I bought a new home that is equipped with the Cox Vantiva (“Connected Home”) tri-band router - 6GHZ, 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. The house has fibre direct to the home and this is the way Cox now configures these homes. (The “Cable” Box connects via WiFi only.). The router is located on the second floor. I use my MBP16 (M3) downstairs in the living room. The MBP connects to the 6GHz band. But as my use proceeds, the WiFi strength drops to about 50% and performance degrades accordingly. Turning off WiFi on the MBP and then back on usually restores the connection, but then it degrades. My wife’s Mac mini on the first floor also connects to the 6 GHz band and doesn’t have these connection issues - but it is located directly under the router so the physical path is shorter. A Cox tech said that the 6 GHz band is generally only usable when the computer and router are on the same floor - and when I described my situation he said I was probably too far away for reliable use. So now I wonder if the MBP is less reliable than the Mini, or the distance is the issue. Is there a way to force the MBP to connect to the 5 GHz band - which should be more reliable?
Are you able to disable 6GHz in the router settings to troubleshoot the problem?
In any case I suspect in most cases the “old” 5Ghz and 2.4GHz bands will work fine.
I don’t know. Given the way this router functions in this house I would be nervous about changing anything. WiFi Explorer shows “hidden” networks which I suspect are for the Cable connection. I would rather get the Mac to ignore the 6 GHz band - I was told that was possible but I don’t know how.
My router, supplied by my ISP, shows a hidden network for both 5 & 2.4 GHz bands. I assume this is the way they operate to optimise performance.
My suggestion above was to temporarily disable 6Ghz on the router to see if that improves the Mac connection. The router should come with advice about using a web browser to log in to adjust settings. Generally this is a web address such as 192.168.1 and a username like admin and a password unique to that router. In my case these are printed on a sticker under the router.
From there you can disable and enable any of the three bands. Instead of disabling you can also assign a different SSID to the 6GHz band for troubleshooting purposes.
In the very unlikely event of losing a wifi connection with the Mac you might need to connect it to the router with an ethernet cable to restore the settings to the current ones.
Just a note to explain how this issue was resolved: I turned off the “Auto” setting of the “WiFi 6E” option in network settings. The 6E option is supposed to have a number of advantages but it hasn’t been noticeable - and it has the issue of the connection degrading after use for a few minutes. I have the 6E option turned off and the signal has been stable - the MBP16 is now connecting to the 5 GHz band - which is what I wanted. There was no need to change the SSID on the router. I don’t know if this is a MBP or Vantiva (Cox) router issue (or some interaction between the devices) but things are working fine now,
I have been looking at this, wondering if I should comment. You got a stable connection, so it works, sort of, so maybe good enough, stop here.
What bothers me is you got it to work by disabling what should be a set of major advanced functions, WiFi 6E. To me this workaround, rather than solution, seems dysfunctional. I am far from an expert, but I have been reading about new technology for home LANs, and a few things come to mind which you might further investigate. What are the details of WiFi 6 that your router supports? In particular how many directed beams does it create? How are they maintained? What level of throughput is your router WiFi 6 intended to implement? What level of WiFi does your MBP support? Her mini?
You and your wife start with good connections, but then yours degrades. The comments about variable effectiveness penetrating barriers for different wavelengths are valid, but I doubt the concrete between you and the router increases over time. If WiFi 6 is operating properly, and you get a good initial connection, I think the connection should strengthen over time, if it changes at all. A well as variable stability, how do the levels of throughput vary? Degradation of the connection may result from improper function of automatic electronic adjustments intended to strengthen the signal.
“WiFi 6” can have various levels of WiFi 6 technology. A design which implements a single directed beam might be relatively less expensive to produce, good enough for the uncritical home market, and still honestly worthy of the marketing description “WiFi 6”. If there is only a single directed beam, and your wife’s Mac mini locks onto it, that would leave you out of luck. If her Mac mini is left turned off, can you get a better WIFI 6 connection?
When both her Mac mini and your MBP are using WiFi, her mini is stationary, while your MBP may move around from time to time. If the router attempts to establish beams directed at each, how well does the directed beam deal with the greater mobility of your laptop?
It may be that the weaker signal at your location makes implementation of the more complex features of WiFi 6 too difficult. But I think one of the features enabled, or at least enhanced, by WiFi 6 is the ability to include mesh points. A wireless mesh could probably be added near the location of your wife’s mini, where you know a good connection is possible. This would provide the full benefits of WiFi 6 on your floor of the house.
Yea, if I had time I might want to investigate what is going on. I suspect it is some interaction between the MBP and the Cox WiFi router but it is hard to tell. But I see no difference in performance switching to the 5 GHz band so some (unrealized) theoretical advantage just doesn’t interest me. WiFi is one of those things where I just want it to work.
I do suspect some issues with the MBP. When I was moving between the two houses (old house with 5GHz and 2.4GHz and new house with 6, 5 and 2.4 GHz bands) the MBP connected fine at the new house - but had to be rebooted to reconnect to the old house. It really wanted to hang on to the 6GHz. My iPhone 14 had no trouble switching but it doesn’t support the 6 GHz band. And my Wife’s Mini has no problems at all. I have WiFi explorer and the neighborhood is flooded with WiFi signals. My strongest signal is the 2.4 GHz band but my computers don’t connect to that band.