How do I make wifi work better? Driver Issue?

Discussions in English on using Fedora
#1

I’m new to Linux and even more new to Fedora. I get download speeds of 35-50 Mbps on Ethernet or when using WiFi in Windows on this laptop or on other laptops connected to the same network. However, when using WiFi on Fedora, I consistently get less than 1 Mbps download speed. Upload speed seems constant at 2-3 Mbps regardless of how I’m connected.

I’m guessing that I need to get some kind of new Wifi driver, but I don’t know how to do this. Any tips?

lspci output:

01:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter

The Realtek driver page only appears to show a Windows driver.

#2

What is the make and model of your laptop? What Fedora Spin are you using? What is the internet speed you are supposed to be getting from your internet provider? What router are you using? Is 35 - 50 Mbps the speed for both Ethernet and Wifi? Usually, the Wifi will be dramatically slower unless you have a really good router and/or a really good wifi adapter or card.

#3

Laptop: HP Pavilion 13-an0031wm

I’m running Fedora 32 (Workstation Edition). I’m not using a spin, so I think that means I’m using gnome.

My ISP cable internet plan is supposed to give me 50 Mbps download speeds.

TP-Link AC1750 Smart WiFi Router

50 Mbps is consistent when using ethernet. I get 35-50 Mbps on wifi when using this computer in Windows. I get <1 Mbps on Wifi when using Fedora on this laptop. I’m sitting right by the wifi router.

#4

What are you using to measure the speed. ? I use ookla and have never had slowdown problems with fedora.
I do sometimes see slow downloads from specific sites but that can be time of day, demand from the server, or internet pathway loading. Never consistent for long periods for any given site and never always at my PC for all sites.

What do you mean when you say “consistent with ethernet”? Are you saying that the speed is the same with both windows and fedora? If so then it is definitely wifi related.

How close is your PC to the router? “Right by the router” is a subjective description and can mean a lot of different distances depending on viewpoint. Too close to the router can sometimes be almost as bad as too far from the router.

What does "kmod list | grep iwl " and “kmod list | grep wifi” show?
My laptop has an intel wifi card so it won’t be quite the same, but near.

A simple search for “linux driver for realtek RTL8822BE” shows many entries related to that card in linux, some with the same issue of slowdown you are experiencing.
One recent post here might help.

1 Like
#5

Do you still have Windows on the same Laptop? If so, boot into Windows and confirm that the Wifi still works.

Also, do you still have the live USB of Fedora? If you have that as well, then you can boot into the live USB and check to see how the Wifi does with that live USB. If it works with the live USB, then maybe the installation of Fedora got messed up somewhere. If that is the case, then try reinstalling Fedora.

One more thing, maybe try downloading different Spin of Fedora. You could try KDE, XFCE, etc. I was having problems with Gnome (workstation edition), so I switched to KDE. Then I was having problems with KDE, so I switched to LXQT and realized what the point of QT if I have to download a bunch of software that isn’t QT based to get it how I like. So, I finally switched to XFCE. It just works. Not very fancy looking as compared to Gnome and KDE, but you can make it look nice if you really wanted to. That is XFCE on two of my Dell Optiplex 9020FF. I normally use Gnome on my Samsung series 7 Chronos, but had to switch back to Windows because I needed access to LabVIEW and Multisim.

Either way, just confirm that Wifi still works with Windows and see if it works with the live USB. I am not a programming expert. I just mess around with computers a lot and I am good at googling.

#6

What are you using to measure the speed of your internet? I’m using this speed test tool to test the speed of my internet allspeedtest.com
I do experience slow download speed from some sites but that’s during the rush hours or due to internet pathway loading. But I never have faced this for a long time.
The reason behind this can be your distance from the router because internet signals aren’t strong enough to cross the hurdles. You can use a wifi extender for this purpose because it will give strength to your internet signals and it will enhance the coverage area too.

#7

This one seems like a case of badly supported device, so every kernel update might bring some improvement. From what I see, with this device simultaneous Bluetooth usage also causes additional problems. There are some issues in kernel bugzilla.

Run lspci -v and check whether your card uses new rtw88 driver.

Try updating router’s firmware, connecting only to 2,4 or 5 GHz network.

As a last resort, change network adapter to some with better support. Make sure your laptop will accept it, I think it’s HP that was whitelisting only selected devices (sic!).

#8

Steve, you asked a very good question. :+1: I will try the solutions offered here, thank you all!