Network intermittently became unresponsive in dense Wi-Fi environments

We are currently investigating an issue in which the network intermittently became unresponsive in dense Wi-Fi environments. We’ve also performed firmware update and factory reset for cross testing. This issue has been occurring on Apple Silicon devices (M1 / M2 chips) in many sites.

Issue was also reported in a ticket from UCLA IT Services to Apple, which identifies the root cause as AWDL peer-to-peer protocol implemented by AirDrop / AirPlay, whenever AWDL is active it will lock the Wi-Fi radio for small intervals, creating latency spikes and in some cases causing disconnect, the ticket also provides a workaround for affected devices:

1. Disable Bluetooth

2. Set AirDrop to "Allow me to be discovered by: No One"

Updating these settings greatly improves wireless connectivity on affected devices.

Apple has addressed the issues with a fix which is available in the latest macOS release (Resolves an issue in which the network intermittently became unresponsive in dense Wi-Fi environments.), fix is also available on iOS / iPadOS, we strongly recommend all users to update their devices to the latest version listed below to avoid connectivity issues:

• macOS Ventura 13.1

• macOS Monterey 12.6.2

• macOS Big Sur 11.7.2

• iOS 16.2

• iOS 15.7.2

• iPadOS 16.2

• iPadOS 15.7.2

• tvOS 16.2