Very slow wlan

[Pilal]

I'm using a RaLink card with rt2500 drivers included with the kernel. I had no problem getting my wireless to work, and it usually connects fine. However, it's so damn slow. I have a 12mbits connection, and in Vista, I usually get speeds from about 6Mbits/s to 10Mbits/s.
But in linux (I'm using Fedora 7 an Debian Etch 4) the speed is about 1/10 of that. Never above 650 kbits. Anybody else having that problem?

[David Becker]

I'm using a RaLink card with rt2500 drivers included with the kernel. I had no problem getting my wireless to work, and it usually connects fine. However, it's so damn slow. I have a 12mbits connection, and in Vista, I usually get speeds from about 6Mbits/s to 10Mbits/s.
But in linux (I'm using Fedora 7 an Debian Etch 4) the speed is about 1/10 of that. Never above 650 kbits. Anybody else having that problem?

I used to use one of these cards with FC5. At that time I had been using the driver from Ralink themselves, apparently it wasn't available in the stock kernels at the time (licensing).

I can't say I noticed any speed differences between Windows (2000) and Linux. Maybe you should see if Ralink has a driver available and (if different from the one included in the kernel) try their driver to see if it makes a difference.

When I used the card/driver, it came with a program called RaConfig or something like that. This allowed for all kinds of tweaks which could be of help. It may allow you to see if there's any difference in the settings between Windows and Linux.

David

[Pilal]

I used to use one of these cards with FC5. At that time I had been using the driver from Ralink themselves, apparently it wasn't available in the stock kernels at the time (licensing).

I can't say I noticed any speed differences between Windows (2000) and Linux. Maybe you should see if Ralink has a driver available and (if different from the one included in the kernel) try their driver to see if it makes a difference.

When I used the card/driver, it came with a program called RaConfig or something like that. This allowed for all kinds of tweaks which could be of help. It may allow you to see if there's any difference in the settings between Windows and Linux.

David
Thanks for the reply :-) I think I'll try that. Maybe i'll try NDISWrapper too.
But I find it odd that I'm the only one having this problem. Maybe i've got some setting wrong?

[leigh123@linux]

I use ndiswapper with my RT2500 and usually get speeds in excess of 48 Mb/s


[root@localhost ~]# lspci |grep RT2500
01:07.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2500 802.11g Cardbus/mini-PCI (rev 01)
[root@localhost ~]# ndiswrapper -l
rt2500 : driver installed
device (1814:0201) present (alternate driver: rt2500pci)
[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"localhost"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.472 GHz Access Point: 00:0F:CB:A4:67:E4
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:20 dBm Sensitivity=-121 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:1451-8C4A-3BD5-EABB-1051-C4AF-7F3B-5342-E19A-62A3-FD60-F6F6-2A3A-5EDE-7D8D-BF62 Security mode:restricted
Power Management:off
Link Quality:62/100 Signal level:-56 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:402 Invalid misc:335 Missed beacon:0

[root@localhost ~]#

[Pilal]

When I set the transmission rate in system-config-network to AUTO I get bit rates from 1-2 mbits/s. And when I set the transmission rate to 11M I cannot connect to the net at all. It connects ok with a transmission rate at 5.5M which, I guess, can explain my slow download speed.
My upload speed, on the other hand, is the same in both linux and windows: About 2mbits/s (which is what I'm paying for :-)


[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"philips"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:12:CF:01:FA:5E
Bit Rate=5.5 Mb/s
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:A59F-2BD2-C06F-BC6E-EDF0-D22E-63
Link Quality=82/100 Signal level=-61 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

[Pilal]

Ok, now I've installed NDISWrapper, and it works like a dream :D
It now connects with the same speed as my Windows Vista.
The Transmission rate is set on AUTO, and in iwconfig the bit rate is 54Mb/s
I guess that's a good thing :)

[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"philips" Nickname:"localhost.localdomain"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:12:CF:01:FA:5E
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:20 dBm Sensitivity=-116 dBm
RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:A59F-3DF2-C06F-66FA-EDF0-D042-63 Security mode:restricted
Power Management:off
Link Quality:57/100 Signal level:-59 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0