WiFi speed on Thinkpad

For what it's worth--I just set up a Beelink SER5. I set it up with wired, as there was a lot of transferring files involved. Now that I'm using it more for leisure, I've set it to wireless. I wanted to mention, that even at the slower speeds, it's more than adequate for watching videos online, e.g. youtube videos.
 
Last edited:
astyle said:
There was no need to remove wireless support for the card, just live with G-speeds that FreeBSD reports. If it's Intel-branded (and yours is), you're good to go without all that messing around.
Click to expand...

Back to the original point of the thread... there is a reason why AC, AX, and now BE cards have been perpetuated in the enterprise and residential environments... Most people dont want to be stuck to a cat6e or 7 cable with their laptop, and G speeds are considered unacceptable for many uses, and increasingly routers and APs are being set to "A" band only, to force the higher connection speed automatically...

I can give wifibox a try, just hoping it doesnt mess with any of the other VMs I am running...
 
almostunix said:
there is a reason why AC, AX, and now BE cards have been perpetuated in the enterprise and residential environments...
Click to expand...
Everybody wants a big, wide pipe. AC/AX/BE simply tell you how wide the pipe is at your end. The fact that the other end cannot send that much water(data) to a given endpoint (your big, wide card) - that doesn't enter the equation.

almostunix said:
G speeds are considered unacceptable for many uses,
Click to expand...
like I wrote earlier, Github won't send data to any individual device (even one with an AX or BE card like yours) at rates of higher than 5 MB/sec. And video conferencing between end points - that is similar, it won't stress even a G card. If there's stutter in the video, it's not the fault of the wifi card, you'd get that stutter even on cat6e ethernet.

So... what use case can even send a tsunami of data at 54 MB/sec or more towards your pipe? Bittorrent (with many seeds combining to give a net total speed of more than 60 MB/sec? Needing to copy a whole terabyte of data to your laptop (with wifi being the only available option) ?

As you pointed out:
almostunix said:
increasingly routers and APs are being set to "A" band only,
Click to expand...
The reason for that is to allow more people to connect to a single router, and not hog all the bandwidth. Just having a big, fat AC/AX/BE card does not entitle you to all the bandwidth a given hotspot can provide, let others use it, too! 802.11a speeds are theoretically 54 MB/sec, but realistically, are usually around 20 MB/sec. Even that is usually adequate for Skype conversations, and can realistically be stressed by unusual use cases like bittorrent.
 
astyle said:
Everybody wants a big, wide pipe. AC/AX/BE simply tell you how wide the pipe is at your end. The fact that the other end cannot send that much water(data) to a given endpoint (your big, wide card) - that doesn't enter the equation.


like I wrote earlier, Github won't send data to any individual device (even one with an AX or BE card like yours) at rates of higher than 5 MB/sec. And video conferencing between end points - that is similar, it won't stress even a G card. If there's stutter in the video, it's not the fault of the wifi card, you'd get that stutter even on cat6e ethernet.

So... what use case can even send a tsunami of data at 54 MB/sec or more towards your pipe? Bittorrent (with many seeds combining to give a net total speed of more than 60 MB/sec? Needing to copy a whole terabyte of data to your laptop (with wifi being the only available option) ?

As you pointed out:

The reason for that is to allow more people to connect to a single router, and not hog all the bandwidth. Just having a big, fat AC/AX/BE card does not entitle you to all the bandwidth a given hotspot can provide, let others use it, too! 802.11a speeds are theoretically 54 MB/sec, but realistically, are usually around 20 MB/sec. Even that is usually adequate for Skype conversations, and can realistically be stressed by unusual use cases like bittorrent.
Click to expand...
Astyle…

I don’t really BitTorrent these days…

Lets assume for the sake of this thread that: the server, my internet pipe, cat6e cable to the AP and commercial AP can all easily handle 300-400Mb/s (as tested on another laptop and bottlenecked by the Microsoft server out in Azureland)
I
Let’s also assume that for the hotspot use case there is MAC or IP address based bandwidth allocation setup on their access points, so it is only possible to use maybe 300Mb/s of the (call it 5Gig) fiber line and we aren’t ruining anyone else’s coffee break.

Downloading Fedora at a local coffee shop took seconds on my windows vm and had a (longer than my coffee would last) progress bar on FreeBSD. I am not bashing the FreeBSD OS, it’s my favorite, just the WiFi speed/lack of WiFi card driver support for AC/AX/BE is tough. It is fine for Netflix etc. maybe mine is a niche use case but I think there are many others who would love to get even 100Mb/s (real speed) even if it was just supporting AC wireless.
 
almostunix said:
Downloading Fedora at a local coffee shop took seconds on my windows vm and had a (longer than my coffee would last) progress bar on FreeBSD.
Click to expand...
Well, FreeBSD does plan to support up to N-speeds with 15-RELEASE.

