Slow wifi

Hello good people,

Download speed on FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE is 18.0 Mbps same machine and same router on Linux, I get 275.0 Mbps. The card on the box is
Code:
vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = 'Wireless 7260'

I added these in /boot/loader.conf
Code:
if_iwm_load="YES"
iwm3160fw_load="YES"
iwm3168fw_load="YES"
iwm7260fw_load="YES"
iwm7265fw_load="YES"
iwm8000Cfw_load="YES"
iwm8265fw_load="YES"
iwm9000fw_load="YES"
iwm9260fw_load="YES"

AP WPA2/802.11i

Any hints will be appreciated.
 
Generally speaking, wireless on FreeBSD is slower than Linux. With a 7260 card, on my local LAN, I usually get 30-60 MBs on Linux and seldom more than 12 with FreeBSD.
There was a recent post about using Linux virtual machines to get Linux wireless speeds, but I don't know how successful it is.

That being said, I've found FreeBSD wireless speed is sufficient for youtube videos and the like.
 
Welcome to the world of the FreeBSD wireless stacks/drivers o/

As of today, there are no WiFi 5 or WiFi 6 drivers. The few drivers available are usually only 802.11b/g/n only.
However, the FreeBSD foundation is currently funding work towards newer WiFi 5 drivers: https://adrianchadd.blogspot.com/2020/07/im-back-into-grind-of-freebsds-wireless.html

One trick often used is creating a bhyve VM, running a small Linux inside (like OpenWRT), passing your WiFi card through to the VM. That way you can use the Linux driver and your host just connects to the VM as a router/gateway.
There is a new port net/wifibox which supposedly does all of this automagically.
 
From <https://wiki.freebsd.org/WiFi/Iwlwifi>:

  • 2021-11-28 The driver and firmware went into HEAD (detached from build)

Both MFC after ten days:
iwn(4)

Where previously I got a maximum of maybe 9 Mbps (download), now I get more than 70:



Code:
% freebsd-version -kru
14.0-CURRENT
14.0-CURRENT
14.0-CURRENT
% uname -aKU
FreeBSD mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd 14.0-CURRENT FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT #116 main-n251146-d109559ddbf: Mon Nov 29 14:34:59 GMT 2021     root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:/usr/obj/usr/src/amd64.amd64/sys/GENERIC-NODEBUG  amd64 1400043 1400043
%

Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] (at <https://bsd-hardware.info/?probe=045ffeb9b3#pci:8086-0082-8086-1301>, for example).

<https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/log/?qt=grep&q=iwn> at a glance, I can't see an explanation for the improvement, but it's huge.

… the FreeBSD foundation is currently funding …

👍 worth every penny.

Who can argue with improved support for Wi-Fi in 2022?

People: if you like any of what's mapped, see the Foundation's plea for donations.​
 
grahamperrin 70 Mbps is pretty nice! Can't wait to get that on my machine(s). Unfortunately I have to wait for the MFCs as I'm only running -STABLE, not -CURRENT.

One thing tho: Is the iwlwifi driver now working out of the box on -CURRENT? No patching or other manual labor required?
My brand new Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen9 has an Intel AX201 WiFi card. This isn't supported by the iwn(4) nor iwm(4) driver.
 
In a nutshell (paraphrasing):
$ git log --cherry main..stable/13 --author=bz@FreeBSD.org --oneline | nl

(Results from <https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/log/?h=stable/13&qt=author&q=bz@FreeBSD.org> are less refined.)



So, not truly overdue. The ten days might have been wishful thinking (I don't know what, if anything, is the default period for an MFC for /src).
 
more than 70:

Re: the broken embed, sorry for the result disappearing. I thought I posted more recent results but I can't find them … maybe a draft post was lost by XenForo.



FreeBSD bug 244261 – Add support for Intel AX200 (iwx) wireless devices

At comment 48, Bjoern A. Zeeb wrote:

Currently the driver is not in stable/13 yet and it does not yet do 11ac but only a/b/g with 11n and 11ac coming after.

I was hoping to be further at this point in the year. Sorry it is not there yet.

The driver is in HEAD but not enabled by default yet. The last dependencies seem to get ready to be committed into HEAD and then will be merged to stable/13.

AX201, AX200 and AX210 are all expected to work hardware wise once the driver is enabled with more and more features and newer WiFi standards coming over time.
 
