Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 BGN wifi connection is slow

English Network/Internet
1

I have an Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 BGN card that will not connect faster than 65 Mbps. This card should be capable of 300 Mbps, but I’ve never gotten faster than 65. I figure real-world speeds should be about half the listed value, around 150 or so, but that’s still twice as fast as what I’m actually getting. I’ve read suggestions on disabling power management and creating an iwlwifi.conf file in /etc/modprobe.d/ with various options, nothing seems to work. This card has never connected faster than about 65 on any linux distro I’ve had on this laptop, so it’s not a new problem. I’ve just never had fast enough internet for it to matter, until now. Also, distance from the router is not a problem, the computer is right next to it.

Anyone know if there’s some configuration change I can make to get it to connect faster?

Thanks.

2

Some definitive info might be helpful here. To report the device/driver capabilities…

/usr/sbin/iw list

and to get nominal link status (when connected) do

/usr/sbin/iw dev wlan0 link

You can also watch it dynamically with something like

watch /usr/sbin/iw dev wlan0 link

*CTRL+C to terminate.

3

Thanks for the reply.

output of /usr/sbin/iw list:

Wiphy phy0
        max # scan SSIDs: 20
        max scan IEs length: 195 bytes
        max # sched scan SSIDs: 0
        max # match sets: 0
        max # scan plans: 1
        max scan plan interval: -1
        max scan plan iterations: 0
        Retry short limit: 7
        Retry long limit: 4
        Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
        Device supports RSN-IBSS.
        Supported Ciphers:
                * WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
                * WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
                * TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
                * CCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:4)
                * CCMP-256 (00-0f-ac:10)
                * GCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:8)
                * GCMP-256 (00-0f-ac:9)
        Available Antennas: TX 0 RX 0
        Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * monitor
        Band 1:
                Capabilities: 0x107e
                        HT20/HT40
                        SM Power Save disabled
                        RX Greenfield
                        RX HT20 SGI
                        RX HT40 SGI
                        No RX STBC
                        Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
                        DSSS/CCK HT40
                Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
                Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 4 usec (0x05)
                HT Max RX data rate: 300 Mbps
                HT RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-15
                TX unequal modulation not supported
                HT TX Max spatial streams: 1
                HT TX MCS rate indexes supported may differ
                Bitrates (non-HT):
                        * 1.0 Mbps
                        * 2.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 5.5 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 11.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 6.0 Mbps
                        * 9.0 Mbps
                        * 12.0 Mbps
                        * 18.0 Mbps
                        * 24.0 Mbps
                        * 36.0 Mbps
                        * 48.0 Mbps
                        * 54.0 Mbps
                Frequencies:
                        * 2412 MHz [1] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2417 MHz [2] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2422 MHz [3] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2427 MHz [4] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2432 MHz [5] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2437 MHz [6] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2442 MHz [7] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2447 MHz [8] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2452 MHz [9] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2457 MHz [10] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2462 MHz [11] (14.0 dBm)
                        * 2467 MHz [12] (disabled)
                        * 2472 MHz [13] (disabled)
        Supported commands:
                 * new_interface
                 * set_interface
                 * new_key
                 * start_ap
                 * new_station
                 * new_mpath
                 * set_mesh_config
                 * set_bss
                 * authenticate
                 * associate
                 * deauthenticate
                 * disassociate
                 * join_ibss
                 * join_mesh
                 * set_tx_bitrate_mask
                 * frame
                 * frame_wait_cancel
                 * set_wiphy_netns
                 * set_channel
                 * set_wds_peer
                 * probe_client
                 * set_noack_map
                 * register_beacons
                 * start_p2p_device
                 * set_mcast_rate
                 * connect
                 * disconnect
                 * set_qos_map
                 * Unknown command (121)
        Supported TX frame types:
                 * IBSS: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
                 * managed: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
                 * AP: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
                 * AP/VLAN: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
                 * mesh point: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
                 * P2P-client: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
                 * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
                 * P2P-device: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
        Supported RX frame types:
                 * IBSS: 0x40 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
                 * managed: 0x40 0xd0
                 * AP: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
                 * AP/VLAN: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
                 * mesh point: 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
                 * P2P-client: 0x40 0xd0
                 * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
                 * P2P-device: 0x40 0xd0
        software interface modes (can always be added):
                 * monitor
        interface combinations are not supported
        HT Capability overrides:
                 * MCS: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
                 * maximum A-MSDU length
                 * supported channel width
                 * short GI for 40 MHz
                 * max A-MPDU length exponent
                 * min MPDU start spacing
        Device supports TX status socket option.
        Device supports HT-IBSS.
        Device supports SAE with AUTHENTICATE command
        Device supports scan flush.
        Device supports per-vif TX power setting
        Driver supports full state transitions for AP/GO clients
        Driver supports a userspace MPM
        Device supports static SMPS
        Device supports dynamic SMPS
        Device supports configuring vdev MAC-addr on create.

output of /usr/sbin/iw dev wlan0 link:

Connected to 08:d5:9d:91:d2:ee (on wlan0)
        SSID: MySpectrumWiFie8-2G
        freq: 2437
        RX: 60086072 bytes (192678 packets)
        TX: 5077573 bytes (31157 packets)
        signal: -28 dBm
        tx bitrate: 65.0 MBit/s MCS 6 short GI

        bss flags:      short-preamble short-slot-time
        dtim period:    1
        beacon int:     100
4

I assume that you’re connected to an 802.11n-capable AP? Do you have an existing /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf configuration?

5

It might also be useful to run a scan - see if there’s anything else around (eg using the same channel). Interference can cause modulation rates to drop.

iw dev wlan0 scan
6

Yes, it is 802.11n capable. I do not have an existing iwlwifi.conf file. I did at one point, but I deleted it because it didn’t make any difference.

There are a bunch of other wifi signals I can pick up. I’m in an urban area and everyone has wifi. However, I have another laptop that can connect at greater than 150Mbps (I haven’t checked the exact speed, but it’s a lot faster than the one I’m on now).

I did change the bandwidth on the AP from 20MHz to 40MHz which did increase my connection speed to 135Mbps. However, my download speeds are still around 45Mbps whereas on the other laptop I can get over 100Mbps (also on a 802.11n connection).

7

I found a USB wifi adapter I had laying around and tested that. 150Mbps connection speed, but still only 45Mbps download speed. So, it appears this problem is not specific to my wifi card. Any ideas as to why I am limited to 45Mbps download over a wifi connection, whether it’s an internal card or a USB adapter? The ethernet card isn’t having this problem. Thanks.

8

What download speed are you referring to? A real test would need to be conducted within your own network. If interference is present, then this will influence real-world throughput vs theoretical capacity.

9

I was just using speedtest.net. However, interference isn’t a problem unless it somehow only magically affects linux. After further troubleshooting, I think this is an issue with the iwlwifi driver. I have a HP with windows 10 and an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 wifi card what gets download speeds of 115Mbps. When I boot up Fedora on that laptop, it only gets 45Mpbs download, same as this Dell I’m on now. So, the windows drivers let it function at full speed, but not the linux drivers. Is there a configuration with the driver I can change to increase the speed?

10

The only recommendations I’ve seen for this driver are to enable software encryption. I he early days for some hardware supported by this driver, I read about disabling 802.11n, but that won’t help with better throughput obviously so don’t do that. Typical advice is as per this thread…

There is a chance that the hardware-specific firmware is to blame here. However, for hardware that is not new it’s unlikely that vendor updates (to what is already provided) exist. In these situations switching to different hardware is your only real option.