One thing that always gets people (even me) is Mbps (actual number of bits per second, a power of 10 number) vs Megabytes (a power of 2 number), which is how file sizes are reported by a computer.
 
I came across this on lxer.com

FreeBSD On Laptops Effort Gets Proof-Of-Concept Intel 802.11 a/b/g WiFi Working - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com www.phoronix.com

Laptop Support and Usability Project Update: First Monthly Report & Community Initiatives | FreeBSD Foundation

The FreeBSD Foundation’s Laptop Support and Usability Project is in full swing, and staying updated has never been easier. The first monthly report is now available. Highlights include: Graphics Driver – New documentation now provides clear guidance for developers updating DRM drivers from Linux...
freebsdfoundation.org freebsdfoundation.org

I too want to maximize the card locally. I feel latency just like I can feel a bicycle tire rolling slowly :).

The wifibox package worked great, even if I cannot immediately SSH to the box because the ip address is assigned to the Bhyve guest, I am sure I could find a workaround for that and other services I might need or want to run.
 
I'm rerunning my automated installer on the drive now, hopefully I can use wifibox once again.

This is the kernel conf I'm using:

include GENERIC

# using ZFS for all systems
device zfs

nooptions GZIO # gzip-compressed kernel and user dumps
nooptions DEBUGNET # debugnet networking
nooptions NETDUMP # netdump(4) client support
nooptions NETGDB # netgdb(4) client support

nodevice smbios
nodevice fdc

nodevice mvs # Marvell 88SX50XX/88SX60XX/88SX70XX/SoC SATA
nodevice siis # SiliconImage SiI3124/SiI3132/SiI3531 SATA

# SCSI Controllers
nodevice ahc # AHA2940 and onboard AIC7xxx devices
nodevice ahd # AHA39320/29320 and onboard AIC79xx devices
nodevice esp # AMD Am53C974 (Tekram DC-390(T))
nodevice hptiop # Highpoint RocketRaid 3xxx series
nodevice isp # Qlogic family
nodevice ispfw # Firmware for QLogic HBAs- normally a module
nodevice mpt # LSI-Logic MPT-Fusion
nodevice mps # LSI-Logic MPT-Fusion 2
nodevice mpr # LSI-Logic MPT-Fusion 3
nodevice sym # NCR/Symbios Logic
nodevice isci # Intel C600 SAS controller
nodevice ocs_fc # Emulex FC adapters
nodevice pvscsi # VMware PVSCSI

nodevice sa # Sequential Access (tape etc)

nodevice ses # Enclosure Services (SES and SAF-TE)
nodevice ctl # CAM Target Layer

nodevice amr # AMI MegaRAID
nodevice arcmsr # Areca SATA II RAID
nodevice ciss # Compaq Smart RAID 5*
nodevice iir # Intel Integrated RAID
nodevice ips # IBM (Adaptec) ServeRAID
nodevice mly # Mylex AcceleRAID/eXtremeRAID
nodevice twa # 3ware 9000 series PATA/SATA RAID
nodevice smartpqi # Microsemi smartpqi driver
nodevice tws # LSI 3ware 9750 SATA+SAS 6Gb/s RAID controller

# RAID controllers
nodevice aac # Adaptec FSA RAID
nodevice aacp # SCSI passthrough for aac (requires CAM)
nodevice aacraid # Adaptec by PMC RAID
nodevice ida # Compaq Smart RAID
nodevice mfi # LSI MegaRAID SAS
nodevice mlx # Mylex DAC960 family
nodevice mrsas # LSI/Avago MegaRAID SAS/SATA, 6Gb/s and 12Gb/s
nodevice pmspcv # PMC-Sierra SAS/SATA Controller driver
#XXX pointer/int warnings
nodevice pst # Promise Supertrak SX6000
nodevice twe # 3ware ATA RAID

# Intel Volume Management Device (VMD) support
nodevice vmd # base VMD device
nodevice vmd_bus # bus for VMD children

# PCCARD (PCMCIA) support
# PCMCIA and cardbus bridge support
nodevice cbb # cardbus (yenta) bridge
nodevice pccard # PC Card (16-bit) bus
nodevice cardbus # CardBus (32-bit) bus

# Serial (COM) ports
nodevice uart # Generic UART driver

# Parallel port
nodevice ppc
nodevice ppbus # Parallel port bus (required)
nodevice lpt # Printer
nodevice ppi # Parallel port interface device
nodevice vpo # Requires scbus and da

nodevice puc # Multi I/O cards and multi-channel UARTs

# PCI/PCI-X/PCIe Ethernet NICs that use iflib infrastructure
nodevice igc # Intel I225 2.5G Ethernet
nodevice ice # Intel 800 Series Physical Function
nodevice vmx # VMware VMXNET3 Ethernet
nodevice axp # AMD EPYC integrated NIC

