake and is prone to random drop outs and reconnection failures during usage. Struggles and connects at slow speeds.
Remedies tried:
1) Remove wireless networks, reset SMC, reset NVRam. Rejoin network. Doesn't work.
2) Remove wireless networks. Add location. Rejoin network. Doesn't work.

This is a Ubiquiti controller managed network, cabled backplane (not meshed). It has around 25 to 30 other items connected to it, including iPhones, iPads, watches, Apple TV's, iMacs and Smart TVS (LG), Blu-ray players (Samsung). No problems anywhere else, with the exception for a LAN cabled Apple TV which clearly also has problems with a wake from sleep issue with the LAN cable connector.

This is a 2019 16" MacBook Pro, but it not the first MacBook Pro that's had this problem, in fact every single one has had this problem. Personally I think it has something everything to do with the power management of the wifi module, but you have no control over this in macOS.

Anybody got any suggestions?
 
check this out... you can't see the animation but wifi is turned off and it's still searching...
 

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and.... the Mac is around 6 foot away form the access point.. note the transmission speed and the signal strength
 

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On the Ubiquity controller try to set the 5 Ghz band to standard 80 Mhz channel width. Set DTIM period to 3.
If you use an Apple Watch try to disable "unlock with apple watch" on MacOS.

Good luck.
 
unfortunately I have lot's of other things that won't support 80mhz channels; I've tried it before. I will look at reducing the indicator message interval though, thanks :)
 
just checked, it's already set to 3. the controller I'm using is 6.0.23; not the very latest, but new enough.
 
You can leave the 2 Ghz band to standard 20 Mhz channel width. Suggest you try the above setting for the 5 Ghz band
 
Mac refuses to connect @80mhz, not sure why, never managed to sort it out; had to revert.. I said I'd tried it before.
 
Sorry I was unable to help - don't think it's Big Sur related.
I have been struggling with the Ubiquiti access points myself, but finally it's solid on Apple (non MacBook Pro) devices.

tempImagepLTOLx.png
 
BigSur WIFI is a major issue. iMac was upgraded over the weekend. Prior to the upgrade everything was fine now it just gets stuck. Much worse than just 'WIFI dropped' as the system has all sorts of issues with anything network related. I am sitting in front of this machine with my MBP running Big Sur and it is fine no issues, same with iPad, iPhone, Nest Cameras etc etc. This is OS related and needs to be resolved as rebooting my machine every 45 minutes is not acceptable.
 
if it's so bad, I would advise you to revert. I doubt patches will be that fast coming through.
 
Yeah not worth my time to deal with the revert process. Should of followed my gut and waited for 11.0.2. For now it will be MBP and the iMac will become a large jukebox.
 
Lvivske said:
ive been getting wifi issues since a couple of catalina updates ago, was hoping big sur would fix it...oh boy...
Click to expand...
I came into macOS with Catalina and I had issues with Wi-Fi from the start, so I don't know if that was the start of it. Randomly my Wi-Fi will stop working for about a minute. I can go all day or even several days without issues then it can start again like yesterday when it disconnected twice once during a video call. I, too, thought Big Sur will fix it. I however am using a USB Type C Ethernet adapter but I thought I had a failing Wi-Fi seeing I am not alone at least I know I don't have to have my MacBook serviced.
 
Collywobbles said:
OK, I'm having issues with the wifi. Doesn't work on wake and is prone to random drop outs and reconnection failures during usage. Struggles and connects at slow speeds.
Remedies tried:
1) Remove wireless networks, reset SMC, reset NVRam. Rejoin network. Doesn't work.
2) Remove wireless networks. Add location. Rejoin network. Doesn't work.

This is a Ubiquiti controller managed network, cabled backplane (not meshed). It has around 25 to 30 other items connected to it, including iPhones, iPads, watches, Apple TV's, iMacs and Smart TVS (LG), Blu-ray players (Samsung). No problems anywhere else, with the exception for a LAN cabled Apple TV which clearly also has problems with a wake from sleep issue with the LAN cable connector.

This is a 2019 16" MacBook Pro, but it not the first MacBook Pro that's had this problem, in fact every single one has had this problem. Personally I think it has something everything to do with the power management of the wifi module, but you have no control over this in macOS.

Anybody got any suggestions?
Click to expand...
I have the SAME issue with the same setup. I also had the issue randomly with the prior OS. What Ubiquiti APs do you have? Send me a PM and maybe we can compare settings?
 
Just did it again. Wifi went dead for about a minute then it magically starts to work again. Really annoying. I did those useless steps like reset SMC dumb fix same as sfc /scannow in windows and partiton cache wipe in Android. Fixes nothing.

Do I have a bad Wifi adapter so is it hardware related?
 
There is a fresh firmware update to the Ubiquiti access points, it states:

Bugfixes​

  • [UAP-MTK] Fix wireless adoption failure, introduced in 5.43.7.
  • [UAP] Fix issue with MacBook's connecting to the 2.4GHz WLAN instead of 5GHz when High Performance Devices (no2ghz) is enabled, introduced in 5.42.0.
  • [USW] Fix DHCP Snooping rate limiting issue.
  • [USW] Disable IGMP header validation to fix IPTV issues.
 
supernet33 said:
I have the SAME issue with the same setup. I also had the issue randomly with the prior OS. What Ubiquiti APs do you have? Send me a PM and maybe we can compare settings?
Click to expand...
sorry, I haven't received any updates on this thread. wasn't ignoring you.

so I can establish and maintain a wifi connection.... if I use a VPN. that means the VPN tunnel is keeping the connection open because it has a dead mans switch on it. so it is very much an OS issue and one that's been around for a while.

FYI, however I have controller 6.2, AP's are HD nano and a couple of AC/Pro's. this is a SOHO / heavy usage, not commercial.
HTH :)
 
Prorege1 said:
There is a fresh firmware update to the Ubiquiti access points, it states:

Bugfixes​

  • [UAP-MTK] Fix wireless adoption failure, introduced in 5.43.7.
  • [UAP] Fix issue with MacBook's connecting to the 2.4GHz WLAN instead of 5GHz when High Performance Devices (no2ghz) is enabled, introduced in 5.42.0.
  • [USW] Fix DHCP Snooping rate limiting issue.
  • [USW] Disable IGMP header validation to fix IPTV issues.
Click to expand...
hi see the response I made to @supernet33
 
tonyr6 said:
Just did it again. Wifi went dead for about a minute then it magically starts to work again. Really annoying. I did those useless steps like reset SMC dumb fix same as sfc /scannow in windows and partiton cache wipe in Android. Fixes nothing.

Do I have a bad Wifi adapter so is it hardware related?
Click to expand...
no it's not hardware related, see my response to @supernet33 hth :)
 
Prorege1 said:
There is a fresh firmware update to the Ubiquiti access points, it states:

Bugfixes​

  • [UAP-MTK] Fix wireless adoption failure, introduced in 5.43.7.
  • [UAP] Fix issue with MacBook's connecting to the 2.4GHz WLAN instead of 5GHz when High Performance Devices (no2ghz) is enabled, introduced in 5.42.0.
  • [USW] Fix DHCP Snooping rate limiting issue.
  • [USW] Disable IGMP header validation to fix IPTV issues.
Click to expand...
just applied a unified controller update, no further AP updates, so they must be on the latest software. and still it drops out all the time unless I have a vpn going. the AP's are on
Model: UAP-AC-Pro
Version: 4.3.21.11325
 
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