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hmm for me it was definitely my orbi router which can be fickle with the connection...and when it was the wifi it was usually addressed by a quick restart.

however like fisherman said try etherneting when you can at home
 
This used to happen to me years ago, and drove me crazy. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly how I fixed it, but here's the thread I posted at the time, might have some useful info inside:


Good news is that the issue has never come up again since!
 
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Which "it" needed restarting: the Orbi, or the MBook Pro?

oh the mbp. But ive only reset the computer a handful of times over the 7yrs ive had it due to the mbps wifi. The orbi on the other hand ive reset at least 20-30 times in the 2yrs Ive had it
 
I had this problem a few years back. I think I ended up swapping out the MBP. I had bought one from the refurbished section and they gave me a brand new one.
 
I have network problems at home too, on my Ipad pro 2018, various iPhones and mbp2015 it seems to drop connection once in a while and then i have to select another(sometimes disable wifi and enable it again) even though the device right next to it works fine with no dropped connection. The iPad is the worst offender by far, mbp the most annoying one to reconnect and maddeningly enough 2 windows laptops and an android tablet has 0 problems. I wish they would change the way wifi preferences worked so you could put them in the order you prefer and actually connect to the next if there is a latency problem but not holding my breath for that kinda magic.
 
You have an issue somewhere with your internet setup. If everyone’s Mac’s behaved the way yours do Apple would be out of business.
 
Buy a better router instead of crying like a baby.
I have the Eero mesh router and all my devices work perfectly
 
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I just couldn't own something I hated. That thing would be sold so fast.
Even if I took a loss on it, my sanity is worth more than being angry at something in my everyday life.

A $600 working laptop has more value to me than a $2,000 consistent aggravation.
 
My MBP 2014 had WiFi issues. My MBP 2016 had WiFi issues. Just received my brand-new MBP 2019, and it has WiFi issues!!!!! Please tell me I'm not the only one, PLEASE!!!!

WiFi menu icon shows as connected, but when trying to go to any website, it never loads anything, nor does it show as disconnected. As soon as I turn WiFi off and back on, everything works fine again. I have to do this many times a day. I was never able to fix this issue on MBP 2014 or MBP 2016.

I'm so livid right now, I just wanna smash the damn thing against the wall. 🤬🤬🤬

😭😭😭

So for your different machines, are they migrated/restored from the same machine/backup or are they unrelated?
When does it happen and does it happen every time?

does it happen at different locations too?



I’ve had multiple MacBook pros and airs and had a problem.

If it’s happening to multiple of your machines I don’t think it is the machine itself, but some software settings/profile or your router/access point.
 
Don't forget that 5ghz can barely penetrate one wall let alone 2 without signicant drop-off in speed and reliability. So don't expect to have your laptop with a good 5ghz connection with 3 walls between your laptop and wireless router. 2.4ghz has much better penetration but slower speed and prone to interference if in a neighborhood with multiple wireless routers as there's really only 3 true channels that don't overlap with the others...
 
There has been an issue with the wireless antenna design (WiFi and Bluetooth) in the USB-C MacBook Pros since 2016. The 2018/19 MacBook Air does not have this design issue. Disappointing to hear its not resolved in the 2019 16".
I've seen what OP is talking about in many machines, their claim is not completely baseless.
 
I had this problem with a Wi-fi mesh network when I'd put the Macbook to sleep and wake it up in a different area of the house. I automated toggling Wi-fi off and back on again whenever my laptop would wake up from sleep, and then it worked perfectly. Maybe this is useful to someone. There may be other ways to do this, but I used Keyboard Maestro to execute this applescript "At system wake":

AppleScript:
set device to do shell script "networksetup -listallhardwareports | awk '$3==\"Wi-Fi\" {getline;print}' | awk '{print $2}'"

set power to do shell script "networksetup -getairportpower " & device & " | awk '{print $4}'"

if power is equal to "on" then
    set power to "off"
    do shell script ("networksetup -setairportpower " & device & " " & power)
    set power to "on"
    do shell script ("networksetup -setairportpower " & device & " " & power)
end if

I don't recall where I got the original Applescript from, but it's pretty straightforward to execute the shell script commands in Terminal (after "do shell script" and before the "| awk ...") and see what the output of each command is and how it's working.
 
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My MBP 2014 had WiFi issues. My MBP 2016 had WiFi issues. Just received my brand-new MBP 2019, and it has WiFi issues!!!!! Please tell me I'm not the only one, PLEASE!!!!

