Is the WiFi on a brand new Mac mini M2 Pro expected to not function?

The Mac mini’s antenna is built into the bottom cover, which makes it highly prone to interference from poorly shielded high speed USB cables and devices.

see > Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference - Apple Support

Yes if you are referring to one of those all in one drive dock hubs.

A alternate solution, is to run a Cat6 Ethernet cable between the Mac mini and router.

Hello everyone! I recently started with WiFi issues in a 9mo-old Mac mini M2. 

The symptoms:

• Random disconnections, or not even connecting. The router is no more than 5 ft (1.5 meters) away from the Mini.
• When connected, bandwidth fluctuates between 280/540/860 and 1200 mbps. So any large file operation just breaks after some time. 

And after looking at several threads with little progress, I started to narrow down the options in my router, flipping on/off or updating values on each option, and returning to the original value if I didn't see any difference.

What has done the trick so far is updating your security to WPA2 for the 5ghz or the combined 2.4/5ghz network, discarding WPA3 at the moment I'm writing this (Jan 2024) does make a difference. I tested this with a 24GB file and it copied via WiFi to a NAS in roughly 15 mins, at a very steady rate of 1GB/30sec. The reported rate from the Wireless Diagnostic tool is 1.2 Gb/s and the drops/fluctuations to 286 Mb/s are much less.

Weird that all other devices, incl. a M1 MBP work just fine on WPA3, making me think that some firmware or driver is not mature for the Mini (despite using the same SoC and very similar components) rather than an actual hardware issue.

My wireless router is a WiFi6 capable TP Link.

Finally, as a recommendation: If you've done several attempts to connect to the wifi and/or moved around parameters on the wifi plist file, it is best to recreate your WiFi interface to also give it a fresh start. To do it:

1. go to your System Settings -> Network
2. find your Wi-Fi entry, right click over it and "Delete Service...", confirm
3. restart the Mini
4. back to System Setting -> Network
5. Click the "..." button in the bottom right of the window, select "Add Service"
6. Select the Wi-Fi and accept.

They are more sensitive to radio noise than the average puter. What peripherals do you have connected? Also, the AirPort Express is obsolete. Furthermore, all ISP routers are dodgy, every single one of them. Invest in a good brand like Asus, it will be worth it irrespective of whether it resolves the problem or not.

The AirPorts are fantastic, but obsolete. Which means insecure & dangerous, unless showcased on a bookshelf with other nostalgia - an iPod for example. So, replace them without further ado, it’s the right thing to do.

Your configuration is overloaded with 3rd party peripherals including some over hubs, which IMO is the root cause of WiFi degradation. How are you measuring speed? Disconnect them all and post details on your testing please.

From what I've heard the WiFi problem affects the M2 version of the Mac Mini, which came out early this year. I have the M2 Pro version, and the the wifi was unstable at the start, and soon simply refused to connect at all to the server. I tried several things, all with no success. I thought my problems might be complicated by my setup: I have a 4G router, and because I live in an old building with very thick walls the router wifi signal does not reach all the rooms I would like, so I extend the reach with a CPL system (Devolo). Our iPhones, an M1 MacBook, and an iPad all connected OK. After months of not being able to connect the Mimi to my wifi, just today O have stumbled across a possible solution. It's working for me, and it remains to be seen if it continues to work. I logged into the admin user on the router, and for both bands I made a specific selection for the channel, instead of accepting the default "Automatic" selection. For the 2.4GHz band I chose channel 6, and for the 5GHz band I chose channel 44. Hope this helps someone else.