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M1 Pro wifi slow

R

Red#9

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I have 900MBps broadband. Using wifi:

My 2017 MBP gets 473 MBps download.
My iPhone 13 gets 330
My iPad Air gets 281
My very expensive 2022 16" MBP M1 only gets 165

All side by side at the same time connected to the same remote server.

Any ideas please ?
 
1. What's your WiFi kit?
2. Do you have a lot WiFi congestion, i.e. overlapping SSIDs?
2. Did you confirm if you were on 2.4 or 5 GHz band?
 
Apple support suggested resetting the SMC.
Brilliant, now it is only 10% slower than my 2017 MBP, rather tan 70% slower
 
Red#9 said:
Apple support suggested resetting the SMC.
Brilliant, now it is only 10% slower than my 2017 MBP, rather tan 70% slower
Click to expand...
My Macs on Monterey have a strange problem that may be a bug in my networking equipment but if I have the "Airplay Receiver" turned on in the Sharing System Preference, I have terrible wifi performance. Turning it off allows the wifi to work as expected.
 
Red#9 said:
Apple support suggested resetting the SMC.
Brilliant, now it is only 10% slower than my 2017 MBP, rather tan 70% slower
Click to expand...

So, your 2017 MBP gets 473 MBps, whereas the 2022 MBP gets around 425?

That is a very small difference and it could be due to all sort of reasons, coincidence, chance.
 
For what it's worth, my M1 MBP is also sloooow on wifi. I've got the AP's that Apple recommends on their web page (the Linksys mesh system, wifi 6). PC's are fine and fast. My M1? Slow. I've read about this on Apple forums as well, we aren't the only ones. Trillion dollar company can't seem to get wifi right. Lovely. At least they fixed the USB-C dock issues so I can use ethernet without it dropping out every 5 minutes. Only took Apple a full year to fix it.
 
I believe all the Macs with M1 (M1 , M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra) are really slow on Wifi, only remedy I found is to place the Wifi router very next (within in couple of feet) to the Macs, or use direct Ethernet connection where possible.
 
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My MBP 14" M1 Max gets 504 Mbps down / 605 Mbps up on WiFi 5Ghz, though the router is phisically just 2-3 feet away, signal has to travel through an 8 inch brick wall and found no issues whatsoever. I can test for you tomorrow how it's 16 feet away from the router and crossing a couple of those walls.

As @Wando64 mentions, that little variance can be explained just by switching servers where you're making the speed test. The official "test" provided by my ISP gave me 420-430 Mbps for example vs 500 on speedtest and another server. Not to mention WiFi signal tends to degrade/saturate a little bit for every device that's connected to it depending on your router/access point, so take that in consideration as well.

For reference, my plan is 1Gbps and through ethernet via USB-c hub I reach 910-960 Mbps up&down, so even under ethernet and the same server it can fluctuate under a lot of circumstances.

TL;DR - I think your WiFi performance is ok with the data you provided.
 
Last edited:
I believe all the M1’s are HE80… meaning you won’t be able to use any of the HE160 advances.

Still, I’m not sure how much bandwidth a wireless device really needs… realistically, 150-200mbps is all you need.
 
Red#9 said:
I have 900MBps broadband. Using wifi:

My 2017 MBP gets 473 MBps download.
My iPhone 13 gets 330
My iPad Air gets 281
My very expensive 2022 16" MBP M1 only gets 165

All side by side at the same time connected to the same remote server.

Any ideas please ?
Click to expand...
Over Wi-Fi, you will never get the full 900 Mb/s connection on any Mac. That's cause Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is limited to 143 Mb/s under perfect conditions in 20MHz slice channels and using 1024-QAM @ 800ns guards.

You want faster? You need to get a router that supports 80MHz or 160MHz channel slices and handles 1024-QAM Modulation. Even then at 80MHz slices you'll only get 600Mb/s maximum theoretical. At 160MHz you will get over your broadband, but good luck finding 160MHz of spectrum free for you to use. Heck, even 80MHz is pushing it.
 