# PCI Ethernet NICs.
nodevice le # AMD Am7900 LANCE and Am79C9xx PCnet
nodevice ti # Alteon Networks Tigon I/II gigabit Ethernet

# Nvidia/Mellanox Connect-X 4 and later, Ethernet only
# mlx5ib requires ibcore infra and is not included by default
nodevice mlx5 # Base driver
nodevice mlxfw # Firmware update
nodevice mlx5en # Ethernet driver

# PCI Ethernet NICs that use the common MII bus controller code.
# NOTE: Be sure to keep the 'device miibus' line in order to use these NICs!
nodevice cas # Sun Cassini/Cassini+ and NS DP83065 Saturn
nodevice dc # DEC/Intel 21143 and various workalikes
nodevice et # Agere ET1310 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet
nodevice fxp # Intel EtherExpress PRO/100B (82557, 82558)
nodevice gem # Sun GEM/Sun ERI/Apple GMAC
nodevice jme # JMicron JMC250 Gigabit/JMC260 Fast Ethernet
nodevice lge # Level 1 LXT1001 gigabit Ethernet
nodevice msk # Marvell/SysKonnect Yukon II Gigabit Ethernet
nodevice nfe # nVidia nForce MCP on-board Ethernet
nodevice nge # NatSemi DP83820 gigabit Ethernet
nodevice re # RealTek 8139C+/8169/8169S/8110S
nodevice rl # RealTek 8129/8139
nodevice sge # Silicon Integrated Systems SiS190/191
nodevice sis # Silicon Integrated Systems SiS 900/SiS 7016
nodevice sk # SysKonnect SK-984x & SK-982x gigabit Ethernet
nodevice ste # Sundance ST201 (D-Link DFE-550TX)
nodevice stge # Sundance/Tamarack TC9021 gigabit Ethernet
nodevice vge # VIA VT612x gigabit Ethernet
nodevice vr # VIA Rhine, Rhine II
nodevice xl # 3Com 3c90x (``Boomerang'', ``Cyclone'')

# Wireless NIC cards
nodevice wlan # 802.11 support
nooptions IEEE80211_DEBUG # enable debug msgs
nooptions IEEE80211_SUPPORT_MESH # enable 802.11s draft support
nodevice wlan_wep # 802.11 WEP support
nodevice wlan_ccmp # 802.11 CCMP support
nodevice wlan_tkip # 802.11 TKIP support
nodevice wlan_amrr # AMRR transmit rate control algorithm
nodevice an # Aironet 4500/4800 802.11 wireless NICs.
nodevice ath # Atheros NICs
nodevice ath_pci # Atheros pci/cardbus glue
nodevice ath_hal # pci/cardbus chip support
nooptions AH_AR5416_INTERRUPT_MITIGATION # AR5416 interrupt mitigation
nooptions ATH_ENABLE_11N # Enable 802.11n support for AR5416 and later
nodevice ath_rate_sample # SampleRate tx rate control for ath
nodevice bwi # Broadcom BCM430x/BCM431x wireless NICs.
nodevice bwn # Broadcom BCM43xx wireless NICs.
nodevice ipw # Intel 2100 wireless NICs.
nodevice iwi # Intel 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG wireless NICs.
nodevice iwn # Intel 4965/1000/5000/6000 wireless NICs.
nodevice malo # Marvell Libertas wireless NICs.
nodevice mwl # Marvell 88W8363 802.11n wireless NICs.
nodevice ral # Ralink Technology RT2500 wireless NICs.
nodevice wpi # Intel 3945ABG wireless NICs.

# Sound support
nodevice snd_cmi # CMedia CMI8338/CMI8738
nodevice snd_csa # Crystal Semiconductor CS461x/428x
nodevice snd_emu10kx # Creative SoundBlaster Live! and Audigy
nodevice snd_es137x # Ensoniq AudioPCI ES137x
nodevice snd_via8233 # VIA VT8233x Audio

# HyperV drivers and enhancement support
nodevice hyperv # HyperV drivers

# Xen HVM Guest Optimizations
# NOTE: XENHVM depends on xenpci. They must be added or removed together.
nooptions XENHVM # Xen HVM kernel infrastructure
nodevice xenpci # Xen HVM Hypervisor services driver

