5GHz network not getting proper speed

[Tracker]

Connected to the 5GHz network for internet on the router - however the speeds for upload/download don't work properly. The speeds shows (in a browser test) are about 1/20th the speeds the network is capable of.

When I try to do the same speedtest using a Ubuntu usb stick on the same machine - it shows the maximum speeds for the network!

Why does 5GHz not work out of the box? Are there some settings to enable it?

 

[YYY__]

I have a 2007 laptop using Intel wireless 802.11a and it works at full speed. Check if it is really connected to the 5GHz network and explain what type of test you are doing. Are you comparing the same unit of measurement in both tests?
Show your hardware and network info. (pciconf -l, pciconf -a <dev>, ifconfig)

Just an approximation.

 

[cracauer@]

So what speeds are you getting? 20 MB/sec?

 

[Tracker]

I have a 2007 laptop using Intel wireless 802.11a and it works at full speed. Check if it is really connected to the 5GHz network and explain what type of test you are doing. Are you comparing the same unit of measurement in both tests?

Yes - I double checked - the network itself is named following the suffix '-5GHz' and ifconfig wlan0 shows the same network - same as I connected for the ubuntu stick

I am using fast.com in the browser to check speeds - same in both instances

Show your hardware and network info. (pciconf -l, pciconf -a <dev>, ifconfig)

pciconf -lv | grep Wireless
    device     = 'Wireless 8265 / 8275'

ifconfig wlan0
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
    ether 98:3b:8f:b2:be:66
    inet6 fe80::9a3b:8fff:feb2:be66%wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
    inet 192.168.1.27 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
    groups: wlan
    ssid Internetssid-5GHz channel 36 (5180 MHz 11a) bssid d8:ec:5e:e4:d3:0e
    regdomain FCC country US authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
    deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 3:128-bit txpower 17 bmiss 10 mcastrate 6
    mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60 wme roaming MANUAL
    parent interface: iwm0
    media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/54Mbps mode 11a
    status: associated
    nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

 

[Tracker]

So what speeds are you getting? 20 MB/sec?

Round about that much - what makes you ask for a specific number?

 

[cracauer@]

Round about that much - what makes you ask for a specific number?

It is the maximum I get out of my FreeBSD wifi devices

 

[Tracker]

It is the maximum I get out of my FreeBSD wifi devices

Ouch - that seems like a dead end for me if someone like you can't max it out

Out of curiosity CuatroTorres mentioned that the's able to get it full speed on an old system and a ubuntu stick also seems to max out the wifi speeds - so the machines are definitely capable - why is it then that FreeBSD isn't able to give proper speeds on a 5GHz connection? Very strange and almost disappointing.

 

[cracauer@]

Ouch - that seems like a dead end for me if someone like you can't max it out

Out of curiosity CuatroTorres mentioned that the's able to get it full speed on an old system and a ubuntu stick also seems to max out the wifi speeds - so the machines are definitely capable - why is it then that FreeBSD isn't able to give proper speeds on a 5GHz connection? Very strange and almost disappointing.

Large parts of the advanced wifi stacks are not implemented. We are lucky (and grateful) to have any wifi at all.

FWIW, Linux is much faster, but also slower than Windows in my tests. It's a mess to implement for Open Source OSes.

When I have a chance I will set up Linux in bhyve, pass the wifi device through, establish wifi from Linux and then route the outer FreeBSD through it.

 

[Tracker]

Large parts of the advanced wifi stacks are not implemented. We are lucky (and grateful) to have any wifi at all.

I was under the impression that the FreeBSD network implementation was flawless - part of the reason I shifted to FreeBSD was being impressed by hearing about HUGE Internet companies using FreeBSD to stream their movies/videos - so this comes as a surprise to me that basic 5GHz implementation is missing (specially compared to linux)

When I have a chance I will set up Linux in bhyve, pass the wifi device through, establish wifi from Linux and then route the outer FreeBSD through it.

Ok - that sounds quite an out of the box idea (no pun intended) - please let me know whenever you do - would be interested in implementing the same. Btw is it possible to do the same by setting up a Ubuntu system (the one you chroot to to run linux programs) ? I suppose that sounds more straightforward (and something I currently have on my system)

 

[cracauer@]

I was under the impression that the FreeBSD network implementation was flawless - part of the reason I shifted to FreeBSD was being impressed by hearing about HUGE Internet companies using FreeBSD to stream their movies/videos - so this comes as a surprise to me that basic 5GHz implementation is missing (specially compared to linux)

Ok - that sounds quite an out of the box idea (no pun intended) - please let me know whenever you do - would be interested in implementing the same. Btw is it possible to do the same by setting up a Ubuntu system (the one you chroot to to run linux programs) ? I suppose that sounds more straightforward (and something I currently have on my system)

The people pushing networks with FreeBSD all use wires. As do I most of the time.

You can't do the routing trick with the Linuxulator, it doesn't have a kernel and hence doesn't allow you to run Linux drivers.

