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M1 Macbook Air Wi-Fi Speed Drop Issue

ink555

ink555

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2023
6
0
I have been using the M1 Macbook Air since 2021. There is a Wi-Fi problem with the product that I do not understand and that I could not solve even though I searched on the Internet and tried everything. Let me explain that there were times when the wi-fi speed was low even when there was no one using the wi-fi other than me, even in the same places with the M1 Macbook Air:



The living room of the house is in the same place. 5 minutes ago 45 Mbps on speedtest.

The living room of the house is in the same place, now at 19 Mbps.

I'm the only one using Wi-Fi, and nothing is downloading in the background.



I have 50 Mbps internet, and I don't experience any internet speed drops on my other devices: my desktop PC and my iPhone.



This situation I experience is especially evident when watching TV series, movies, or videos on YouTube. While watching 1080p, the video suddenly freezes, and the video automatically changes to 480p.


Should I send the product to Apple Service for a hardware-related problem? I talked with Apple online support, and they said the problem may not be related to the hardware of the laptop.​

 
Considerable more details about your Wi-Fi system is necessary. Brand? Model? Is your Wi-Fi system Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6? Is it a mesh system? As much detail as you can provide.
 
Yes, I did. Apple diagnostics didn't find anything wrong with my Mac
 
Try changing channel used by the router for wifi, it is possible there is some interference on channel you are using.

50Mbps is slow enough, that any band (2.4GHz or 5GHz) should not have any issues with it. But if you have interference, may?
There are tools (Wifi explorer, Wifi scanner,...) which let you see who else is using different channels and what is your signal to noise ratio. I had issues with Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wifi when my house heating system is running; heater has DC motor for exhaust and that seems to generate interference in this spectrum. I had to add some filters and grounding to reduce interference enough, that I do not care anymore.
 
Wifi explorer:scanner costs too much in App Store. Can you recommend a free app for me to check my signal to noise ratio. My router has only one channel and I am to only one who is using it.
 
MacOS reports the s/n and lots of other info about your wifi reception, if you option-click the wifi icon on the menubar Or in control center. You can google some guides how to optimize wifi connection and they have info on values you should see.
Router has many channels, it is obvously using only one at time. Most routers default to auto channel setting, you need to find how to switch it from auto to specific channel and just try changing it. Changing channel can sort out wierd issuess sometimes. It is the easiest thing to try, does not cost anything and is trivial - change the setting, may be restart and try. The questin is, if this is internet provider device, do you have credentials to modify any settings?
 
Nope, Changing router channel didn't affect anything
Honza1 said:
MacOS reports the s/n and lots of other info about your wifi reception, if you option-click the wifi icon on the menubar Or in control center. You can google some guides how to optimize wifi connection and they have info on values you should see.
Router has many channels, it is obvously using only one at time. Most routers default to auto channel setting, you need to find how to switch it from auto to specific channel and just try changing it. Changing channel can sort out wierd issuess sometimes. It is the easiest thing to try, does not cost anything and is trivial - change the setting, may be restart and try. The questin is, if this is internet provider device, do you have credentials to modify any settings?
Click to expand...
 
ink555 said:
Ironically, that app is not free and also requires activatition even for free version.
Click to expand...
I'm using the free version. You will get the activation window but basically just click on "continue" on the lower left. NetSpot.png
 
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