Network card bitrate blocked at 87mbps

[anapol]

Hello everyone, I have a question to ask anyone who wants to help me. It affects the bitrate of the wifi card on my Lenovo laptop (Buster) that mounts an Atheros PCi card and a Realtek USB dongle (TP-LINK). The problem is that with both of them, the maximum connection of the card is 87 mbps. Is it a drivers problem? I tried reinstalling them and upgrading the kernel from 4.19 to 5.5 from backport but I got nothing.

I prefer to use a usb dongle because has a greater range (5ghz ac). The others devices in the network like smartphones or Windows PC run up to 250/300 mbps without problems.

IWLIST output below :

andrea@debian:~$ sudo iwlist wlx984827559ea8 bitrate
wlx984827559ea8 4 available bit-rates :
1 Mb/s
2 Mb/s
5.5 Mb/s
11 Mb/s
Current Bit Rate:87 Mb/s


andrea@debian:~$ sudo iwlist wlx984827559ea8 frequency
wlx984827559ea8 32 channels in total; available frequencies :
Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
Channel 52 : 5.26 GHz
Channel 56 : 5.28 GHz
Channel 60 : 5.3 GHz
Channel 64 : 5.32 GHz
Channel 100 : 5.5 GHz
Channel 104 : 5.52 GHz
Channel 108 : 5.54 GHz
Channel 112 : 5.56 GHz
Channel 116 : 5.58 GHz
Channel 120 : 5.6 GHz
Channel 124 : 5.62 GHz
Channel 128 : 5.64 GHz
Channel 132 : 5.66 GHz
Channel 136 : 5.68 GHz
Channel 140 : 5.7 GHz
Current Frequency:5.7 GHz (Channel 140)

IWCONFIG OUTPUT :

wlx984827559ea8 IEEE 802.11AC ESSID:"*$ INSERT COIN $* 5G *" Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
Mode:Managed Frequency:5.7 GHz Access Point: A6:91:B1:BE:EC:A5
Bit Rate:87 Mb/s Sensitivity:0/0
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:****-****-****-****-****-****-****-**** Security mode:open
Power Management:off
Link Quality=67/100 Signal level=-60 dBm Noise level=0 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0


Thanks to anyone who wants to help me

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Have you actually checked the speed of the connection?

On my system:

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empty@E485 ~ % /sbin/iwlist wlp4s0 bitrate
wlp4s0    unknown bit-rate information.
          Current Bit Rate=866.7 Mb/s

empty@E485 ~ % speedtest --simple
Ping: 30.822 ms
Download: 57.23 Mbit/s
Upload: 3.36 Mbit/s
empty@E485 ~ %

As you can see, the iwlist(8) output does not show the speed of the connection.

Note to self: complain to the ISP about my "70Mb" connection...

[anapol]

Have you actually checked the speed of the connection?

My ISP brings me 1Gbit in theory. In practice, never less than 130/150 Mbit (FTTH)
Actually the speedtest reports 65/70 Mbps from my laptop, my phone instead 150 Mbps, both with same protocol 802.11ac under 5Ghz frequency.

I think the limit marked in iwlist is the maximum speed dictated by the driver, as if it didn't recognize the AC protocol.

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wlx984827559ea8  IEEE 802.11AC  ESSID:"*$ INSERT COIN $* 5G *"  Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.7 GHz  Access Point: A6:91:B1:BE:EC:A5   
          Bit Rate:87 Mb/s   Sensitivity:0/0 
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:****-****-****-****-****-****-****-****   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=68/100  Signal level=-58 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0


[santosha]

What firmware for the Wifi chip do you load (see dmesg) ?

What is the output of dpkg -l | grep firmware ?

[anapol]

Hello santosha, thanks for reply

What firmware for the Wifi chip do you load (see dmesg) ?

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 3.148251] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=2357, idProduct=0120, bcdDevice= 2.00
[    3.148256] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    3.148259] usb 2-2: Product: 802.11ac WLAN Adapter
[    3.148261] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Realtek
[    3.148263] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
12.721188] usb 2-2: 88XXau 98:48:27:55:9e:a8 hw_info[107]
12.751499] rtl88XXau 2-2:1.0 wlx984827559ea8
rtl88XXau


What is the output of dpkg -l | grep firmware ?