# enable pf firewall
device pf
device pflog
device pfsync

options ALTQ
options ALTQ_HFSC

# enable bhyve / virtual machines
device if_bridge
#device if_tuntap
device nmdm

# allow beeps @ console
device speaker

# allow creation of patch cables to/from host/guest
device epair

# workstation (USB keyboard/mouse)
device usbhid
device wmt
device ums
device blank_saver
device uhid

# intel video card
device dpms
options X86BIOS

# enable nullfs (useful for mounting a filesystem in a jail)
option GEOM_ELI
option NULLFS

# https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=coretemp&sektion=4&manpath=freebsd-release-ports
device coretemp

# enable rctl for limiting CPU and memory resources for jails
options RACCT
options RCTL

# required by i915kms and drm
device iic

# required by linux compatibility layer
device fdescfs

ident workstation

# NVM Express (NVMe) support
device nvme # base NVMe driver
device nvd # expose NVMe namespaces as disks, depends on nvme

# PCI/PCI-X/PCIe Ethernet NICs that use iflib infrastructure
# the laptop does not have this device
###device igc # Intel I225 2.5G Ethernet

# MMC/SD
nodevice sdhci # Generic PCI SD Host Controller
device rtsx # Realtek SD card reader

# required for v4l support (webcams)
device cuse

# required by linux_common -> linux64 -> sublime-text
device netlink

device fusefs
Click to expand...



modules:
acpi

# https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mac_ntpd&sektion=4&format=html
mac_ntpd

linux
linux_common
if_epair
linux64
linuxkpi_hdmi
lindebugfs
linprocfs
linsysfs
Click to expand...

This kernel conf is aggregated, it is dynamically generated as the system is built so that I can relatively easily add functionality based on the hardware. For example, I add certain features for laptops (I detect the device type of Notebook versus Desktop) and then enable the patch or disable it. This could be why wifibox is refusing to run, perhaps my conf is not properly generated.
 
Well, I think I had the wrong passthru specified, so I fixed the ppt error, but even though wifibox shows it is running, I don't believe I'm connected.

EDIT:

/etc/rc.conf
ifconfig_wifibox0="SYNCDHCP"
background_dhclient_wifibox0="YES"
defaultroute_delay="0"
wifibox_enable="YES"
Click to expand...

The service starts up and on my router, i can see that a DHCP lease was given and I can ping that IP from my router, but I cannot ping that IP from the device itself. So, I think the network bridge isn't working for some reason.

I see these network devices were created:

wifibox0
tap0
Click to expand...


I don't believe anything further was required previously, but it appears the bridge it should have created isn't setup or setup properly. I scanned the man page and didn't see anything jump out.

EDIT:
Magic, it is working again, I don't see what I changed, but I rebooted and it works. I see that for whatever reason, the bridge interface, wifibox0, did not have an IP address, why, I don't know. I also had to adjust my /etc/resolv.conf to use my DNS server, but that is a simple fix.

EDIT:
I just measured 240 Mbps, not bad.
 
Hello FBSD forum folks. I have no idea how (I am running FreeBSD 15 Current so maybe they released a driver patch?), but now WiFi works as desired, no WiFi box, no adapters or shenanigans. Speed tests show an admirable 283Mbps over WiFi and full uplink speed (double confirmed no other cables are plugged in). This is fantastic news!!! I can confirm that AC mode is active on the ThinkPad... With KDE connect and ZSH installed, this computer is a legitimate Mac alternative. FreeBSD for the win!!!!!
 
As far as I know there's currently a bunch of work being done on various Wifi related drivers and frameworks. Hopefully it will eventually be MFC'ed so it can be included in 14.4-RELEASE too. 15.0-RELEASE still has a long way to go.
 
SirDice said:
As far as I know there's currently a bunch of work being done on various Wifi related drivers and frameworks. Hopefully it will eventually be MFC'ed so it can be included in 14.4-RELEASE too. 15.0-RELEASE still has a long way to go.
Click to expand...
Sorry but i don't get it. 14.4 is expected by March 2026 whilst 15.0 should arrive by December 2025. Maybe you meant 14.3 (June 2025)?
 
SirDice said:
As far as I know there's currently a bunch of work being done on various Wifi related drivers and frameworks. Hopefully it will eventually be MFC'ed so it can be included in 14.4-RELEASE too. 15.0-RELEASE still has a long way to go.
Click to expand...
Agreed, much work to be done in order for it to be server stable. For a laptop, it already functions better than windows 11 does (for me anyways).
 
yjqg6666 said:
From the maillist, the HT20/40 and VHT20/40/80 (no 160 yet) feature has been included in STABLE-14 via commit . We may expect the next point release REL-14.3 could have a better wifi speed (may not by default).
Click to expand...
I can confirm I am seeing those speeds with VHT80. The irony is this is about 25% faster than Windows with the laptop in the same position. Whatever they did with the driver is clearly working well.
 
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