MacBook Pro 2015 - Wifi Problems with good Wifi Signal

[dagarkatyal]

I have a macbook pro 2015. recently I started having connectivity issues with wifi. if mac is not in direct line of sight with router it will not connect or will give very poor speed. in the same room as router it works good but any other room it craps out. I live in 1000 sqft apartment so I am not going very far (may be 20ft with dry wall in between)

RSSI and Noise in everywhere in the house are good numbers but Tx Rate is very low ~5mbps..

I upgraded to Catalina recently. Could it be because of that?
could it be related to wifi antenna or card as in a hardware thing??

I have windows laptop and iphone and ipad and they all work seemlessly around the house.. the problem is only with Macbook pro

 

[BrianBaughn]

Based on what's out there on the webs (for Catalina wifi issues) the first thing you should try is opening System Preferences>Network and in the "Locations:" section select "Edit Locations", create a new location, and then reconnect to your wifi.

 

[Rodan52]

Yep, that's what I was going to suggest. You should see the default location (unless you've done this before) as Automatic. Just go to edit, create a new location, eg Home and enter the router password then let the connection wizard do the rest. This has worked for a few friends recently.

 

[dagarkatyal]

I tried the New location thing. Did not help.
someone had suggested deleting the preference files from library. I did that too. Still no luck.
moved my whole WiFi setup to another room. Just to eliminate interference scenario. Now the internet works in the new room but does crappy thing all other rooms.

I installed WiFi watcher tool and the signal strength is above 90% all around the house. All other devices work fine except the Mac.

My wife uses this laptop in class and her classroom has router. Internet works amazing in class but as soon as you are out of class it does not.

I am thinking of full format and downgrading to Mojave. IMO this will eliminate software causes.

last option would be to investigate hardware

 

[BrianBaughn]

Downgrading would definitely narrow it down.

 

[Kysmet]

Hello
I am having the exact same issue with my iPad Pro 12.9 2018.
WiFi signal drops anywhere else but the room where the router is. I have to walk back to the room to restore as it says “unable to join network name” unless I am standing directly under the router holding the iPad. There are 1 Mac mini, 2 iPhones, 1 laptop and 2 kids tablets running on the network fine and everywhere in the house except the iPad.
took it to Apple and they ran diagnosis and they say it’s fine. In fact, it works well on other WiFi networks except the one at home.
it’s driving me nuts I don’t know what to do. Anyone had this issue and was able to resolve it?!!!
please help!!!!!!!!!

 

[Viamusic10000]

I have the same problem on my 2012 air. My solution was to buy an external usb atenna and it completely resolved the issue. Fairly certain its just the computer showing its age. I suspect its hardware.

 

[dagarkatyal]

Downgrading would definitely narrow it down.

After trying everything and going to Apple store I got a quote for $500 for changing logic board.
Best guys was smarter. They gave me a WiFi dongal for $40. And that is what I have been using. Works amazing with only drawback of airdrop not working.

 

[Skoopman]

I have (had) the exact same problem and belive it to be a software issue with Catalina. After upgrading 2 devices (13" MBP 2015 and 13" MBA 2012), both had WiFi issues although they worked fine the day before. The transmission rate would drop to 5–7 Mbps from 130/145 Mbps and the connection would be terrible; Skype calls dropped, the internet would slow down to a crawl.

This was a few weeks ago. I’m in a new location now and don’t have that issue anymore, so it might have something to do with that specific router in the previous location.

Do you have any other routers you can borrow and test? Is the problem only on 2.4 GHz?

 

[eclipxe]

I have the same problem. Wifi starts out fine then over time the speed drops. Toggling wifi off and on helps for a bit, then slows down again.