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ii  firmware-amd-graphics                                       20190717-2~bpo10+1                           all          Binary firmware for AMD/ATI graphics chips
ii  firmware-atheros                                            20190717-2~bpo10+1                           all          Binary firmware for Qualcomm Atheros wireless cards
ii  firmware-linux                                              20190717-2~bpo10+1                           all          Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel (metapackage)
ii  firmware-linux-free                                         3.4                                          all          Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
ii  firmware-linux-nonfree                                      20190717-2~bpo10+1                           all          Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel (meta-package)
ii  firmware-misc-nonfree                                       20190717-2~bpo10+1                           all          Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
ii  firmware-realtek                                            20190717-2~bpo10+1                           all          Binary firmware for Realtek wired/wifi/BT adapters
ii  fwupd-amd64-signed                                          1.2.5+2                                      amd64        Tools to manage UEFI firmware updates (signed)


[santosha]

Hi anapol,

It seems like there is no firmware blob needed for that driver. From what I gather around the net, the drivers for that chipset are still evolving. Have a look at:

https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au.git

You could try the latest driver from that git rep and comile for your kernel. There are hints that SecureBoot needs to be disabled, check the readme.

If you are unsuccesfull with that, if it were me, I would for the moment accept the limitation of the current driver and/or look for another dongle with better driver support in Linux. Atheros chipsets are generally better supported.

regards, santosha

[anapol]

Hello santosha, thanks for reply.

I will try that drivers.
I just want clarify that also with the integrated PCI Atheros I have a bandwidth limit (30 Mbps exactly half of USB dongle). The difference is the frequency (2.4Ghz),

Do you think it can be a limit of a driver's mainboard?

[Hallvor]

Powersave settings may also lock the speed at a lower bitrate.

[anapol]

Powersave settings may also lock the speed at a lower bitrate.

I have no particular settings related to powersave. I don't think that's it.

[anapol]

Hi anapol,

It seems like there is no firmware blob needed for that driver. From what I gather around the net, the drivers for that chipset are still evolving. Have a look at:

https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au.git

You could try the latest driver from that git rep and comile for your kernel. There are hints that SecureBoot needs to be disabled, check the readme.

If you are unsuccesfull with that, if it were me, I would for the moment accept the limitation of the current driver and/or look for another dongle with better driver support in Linux. Atheros chipsets are generally better supported.

regards, santosha

Anyway I noticed during boot process, the errors below :

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[    0.095800] [Firmware Bug]: TSC_DEADLINE disabled due to Errata; please update microcode to version: 0x20 (or later)
[    0.360134] MDS: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode
[    0.477930] mce: [Hardware Error]: PROCESSOR 0:40651 TIME 1590154816 SOCKET 0 APIC 0 microcode 17
[    2.102717] microcode: sig=0x40651, pf=0x40, revision=0x17
[    2.102763] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.


I know it's about the processor, but could it affect my problem?

[sgage]

Are you sure it's not the router? I get 300 mbps service to my house. With a direct ethernet cable connection to the router I get 300+. With my wifi I get ~100. The router wifi transmitter is the limiting factor, not my wifi card.

[anapol]

Are you sure it's not the router? I get 300 mbps service to my house. With a direct ethernet cable connection to the router I get 300+. With my wifi I get ~100. The router wifi transmitter is the limiting factor, not my wifi card.

Yes, I'm sure. With others devices connected to same SSID there is no problem.

The problem is related only to the Wifi cards on my notebook (With debian distro). Both the integrated Atheros(30/35Mbps 2.4Ghz) and USB Realtek dongle (60/70mbps in 5Ghz). So annoying.

[sgage]

Are you sure it's not the router? I get 300 mbps service to my house. With a direct ethernet cable connection to the router I get 300+. With my wifi I get ~100. The router wifi transmitter is the limiting factor, not my wifi card.

Yes, I'm sure. With others devices connected to same SSID there is no problem.

The problem is related only to the Wifi cards on my notebook (With debian distro). Both the integrated Atheros(30/35Mbps 2.4Ghz) and USB Realtek dongle (60/70mbps in 5Ghz). So annoying.

If there's one thing I've learned from nearly 4 decades in the biz, it's that computers can be extremely annoying! I wish my router could pump out more than 100 mbps. OTOH, got enough EMR flying around here as it is

[andre@home]

Suppose you would do some test like with a bootable USB stick:
Take e.g. Debian Live, Bunsenlabs Live (pretty fast, Debian based) and some other Distro like OpenSuse based.
Look if they recognize your WiFi card else take another distro so you can compared the "Live-USB" speeds.
Check the driver from them and then the fast ones are very interesting to see how you may get to those drivers....
Or you find out they use the same driver... but looking in their setup you maybe can find the differences so you know what might help.... and try that, if it makes sense based on working hypothesis that there's logic behind the differences...

[wizard10000]

iwlwifi will run much quicker than that but sometimes requires a little driver tweaking for optimal performance. Pretty good thread here -

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=121696

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# modinfo iwlwifi

will show you what driver options are available.

good luck -