Mac Mini M2 / MBP Can't Find 6Ghz

[anguschang007]

I have the same problem as well on my Macbook Pro. If the mac sleeps for a while, it will be lost the 6Ghz connection and turn to use 5Ghz. I have to reboot the mac then it will see and connect to 6Ghz again! However, I am using the AXE11000 router, not 16000, any Beta firmware?

 

[spawn]

Hey all - both Merlin and the new Asus firmware from 19th April doesn't address the problem. I simply can't see any Wifi 6e network on my Mac mini M2. Anyone has an idea what the issue is?

 

[tgl]

Hey all - both Merlin and the new Asus firmware from 19th April doesn't address the problem. I simply can't see any Wifi 6e network on my Mac mini M2. Anyone has an idea what the issue is?

It's pretty much required that your router broadcasts the same SSID on all three bands (2.4, 5, 6 GHz). Beyond that, I can only say that ASUS' configuration code seems to be buggy as all get-out. Do a hard reset and change only the minimum number of things from there. Do not assume that you can experiment by changing setting X from A to B and then back to A, because this provably does not get you back to the same state in all cases. See my posts upthread.

 

[spawn]

It's pretty much required that your router broadcasts the same SSID on all three bands (2.4, 5, 6 GHz). Beyond that, I can only say that ASUS' configuration code seems to be buggy as all get-out. Do a hard reset and change only the minimum number of things from there. Do not assume that you can experiment by changing setting X from A to B and then back to A, because this provably does not get you back to the same state in all cases. See my posts upthread.

Thanks! Are u saying I have to switch on smart connect whereas all SSID will have the same name?

 

[tgl]

Thanks! Are u saying I have to switch on smart connect whereas all SSID will have the same name?

I don't know whether ASUS' "smart connect" setting matters here. I do know that Apple's support documents are clear that you should use the same SSID name on all three bands.

 

[spawn]

I don't know whether ASUS' "smart connect" setting matters here. I do know that Apple's support documents are clear that you should use the same SSID name on all three bands.

I just read the same in the apple support doc but how do I make sure it connects to the right band and not ending up on the 2.4 GHZ band?

Apple support doc:
To create a Wi-Fi 6E network, you need a Wi-Fi router or access point that supports Wi-Fi 6E and has its 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands also enabled, preferably using a single network name (SSID) across all bands.

Just to add - I just reset the whole device but gave each SSID his own name but my MacMini still can't see the WIFI6E band. So strange.

UPDATE: A restart of the MacMini made the Wifi6E visible

 

[spawn]

I just read the same in the apple support doc but how do I make sure it connects to the right band and not ending up on the 2.4 GHZ band?

Apple support doc:
To create a Wi-Fi 6E network, you need a Wi-Fi router or access point that supports Wi-Fi 6E and has its 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands also enabled, preferably using a single network name (SSID) across all bands.

Just to add - I just reset the whole device but gave each SSID his own name but my MacMini still can't see the WIFI6E band. So strange.

UPDATE: A restart of the MacMini made the Wifi6E visible

Update randomly Wifi6E dropped again also not visible anymore. Guess I need to restart my MacMini again. This is not normal in my humble view.

 

[tgl]

I found that it helped to tell the mini to "forget this network" and then re-join it after I'd changed wi-fi settings. I got the impression that there were some bugs on both the ASUS and Apple sides, which hopefully will get worked out over time.

As for whether it will drop back to 2.4G or 5G --- that is a feature, not a bug, or at least it's clear that Apple thinks so. I can't argue with them. In my admittedly limited experience, the 6GHz band is pretty close to being one-room-only, at least if you live in a place with substantial walls. You want it to drop back to a band that can provide decent service if the 6GHz signal is too weak.

 

[L&LD]

6GHz is hardly a 'one room only' band. Particularly when the 5GHz band is at 5.9xxxGHz already, for the upper channels.

 

[sfx2000]

The bad news is that performance seems seriously erratic, at least as measured by iperf3. I'll just quote one iperf3 run to show you what I mean

Just as a heads up - when running iperf3 over WiFI, try giving it more than one stream...

iperf3 -c <host ip or name> -P3

You'll get better results there - it's just an iperf3 thing and pushing enough traffic thru the pipe to get WiFi link fully going (because of packet aggregation I suppose)

 

[sfx2000]

Yeah, getting 6GHz to work at all between ASUS and Apple hardware seems much harder than it ought to be. I gave a recipe that worked for me upthread, but I'm convinced there are bugs in ASUS' configuration code; sequences that ought to lead to the same state don't always.

Could be - Apple is pretty strict sometimes (mostly when we don't want them to be, lol) - recall that 6E is WPA3 only, whereas 2.4/5GHz WiFi6 can be WPA2, WPA3, or WPA2/3...

For troubleshooting only - put all three bands to the same SSID and encryption scheme...

 

[sfx2000]

6GHz is hardly a 'one room only' band. Particularly when the 5GHz band is at 5.9xxxGHz already, for the upper channels.

agreed - one thing to note - 6E is pretty friendly to 160MHz channels, and there, compared to 80MHz channels, one loses 3 dB on the radio side for Tx/Rx sensitivity, which is essentially half the power...

Something to consider...

 

[L&LD]

Yes, but half the power on clean channels is still higher signal-to-noise ratios than either previous band(s) can muster in actual throughput.

 

[tgl]

Also, IIUC the power limit in the 6GHz band is expressed as power per Hz of channel width rather than a fixed number as it was in the lower bands, so that if you're using 160MHz you're allowed to pump out twice as many mW as with an 80MHz channel. This should remove the SNR penalty for using wider channels.

 

[sfx2000]

so that if you're using 160MHz you're allowed to pump out twice as many mW as with an 80MHz channel.

That helps on the Tx side, but the receiver still loses 3 dB gain...

Nothing is free...