Man.... I really wish that we get working AX201 in stable soon... This is really keeping me from using this new laptop.
Of course I understand the process behind such an undertaking so I don't mean to stress anyone. It's just real genuine hope - which is something I don't usually do :p
 
grahamperrin Just to clarify: This is with the new iwlwifi driver, right?

I was thinking of swapping the Intel AX201 wireless card from the new laptop with the whatever Intel Card of the previous laptop as that one "works" with the iwm driver. At best I got also about 9 Mbps out of that (hence the "works"). However, I really think it's not worth the trouble given that iwlwifi is around the corner.
 
This is with the new iwlwifi driver, right? …

<https://bsd-hardware.info/?computer=8f084339058d> still using iwn(4) <https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwn&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+14.0-current>.

I'm delighted by the improvement, but can't guess when it occurred, because months ago:
  • I tired of the slowness of Wi-Fi with FreeBSD, quietly decided to stop wasting my time with it
– I simply stopped using the computer with Wi-Fi at home, and work. At home I used a TP-Link AV200 (press) – the pair for around £1.

Here's not the place for CURRENT-specific questions, so instead: <https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-current/2021-December/001258.html> – I don't imagine there'll be a response.
 
Now I remember,

I tired of the slowness of Wi-Fi with FreeBSD

– not just slowness. I tired of it being entirely useless at work. July:

I can no longer connect to eduroam :(

The subsequent post (around six weeks later) reminds me that traditionally, I used loader.conf(5). No more:

Code:
% grep iwn /boot/loader.conf | grep -v \#
%

In retrospect, maybe the slowness in my case was a side-effect of loading the fourteen modules at boot time.



I like to think that I would have enthusiastically rushed to perform a speed test at home when (in August?) I regained the ability to connect to eduroam.

More realistically, I'm a lazy shit about such things, not obsessive about speed. Most likely, I:
 
… now I get more than 70: …

Web browsing became horribly slow, so after a while I ran a test and found speed down to less than 6.

I began using the (TP-Link) HomePlug AV wired connection instead of Wi-Fi. Up to around 56.

Reverted to Wi-Fi without the gif(4) interface through which I normally get IPv6. Up to around 68.

Postscript

For a while, I was frustrated by an inability to regain routing with IPv6. After realising what was probably my mistake, I regained routing, speed dropped to less than 9:



For me, then, the slowness was horrible with (for example) FreeBSD Bugzilla but not FreeBSD Forums: <https://share.firefox.dev/3enpZ17>.

I took down gif0 then retested, still slow:



I took down wlan0, restarted em0 but did not regain a network connection (despite the use of DHCP), ran a trio of commands to get Wi-Fi without (IPv6 tunnelling) gif0:
  1. service netif restart
  2. ifconfig gif0 down
  3. ifconfig wlan0 down
Speed test results leapt back up to around 57 Mbps:



– with FreeBSD Bugzilla still slow (for me) despite the high speed.



