Ubuntu

Wifi drops to extremely slow speeds - Please help!

Asked by Ahmad Abusheikh

As the title says, my wifi suddenly drops to very low speeds every few minutes. It gets so slow it's like it's disconnected but my wifi indicator says I remain connected. I am very new to linux but I know the basics (using the terminal and such). I just have no idea how to debug it as I do with windows.

So I will provide some basic data and please request any additional information you need.

Laptop: Sony Vaio E-series: VPCEH18FA (Asian model, got it as a gift)

CPU: Intel Core i5-2410M @ 2.30 GHz

OS: Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty"

Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)

Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

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Ahmad Abusheikh (bbpgrs) said : 		#1

EDIT:

iwconfig:

    eth0 no wireless extensions.

    wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"BELL786"
              Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: D8:6C:E9:24:55:85
              Bit Rate=65 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
              Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
              Power Management:off
              Link Quality=64/70 Signal level=-46 dBm
              Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
              Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:459 Missed beacon:0

    lo no wireless extensions.

cat /var/log/syslog: http://pastebin.com/NpSPg0AP

Revision history for this message
Ahmad Abusheikh (bbpgrs) said : 		#2

EDIT:

iwconfig:

    eth0 no wireless extensions.

    wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"BELL786"
              Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: D8:6C:E9:24:55:85
              Bit Rate=65 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
              Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
              Power Management:off
              Link Quality=64/70 Signal level=-46 dBm
              Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
              Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:459 Missed beacon:0

    lo no wireless extensions.

cat /var/log/syslog: http://pastebin.com/NpSPg0AP

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

If you run:

sudo iwlist scan

Do you see a lot of networks? Are many of them on the same channel as your network?

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Ahmad Abusheikh (bbpgrs) said : 		#4

Here's the output of that command (sudo iwlist scan): http://pastebin.com/NVD30av8

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#5

You are using a very busy channel. If you switch to channel 6 using your router's configuration Web page then it should be a lot better.

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Ahmad Abusheikh (bbpgrs) said : 		#6

Alright I changed it to channel 6. Hopefully that helped, but I have no way to test it atm. Anyway thanks for the reply and I'll mark this as solved in an hour or so if I see that it's been solved.

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Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#7

I have 2 recommendations:

1) I suggest switching to wireless transmission channel 8.

Channel 6 is already in use by two other wireless access points in your vicinity....

2) Furthermore, I recommend logging into the homepage of your wireless router using a working, wiRED, Internet connection.

In the webpage of your router, please force the router to use Wireless-G (54 Mbps) speeds only, in order to stabilize your wireless connection.

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Ahmad Abusheikh (bbpgrs) said : 		#8

Alright, I'll try channel 8.

Also do you mean connect to my router through ethernet?

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Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#9

Yes, using an ethernet cable.

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