 

[ralphbsz]

Let me ask a much more fundamental question, about speeds and feeds: What are you intending to use your wireless network for? Do you have an upstream network connection that can actually provide more than 20 MB/s, and can your machine actually consume them? Not in artificial microbenchmarks (speed tests), but for real world workloads?

I was under the impression that the FreeBSD network implementation was flawless -

That statement has a large grain of truth to it, but it is not universal. BSD's networking stack is very old, very experienced, and designed by very smart professionals: a lot of the development of IP and TCP was done on BSD. For fun, look up sometime where Van Jacobsen used to work.

But that does not extend to having the newest device drivers. And it does not extend to the WiFi stack. Sam Leffler did a great job implementing WiFi at all, but that was a decade or longer ago.

part of the reason I shifted to FreeBSD was being impressed by hearing about HUGE Internet companies using FreeBSD to stream their movies/videos - so this comes as a surprise to me that basic 5GHz implementation is missing (specially compared to linux)

As cracauer already said: Internet servers don't use WiFi. Matter-of-fact, among cloud machines and internet servers, Linux probably has a 99% market share, with the one big exception being the Netflix CDN servers. And those use Mellanox networking gear (for which FreeBSD has really good drivers, no coincidence), and quite specialized servers (4-socket AMD Rome machines, or Ampere ARM servers).

 

[Tracker]

Let me ask a much more fundamental question, about speeds and feeds: What are you intending to use your wireless network for? Do you have an upstream network connection that can actually provide more than 20 MB/s, and can your machine actually consume them? Not in artificial microbenchmarks (speed tests), but for real world workloads?

Yes - I do. Part of the reason I subscribed to a high-bandwidth connection was expecting such workloads, hence expected FreeBSD to play with it nicely. Now my choice is to find a hack or consider to stop using FreeBSD (difficult since I've invested so much time and energy and I like it overall, but won't lie - this kinda is a big downer)

For fun, look up sometime where Van Jacobsen used to work.

But that does not extend to having the newest device drivers. And it does not extend to the WiFi stack. Sam Leffler did a great job implementing WiFi at all, but that was a decade or longer ago.

Shall look it up. Not familiar with the history.

 

[cracauer@]

I have lots of Ethernet wires in the house.

A compromise would be to have a wifi hub in client mode at your sofa or whereever you need to use the laptop with wifi and connect via Ethernet to that one. Is also much more secure of course.

I just wish they had battery powered wifi hubs with client mode.

 

[Tracker]

Would rather prefer some kind of a software hack (like the one you suggested cracauer@ ) - since it's agnostic to the environment one is in and not dependent upon the devices.

Unfortunately, there's about 10 meters distance between where I use the laptop and the router - so not feasible to get wires in between without the risk of people tripping and/or damaging things.

Hope that Linux hack works out - please do let me know whenever you do it.

 

[zirias@]

I was under the impression that the FreeBSD network implementation was flawless

Note "networking stack" isn't exactly the same as "networking hardware support".

FreeBSD often excels at networking in general. And I'm not aware of issues regarding the support of typical ethernet hardware. But it sucks regarding support for wifi

Luckily, all my mobile devices I use with FreeBSD at least work at all. They're all slow in speed, but for my typical usage scenarios, I don't care that much. It just annoys me every time I upgrade them

 

[cracauer@]

Unfortunately, there's about 10 meters distance between where I use the laptop and the router - so not feasible to get wires in between without the risk of people tripping and/or damaging things.

You could still hide a client-mode wifi device to bridge those 10 meters.

Also, cables can be stapled to the ceiling, spaceship-style

 

[ralphbsz]

Crazy idea: Get a small Raspberry Pi, run Linux on it (the distribution for it is typically called "Raspbian"). Connect it to your FreeBSD machine using wired Ethernet to the Pi. Use the built-in WiFi on the Pi, or connect an external WiFi adapter to the Pi's USB. Power the Pi from a USB port on your machine (which will probably require a Lithium battery in between, since USB can not power the peak power consumption of the Pi, but it can handle the average power). The Pi itself is about 1x3x4 inches (once inside a small case), so you can attach it to your FreeBSD machine with Velcro tape.

In a nutshell, this comes down to using the Pi as a router or bridge, which translates the network from WiFi to wired. But one that is physically small enough to attach directly to your laptop, without being in the way much. And with reasonable power consumption, so it can perhaps run off the battery of your laptop.

As presented, it is a bad idea, because I think the Pi itself can not handle much more than 20 MByte/second on its own WiFi and its USB. You probably need to find a slightly beefier machine, like an Orange Pi or BeagleBone.

 

[Maxnix]

Why don't you give net/wifibox a try? It's exactly an Alpine Linux based bhyve VM that uses PCI pass-through that let's you use your WiFi card with Linux drivers. Here is a guide: https://eldapper.wordpress.com/2023/01/15/wifibox-on-my-ghostbsd-laptop/. IIRC there should be a guide for something similar ìin the "How-to" section of the forums.

