MBP 16" WiFi Speed Goofy

[rickeames]

Okay, so here is my concern. Sitting in the same spot on a 1Gig Internet connection.

speedtest.xfinity.com

Safari on MBP: 282 down, 46 up
11" iPad Pro: 656 down, 46 up

I've tried all sorts of configurations -- what in the world is wrong with the WiFI on this MBP? That's a crazy difference.

 

[fokmik]

16" mbp i think it has 2x2mimo wifi and not the 3x3

 

[nethead]

speedtest.xfinity.com

Safari on MBP: 282 down, 46 up
11" iPad Pro: 656 down, 46 up

If you hold the "alt" key while clicking the WiFi icon in the menubar, it should show a lot of details about your WiFi connection. These would be interesting to figure out why your MBP has much slower speeds than your iPad Pro. Can you share them? (Except BSSID, which is the physical address of your WiFi router, which you might want to keep private.) For reference, here are mine with a pretty good connection on my MBP 16". I can get roughly the throughput of your iPad Pro.

16" mbp i think it has 2x2mimo wifi and not the 3x3

The 16" MBP definitely has 802.11ac 3x3 WiFi, otherwise mine couldn't connect at 1170 - 1300 Mbps to the router.

 

[Quu]

16" mbp i think it has 2x2mimo wifi and not the 3x3

It's 3x3. WiFi performance on mine is the same as my old 15". I did have some problems with the first version of Catalina but the most recent point update fixed those WiFi problems I was having.

 

[eclipxe]

I see similar issues - after toggling wifi off and on I can get 700-800mbps, however over time and after sleep, speeds will drop down to 180-250mbps until I toggle wifi or restart. iPad, iPhone and Windows machine in the same location never have the problem. Something is definitely bugged with Wifi either on the 16 or Catalina.

 

[Howard2k]

16" mbp i think it has 2x2mimo wifi and not the 3x3

No, the 16" is 3x3. AppleInsider said it was 2x2 but they were wrong.

 

[rickeames]

I see similar issues - after toggling wifi off and on I can get 700-800mbps, however over time and after sleep, speeds will drop down to 180-250mbps until I toggle wifi or restart. iPad, iPhone and Windows machine in the same location never have the problem. Something is definitely bugged with Wifi either on the 16 or Catalina.

THIS. After writing that last night, I did the menu peek and while it said it was Tx'ing at 1GB, the actual download speeds were awful. One reboot later, I was up equal with the iPad Pro. This morning, it's dropping lower again. Upload is never affected -- just download. Has to be a bug somewhere.

 

[eclipxe]

So far, disabling "Unlock with Apple Watch" *seems* to resolve the problem. Keeping my fingers crossed and testing more over the next few days, but looking pretty okay now.

 

[aloper]

I’ve noticed that coming out of sleep, my 16 MBP randomly has slow speeds on WiFi. Copying some files across my network, normally takes 10-15 seconds, but again, coming out of sleep, randomly, those same files can take two to three minutes or more. Toggling WiFi off then back on fixes the issue.

 

[teidon]

I have this problem as well. After waking from sleep, Wi-Fi works okay or okay-ish for some time but then starts to slow down until no data moves one or the other direction. It at least sometimes fixes itself if I bother to wait long enough. Toggling Wi-Fi off and on fixes it right away.

Turned off "Unlock with Apple Watch" and the problem seems to be gone.