WiFi menu icon shows as connected, but when trying to go to any website, it never loads anything, nor does it show as disconnected. As soon as I turn WiFi off and back on, everything works fine again. I have to do this many times a day. I was never able to fix this issue on MBP 2014 or MBP 2016.

I'm so livid right now, I just wanna smash the damn thing against the wall. 🤬🤬🤬

😭😭😭
bro change your router my god.
 
Thank you all for the replies and the follow-up questions. I'm not gonna reply to each individual post, but will try to answer most questions in one post.

I rarely travel with my MBP outside the house, but have been with it to my parents' house as well as school and work once or twice. I can't say for sure whether or not I had WiFi issues in those places as it's intermittent and random. It mostly sits on my desk at home. When traveling, it's always iPhone and iPad that are with me, which never ever had any WiFi issues (be it motel, hotel, friend's house, airport, etc.).

I live in a house pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and there are no other houses or buildings/structures in the immediate vicinity.

My internet provider is Optimum, using Arris modem and Sagemcom router. The average download speed is 100mbps, and upload speed 20mbps. I'm connected to 5G, not 2.4G.

In addition to MBP, there's also one iPhone, one iPad, and one Apple TV in the household connected to WiFi at any given time.

No VPN, no FireWall, just very basic internet usage.

You don’t want to hear this, but it’s you.

Either you’re mis-configuring all your routers the same way, or you’re migrating some wonky configuration each time you upgrade machines.
 
Another case of MacRumors users slamming Apple with a mythological problem and unwilling to show or present any evidence or detailed description of the issue, nor desire to understand and resolve it... Must be one of the 'Pros' we hear so much about.
 
Yo how cool will be a new 16” MBP with WiFi 6 Apple straight up is trolling you guys with WiFi 5
 
My MBP 2014 had WiFi issues. My MBP 2016 had WiFi issues. Just received my brand-new MBP 2019, and it has WiFi issues!!!!! Please tell me I'm not the only one, PLEASE!!!!

WiFi menu icon shows as connected, but when trying to go to any website, it never loads anything, nor does it show as disconnected. As soon as I turn WiFi off and back on, everything works fine again. I have to do this many times a day. I was never able to fix this issue on MBP 2014 or MBP 2016.

I'm so livid right now, I just wanna smash the damn thing against the wall. 🤬🤬🤬

😭😭😭

I'm having the exact same issue with the 16" MacBook Pro. I had the 2016 15" prior to this that did not have this issue. It's only happened twice so far in the past two days but it's still very annoying.
 
Thank you all for the replies and the follow-up questions. I'm not gonna reply to each individual post, but will try to answer most questions in one post.

I rarely travel with my MBP outside the house, but have been with it to my parents' house as well as school and work once or twice. I can't say for sure whether or not I had WiFi issues in those places as it's intermittent and random. It mostly sits on my desk at home. When traveling, it's always iPhone and iPad that are with me, which never ever had any WiFi issues (be it motel, hotel, friend's house, airport, etc.).

I live in a house pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and there are no other houses or buildings/structures in the immediate vicinity.
As pointed out by all others, wifi is NOT common problem issue for MBPs, especially across all those generations. Chances all three MBPs have the same problem are pretty much 0... So we have few possible other culprits: human, router, interference, and software.

If you replaced routers over the years (with different brands and different configurations), routers should be OK.

Not sure how to blame human for this...

Interference is good possibility. I replaced heating system in our house few years ago with new one which has "DC" motor which runs at variable speeds all the time. Great heating/cooling system! I had real issues with Bluetooth, wifi, and TV after that. Took me few years of blaming the BT devices, moving antennas, etc., eventually to get annoyed enough to do google search and find out, that this specific heating system is known to generate lots of noise on these frequencies and find on Youtube description, how to fix this issue. Was about $40 of hardware and some grounding wires. Problem (mostly) solved.

Hm, what software would you be running - or have some ugly remnants off? Any chance you keep migrating or installing some software which can interfere with wifi operations (like antivirus or other "security" solution)?
Personally, I would wipe the system clean on one of the MBP devices and install clean system. Completely. And try that.
 
WiFi no matter where, no matter the router, mesh, whatever. It is always kind of iffy.
 
I have literally never had a WiFi problem with any MacBook Pro's for years.
 
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