I'm not sure what, if anything, to conclude at the moment:
  • on one hand, it feels like gif0 for IPv6 tunnelling is most significant in the current slowness with my Wi-Fi
  • on the other, it felt wrong to basically not have a network connection (below) after service netif restart em0.
Code:
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ifconfig gif0 down
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ifconfig wlan0 down
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ping -4 freshports.org
PING freshports.org (54.227.255.74): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
^C
--- freshports.org ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # service netif restart em0
dhclient not running? (check /var/run/dhclient/dhclient.em0.pid).
Stopping Network: em0.
em0: flags=8c22<BROADCAST,OACTIVE,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=481249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,NOMAP>
        …
Starting Network: em0.
em0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=481249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,NOMAP>
        ether …
        media: Ethernet autoselect
        status: no carrier
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ping -4 freshports.org
PING freshports.org (54.227.255.74): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
^C
--- freshports.org ping statistics ---
28 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ping -4 freshports.org
PING freshports.org (54.227.255.74): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
^C
--- freshports.org ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ping -4 freshports.org
PING freshports.org (54.227.255.74): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
^C
--- freshports.org ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # service dhclient restart em0
Stopping dhclient.
Waiting for PIDS: 2539.
Starting dhclient.
DHCPREQUEST on em0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.1.1
bound to 192.168.1.10 -- renewal in 302400 seconds.
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ping -4 freshports.org
PING freshports.org (54.227.255.74): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
^C
--- freshports.org ping statistics ---
32 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # service netif restart em0
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ping -4 freshports.org
PING freshports.org (54.227.255.74): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
^C
--- freshports.org ping statistics ---
7 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # service netif restart
dhclient not running? (check /var/run/dhclient/dhclient.em0.pid).
Stopping wpa_supplicant.
Waiting for PIDS: 98558.
Stopping Network: lo0 em0 wlan0 gif0.
lo0: flags=8048<LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
        options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
        groups: lo
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
em0: flags=8c22<BROADCAST,OACTIVE,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=481249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,NOMAP>
        …
wlan0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        ether …
        groups: wlan
        ssid "" channel 6 (2437 MHz 11g)
        regdomain ETSI country GB authmode OPEN privacy OFF txpower 30
        bmiss 10 scanvalid 60 protmode CTS wme
        parent interface: iwn0
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
        status: no carrier
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1480
        options=80000<LINKSTATE>
        tunnel inet 192.168.1.7 --> …
        groups: gif
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
Destroyed wlan(4) interfaces: wlan0.
Destroyed clone interfaces: gif0.
ifconfig: SIOCIFCREATE2: Device not configured
Created wlan(4) interfaces: wlan0.
Created clone interfaces: gif0.
Starting wpa_supplicant.
Starting Network: lo0 em0 wlan0 gif0.
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
        options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
        inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
        groups: lo
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
em0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=481249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,NOMAP>
        ether …
        inet 192.168.1.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        ether …
        groups: wlan
        ssid "" channel 124 (5620 MHz 11a)
        regdomain ETSI country GB authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i privacy MIXED
        deftxkey UNDEF txpower 23 bmiss 10 mcastrate 6 mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60
        wme roaming MANUAL bintval 0
        parent interface: iwn0
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
        status: no carrier
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
gif0: flags=8011<UP,POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1480
        options=80000<LINKSTATE>
        tunnel inet 192.168.1.7 --> …
        inet6 fe80::…:…:…:…%gif0 prefixlen 64 tentative scopeid 0x4
        inet6 2001:…:…:…::2 --> 2001:…:…:…::1 prefixlen 128 tentative
        groups: gif
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ifconfig gif0 down
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ifconfig
em0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=481249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,NOMAP>
        ether …
        inet 192.168.1.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
        options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
        inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
        groups: lo
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
ue0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=80000<LINKSTATE>
        ether …
        media: Ethernet autoselect
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        ether …
        groups: wlan
        ssid "" channel 44 (5220 MHz 11a)
        regdomain ETSI country GB authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
        deftxkey UNDEF txpower 17 bmiss 10 mcastrate 6 mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60
        wme roaming MANUAL
        parent interface: iwn0
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
        status: no carrier
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1480
        options=80000<LINKSTATE>
        tunnel inet 192.168.1.7 --> …
        inet6 fe80::…:…:…:…%gif0 prefixlen 64 tentative scopeid 0x4
        inet6 2001:…:…:…::2 --> 2001:…:…:…::1 prefixlen 128 tentative
        groups: gif
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ifconfig
em0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=481249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,NOMAP>
        ether …
        inet 192.168.1.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
        options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
        inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
        groups: lo
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
ue0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=80000<LINKSTATE>
        ether …
        media: Ethernet autoselect
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        ether …
        inet 0.0.0.0 netmask 0xff000000 broadcast 255.255.255.255
        groups: wlan
        ssid piano channel 36 (5180 MHz 11a ht/40+) bssid …
        regdomain ETSI country GB authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
        deftxkey UNDEF TKIP 2:128-bit txpower 17 bmiss 10 mcastrate 6
        mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60 ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 16
        -amsdutx amsdurx shortgi -stbc -ldpc -uapsd wme roaming MANUAL
        parent interface: iwn0
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11na
        status: associated
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1480
        options=80000<LINKSTATE>
        tunnel inet 192.168.1.7 --> 216.66.88.98
        inet6 fe80::…:…:…:…%gif0 prefixlen 64 tentative scopeid 0x4
        inet6 2001:470:1f1c:a0::2 --> 2001:470:1f1c:a0::1 prefixlen 128 tentative
        groups: gif
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ifconfig wlan0 down
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ping -4 freshports.org
PING freshports.org (54.227.255.74): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 54.227.255.74: icmp_seq=0 ttl=42 time=82.299 ms
64 bytes from 54.227.255.74: icmp_seq=1 ttl=42 time=81.218 ms
64 bytes from 54.227.255.74: icmp_seq=2 ttl=42 time=81.048 ms
64 bytes from 54.227.255.74: icmp_seq=3 ttl=42 time=82.072 ms
64 bytes from 54.227.255.74: icmp_seq=4 ttl=42 time=80.945 ms
^C
--- freshports.org ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 80.945/81.516/82.299/0.558 ms
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ #

Postscript, 2021-12-31 18:55

service routing restart is not reliable <https://pastebin.com/mXmVPruq>. Instead, I stop then start services:
Postscript, 2022-04-01 18:55

Additional abnormalities in response what should be normal commands for networking. Here's not the place to attempt descriptions of the abnormalities.