EDIT: Note that if you need to use Virtualbox this is a no-go, since bhyve and Virtualbox cannot be run simultaneously. Or you should write a script to switch between wifibox/native drivers on demand.

 

[smithi]

So what speeds are you getting? 20 MB/sec?

Round about that much - what makes you ask for a specific number?

Hang on ... from your wlan0 ifconfig:
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/54Mbps mode 11a

54 Mbps ÷ 8 = 7 MB/s at most, not 20.

20 MB/s × 8 = 160 Mbps at least, not 54.

And again Tracker, what speed is your upstream router capable of, day to day? i.e. what are you expecting?

Have you tried your speed tests by temporarily using a wired connection? What then?

 

[smithi]

But that does not extend to having the newest device drivers. And it does not extend to the WiFi stack. Sam Leffler did a great job implementing WiFi at all, but that was a decade or longer ago.

And then there was Adrian Chadd who did a huge amount of work on wifi, especially Atheros. Since I got back after 4 years away I haven't seen him around?

 

[Tracker]

In a nutshell, this comes down to using the Pi as a router or bridge, which translates the network from WiFi to wired. But one that is physically small enough to attach directly to your laptop, without being in the way much. And with reasonable power consumption, so it can perhaps run off the battery of your laptop.

As presented, it is a bad idea, because I think the Pi itself can not handle much more than 20 MByte/second on its own WiFi and its USB. You probably need to find a slightly beefier machine, like an Orange Pi or BeagleBone

Interesting hack - but it's going to look rather funny attached with a tape + going out and using a different network/configuring wifi etc seems like a bit too much

Why don't you give net/wifibox a try? It's exactly an Alpine Linux based bhyve VM that uses PCI pass-through that let's you use your WiFi card with Linux drivers. Here is a guide: https://eldapper.wordpress.com/2023/01/15/wifibox-on-my-ghostbsd-laptop/. IIRC there should be a guide for something similar ìin the "How-to" section of the forums.

EDIT: Note that if you need to use Virtualbox this is a no-go, since bhyve and Virtualbox cannot be run simultaneously. Or you should write a script to switch between wifibox/native drivers on demand.

This looks more appealing - in the sense of self-contained solution and no extra parts. I don't need to use Virtualbox as of now.

Hang on ... from your wlan0 ifconfig:
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/54Mbps mode 11a

54 Mbps ÷ 8 = 7 MB/s at most, not 20.

20 MB/s × 8 = 160 Mbps at least, not 54.

I checked again in the browser - the units are (M)bps and not MBps as cracauer@ mentioned - so I answered that wrongly - seems like I'm getting much less speed or he may have perhaps wanted to write 20 Mbps?

What is the most speed you guys get on wireless connections? I tried to connect the ethernet wire directly but it somehow won't connect and probably connects to the wireless - tried netif restart - didn't seem to have any effect.

 

[YYY__]

See lagg in the handbook.

I propose to download an iso image from a nearby server and check the maximum stable speed after a couple of minutes.

Chapter 34. Advanced Networking

Advanced networking in FreeBSD: basics of gateways and routes, CARP, how to configure multiple VLANs on FreeBSD, etc

docs.freebsd.org

 

[cracauer@]

I checked again in the browser - the units are (M)bps and not MBps as cracauer@ mentioned - so I answered that wrongly - seems like I'm getting much less speed or he may have perhaps wanted to write 20 Mbps?

On one machine I get this read speed booted into several OSes:
- FreeBSD 2.4 MB/sec
- Linux 19 MB/sec
- Windows 27.2 MB/sec

So yes, I misspoke. I looked up my notes now.

 

[mer]

Note "networking stack" isn't exactly the same as "networking hardware support".

This is a very important point.
Hardware, wifi, graphics, pick anything. The people that make the hardware don't want to give away the "keys to the kingdom" (full hardware and programming specs) for free, so software folk often have to sign NDAs and other legally binding documents to see the documentation. That also comes at a cost and licensing may restrict redistribution.

Reverse engineering a piece of hardware is a non trivial task. Most pieces of hw typically implement standard interfaces (USB, PCI, etc) which may get you say 75% of functionality, but to get the rest you need detailed specs and that is hard to reverse engineer.

 

[Tracker]

Why don't you give net/wifibox a try? It's exactly an Alpine Linux based bhyve VM that uses PCI pass-through that let's you use your WiFi card with Linux drivers. Here is a guide: https://eldapper.wordpress.com/2023/01/15/wifibox-on-my-ghostbsd-laptop/. IIRC there should be a guide for something similar ìin the "How-to" section of the forums.

EDIT: Note that if you need to use Virtualbox this is a no-go, since bhyve and Virtualbox cannot be run simultaneously. Or you should write a script to switch between wifibox/native drivers on demand.

So I just managed to configure this - this is amazing! Able to get 10x the speed on my machine now

Thank you - was quite a pain point.