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Don’t know if it is relevant but my iPad Pro M1 has terrible Wi-Fi. Keeps dropping connection. My iPhone, iPad Mini are far better.
 
oldwatery said:
Don’t know if it is relevant but my iPad Pro M1 has terrible Wi-Fi. Keeps dropping connection. My iPhone, iPad Mini are far better.
Click to expand...
I’ve had really good success with the iPad Pro M1, when it is locked to 5GHz 80MHz with a static IP setup… I think the M1 has problems switching between radio signals…
 
Red#9 said:
I have 900MBps broadband. Using wifi:

My 2017 MBP gets 473 MBps download.
My iPhone 13 gets 330
My iPad Air gets 281
My very expensive 2022 16" MBP M1 only gets 165

All side by side at the same time connected to the same remote server.

Any ideas please ?
Click to expand...
I’m not sure what router you have, but a lot of models have a statistics option in the administration settings… This can show you what MAC addresses(which systems), are using which radios and settings… It is possible you need to tighten up your router settings… Basic WIFI… 2.4GHz/5GHz —> use 5GHz exclusively if possible(mixed radio signals decrease router throughput rates)… Spectrums(20,80,160) —> newer devices will tell you if they support these… HE20/HE80/HE160 —> your system should tell what you have in the WIFI datasheet… if you have this as an option, and numerous 5GHz radios, consider locking one of them to your highest level for maximum speeds. Also, go into your router’s settings and make sure your transmission power for all radios are at full…
 
Mcckoe said:
I’m not sure what router you have, but a lot of models have a statistics option in the administration settings… This can show you what MAC addresses(which systems), are using which radios and settings… It is possible you need to tighten up your router settings… Basic WIFI… 2.4GHz/5GHz —> use 5GHz exclusively if possible(mixed radio signals decrease router throughput rates)… Spectrums(20,80,160) —> newer devices will tell you if they support these… HE20/HE80/HE160 —> your system should tell what you have in the WIFI datasheet… if you have this as an option, and numerous 5GHz radios, consider locking one of them to your highest level for maximum speeds. Also, go into your router’s settings and make sure your transmission power for all radios are at full…
Click to expand...
Even if OP does it, there has to be spectrum available to grab (the channel). If the channels are congested, it won't be possible to used 80MHz or 160MHz slices.
 
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jav6454 said:
Even if OP does it, there has to be spectrum available to grab (the channel). If the channels are congested, it won't be possible to used 80MHz or 160MHz slices.
Click to expand...
I’ve never had issues with 80MHz, but i live in a house in a medium sized town; 160MHz is possibly more sensitive, but again i haven’t had any issues. As there aren’t a lot of HE160 devices, and I generally use it for PtP… My recommendation was to help maximize connection throughput on devices.… but yes if you live in an area where getting a full range is going to be a problem, then this should be considered.
 
I believe there are perfectly legitimate circumstances where a 2017 MBPro will perform better than a new M1 based Pro. Historically Apple has released some MBpros with 3 antenna and some with 2. 3 is better than 2. AFAIK that 3 vs 2 dynamic still applies to the MBPro range, but it’s hard to tell since Apple is always so poor documenting their hardware.


if you opt-click the wifi icon and screenshot the results we can likely tell if that’s a contributing factor.
 
Mcckoe said:
I’ve never had issues with 80MHz, but i live in a house in a medium sized town; 160MHz is possibly more sensitive, but again i haven’t had any issues. As there aren’t a lot of HE160 devices, and I generally use it for PtP… My recommendation was to help maximize connection throughput on devices.… but yes if you live in an area where getting a full range is going to be a problem, then this should be considered.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I mean, in the old fashion suburbs, it shouldn't be an issue. But in places where houses are duplex or apartment complexes, then I doubt 160MHz or even 80MHz will be doable.
 
Switching off Bluetooth didn’t help

ISP engineer surveyed my home and set me up on the strongest cleanest channels, Didn’t help

Apple tech support on phone for 90 minutes didn’t help

Off to Apple store to see a genius. Not holding my breath TBH
 
Don't forget that your newest MBP only has 2x 5GHz radios, rather than the 3 of older Macs. So in true like-for-like testing you already lose 1/3 of your previous capacity.

There are too many variables at play to guess as to what environment and settings would help or hinder.
 
RobbieTT said:
Don't forget that your newest MBP only has 2x 5GHz radios, rather than the 3 of older Macs. So in true like-for-like testing you already lose 1/3 of your previous capacity.

There are too many variables at play to guess as to what environment and settings would help or hinder.
Click to expand...
That is true. @Red#9 to achieve faster speeds, MIMO is required and if radio connections are lost, then your MIMO capacity goes down which means your theoretical/practical max speeds over Wi-Fi will also go down.
 
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