Instead, good news – although I can't guess how long this goodness might last. At the time of writing, I have excellent speeds with Wi-Fi. Results before and after bringing up gif0 for IPv6:

 
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Welcome to the world of the FreeBSD wireless stacks/drivers o/

As of today, there are no WiFi 5 or WiFi 6 drivers. The few drivers available are usually only 802.11b/g/n only.
However, the FreeBSD foundation is currently funding work towards newer WiFi 5 drivers: https://adrianchadd.blogspot.com/2020/07/im-back-into-grind-of-freebsds-wireless.html

One trick often used is creating a bhyve VM, running a small Linux inside (like OpenWRT), passing your WiFi card through to the VM. That way you can use the Linux driver and your host just connects to the VM as a router/gateway.
There is a new port net/wifibox which supposedly does all of this automagically.

Do you know if there is any updatre from Adrian recently somewhere regarding the drivers?
 
… Adrian …

<https://wiki.freebsd.org/action/info/WiFi?action=info> nothing more recent than May 2020.

<https://adrianchadd.blogspot.com/> nothing more recent than July 2021.



For 'the other Adrian', who also takes some interest in Wi-Fi, from <https://euroquis.nl/calamares/2021/11/23/calamares.html> (23rd November):

… Since the end of october I’ve been mostly back at work doing Calamares and KDE and FreeBSD- related things. …

Some wireless-related comments in this month's FreeBSD on Slimbook – 14 months of updates | [bobulate].
 
… seen many complaints about that new Intel wireless driver work.

Does anybody have any success stories using the Intel wireless 8xxx cards? …


That post (on 29th December) mentioned problems showing up in HEAD i.e. main for some, Phishfry I assume that most complaints were from users of FreeBSD-CURRENT.

… slow. Maybe the other driver iwlwifi could be an option? …

Maybe, if (for now) you're willing to rebuild and install the operating system from source whenever an update to FreeBSD 13.0-STABLE i.e. stable/13 is appropriate/required.

1640959794902.png
 

- …
- man pages were slightly updated, mostly clarifying "how to best load the driver"
- …

They're installed but not yet online:

<https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwlwifi&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+13.0-stable>
<https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwlwifi&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+14.0-current>

<https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwlwififw&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+13.0-stable>
<https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwlwififw&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+14.0-current>

I'd like to request the pages, but not prematurely. I'll have a chat first.



Reordering things from a recent series of posts …

Re: wlan(4):

sysctl net.wlan.0.debug

A mask such as 0x00200000 would have some effect, however:

<https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=wlan&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD#DEBUGGING>

– as far as I can tell, not the effect that's required …


I imagine the wiki benefiting from some practical examples of debugging.
 
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Read through but just wondered if there is a wifi dongle which someone can recommend that they know work with fbsd 13 atm? Which gives okay speed?
Might have missed it in the discussion but couldnt see.

Would be great if it was just possible to get a tiny dongle for a temp fix
 
While the list of supported hardware is somewhat limited (compared to support for other OSs) the speed limitation does necessarily arise from the choice of dongle but rather the fact that FreeBSD currently doesn't have an 802.11ac or 802.11ax networking stack. Therefore, you're stuck with 802.11a/b/g/n no matter which hardware you pick. Of course within that limitation the choice of hardware can still greatly vary your experience but I just wanted to point that out clearly.
 
… a wifi dongle which someone can recommend …

Try the links in FreeBSD: Wi-Fi: suggested adapters but note jbodenmann's point.



Speed for me is excellent at the moment. Just occasionally, things become inexplicably horribly slow. Hopefully these occasions will be rare. We have four new APs in my area at work, just a few days ago, I have not yet speed-tested repeatedly there over a period of time …

From <https://wiki.freebsd.org/WiFi/Iwlwifi#Frequently_Asked_Questions>:

Q: I have an iwn(4) wireless card, can I try the new driver?
  • A: No. The dwm support of the iwlwifi driver is GPL-only code and thus not supported.
– this rules me out, with my current hardware.
 
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