internet access is terribly slow

[umpi]

Dear Gurus,

I have installed mint4win (Mint 7 "Gloria"). It runs smoothly except for the wireless internet access. It does connect to the internet but is painfully slow and often is unable to open some website! Again, the wireless connection is active and recognized but is veeery slow. No problems under MS Windows. Any suggestion please?

Cheers.

[ibm450]

cant wait for a reply on this....i too have this issue at times, not all the time, but enough times to give me the irrit's , but not on Xp

[umpi]

update: I have forgot to add some technical detail (sorry). I have a Dell Inspiran 1525 with a Broadcom Mini Card 1390 for the wirless

[Jjjackson]

Mint is slow for me also,
Fairly new to Linux,

Averatec laptop about 4 years old, Intel Pentium 4 processor 2.8 Ghz, RAM = 768, new HD, 160Gig with two equal partitions, XP on the first and Mint on the second. Wireless in the house, XP is fast, Mint is slow. TIA

[slider]

Im not sure if I can help or not,but I will give it a try. Ive never used that program as I am a "Linux Only" user.

You can check and change the speed of your wifi in a normal Linux install with the following tools in a terminal:

For NetworkManager Info run:

Code: Select all

nm-tool

To change the speed of your wifi (most have a maximum of 54Mbs) run:

Code: Select all

sudo iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M 

(enter your passwd when asked)

Where the command says "wlan0" run "nm-tool" first to check the device name and make sure that is what it is called, as some have slightly different names.

Try locating your machine close as possible to the WAP as well.

If this does not help it could be that some config file needs to be modified or something else and you will need someone with experience with that program to help you.

Hope this helps....

[Beyond Aphelion]

I have used two different wireless adapters for my desktop computer, and configuring the rates for either of them seems to have negligible results when it comes to the online experience. As others have mentioned, this issue is not seen in Windows using the same exact hardware. I have Vista 64-bit and 32-bit editions, both of which run wireless internet smoothly compared to Linux Mint.

Really, this is the biggest thing keeping me from using Linux Mint as my sole OS. If my internet acts like dial-up - even on forum sites like this, it really discourages me from booting up in linux.

Any ideas on what could be causing this discrepancy?

[Beyond Aphelion]

Just to verify scientifically, I ran a test from http://www.speedtest.net on each of my 3 operating systems. I did all this within a span of about 10-15 minutes using the same router/connection/settings.

Linux Mint
Download: 11.72 Mb/s
Upload: 6.94 Mb/s
Ping: 30 ms

Vista 32-bit
Download: 15.06 Mb/s
Upload: 5.50 Mb/s
Ping: 24 ms

Vista 64-bit
Download: 16.41 Mb/s
Upload: 5.37 Mb/s
Ping: 25 ms

I found it interesting that there was a marginal gain in upload for linux, but as you can see, there is a significant margin seen in download rates that can't simply be attributed to chance. And it is very noticeable.

[ibm450]

in MY opinion, the open source drivers arnt as optimal / developers arnt as keen in making linux drivers as stable like windows drivers, not only is the graphics performance on LM / linux poor , but also in the networking too.

maybe when google OS becomes available, there will be more hardware / driver support for linux os.

i say thats when people will REALLY consider making linux as their primary OS, just not now, linux has a long way to go to be in par with windows. and quiet frankly, being just a user that wants to boot up, open afew apps, browse or install themes / various apps out side of LM, the use of terminal/command lines to make simple things work is a nightmare for newbies...ive never used so much command lines before to view what the hell has broken down again in linux opposed to xp. dont get me wrong, im enjoying LM atm, but the terminal stuff to get **** done wears very very thin and makes me wanting to go back to xp.

but like i said before, this is my opinion / views on linux atm, its getting there, but very slowly.

i have to admit, i have to boot back to XP when Internet browsing become very slow on LM or my usb next g modem keeps dropping out after an 1 hrs use (have to unplug and replug and fart around with it for about a minute or 3 to pick up the network, where as its connected and ready to use within seconds, stays connected for hrs and much quicker on xp) - the only thing that makes me go back to linux is the fact that its, at the moment, safe from viruses - thats all.

but going back on topic, the slowness on network / Internet browsing is still way too slow compared to xp. its a shame, linux has alot of potential

[DrHu]

in MY opinion, the open source drivers arnt as optimal / developers arnt as keen in making linux drivers as stable like windows drivers, not only is the graphics performance on LM / linux poor , but also in the networking too.
..the only thing that makes me go back to linux is the fact that its, at the moment, safe from viruses - thats all., ..but going back on topic, the slowness on network / Internet browsing is still way too slow compared to xp. its a shame, linux has alot of potential

developers arnt as keen in making linux drivers as stable like windows drivers

• I don't think we know that
• Are windows drivers stable, what does that mean to the average user
  --only that it works within the OS or is there another critera?
• That's not a choice that a Linux developer can make
  --they are shut out of the manufacturers base due to the manufacturer(s) + Microsoft deals, and probably don't want to be hamstrung by their NDA agreements, if they would ever be allowed to sign any..

Your logo gave me an idea..
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9874333-16.html
--maybe its not all bad with Linux, after all

Your right, its a shame..

[Beyond Aphelion]

I didn't intend for my revival of this thread to be a complain-fest about linux not being caught up in all respects. I was just wondering if somebody knew the underlying cause of this reduced internet access. I don't really expect linux to have super-human strength, but I figured internet access is a big development barrier to cross if is slowing users down.

Even with the rates I posted earlier, the speed at which I'm browsing now in LM seems even less than what the numbers imply. I'd like to get to the bottom of the issue, but unfortunately I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to networking problems. Is windows really faster entirely because of proprietary drivers? I have a feeling that - even if that is the case - this issue should not be long standing if it is properly addressed.

Not to mention that I've had a fair share of distros before LM and - if memory serves me correctly - the access times on the ones I've gotten wireless internet to work on did not seem this slow.

[markcynt]

Many times Firefox itself is the problem.

Try typing about:config in the FF address bar, then find the line that says network.dns.disableIPv6.

If it says false on the end double-click it to change it to true.

If it says true then FF is not the problem.

[Beyond Aphelion]

network.dns.disableIPv6 is "true"

[DrHu]

I have installed mint4win (Mint 7 "Gloria"). It runs smoothly except for the wireless internet access. It does connect to the internet but is painfully slow

A search on these forums might help, just scim through the posts top see if anything clicks for you..
search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&keywords=wireless+slow

I didn't intend for my revival of this thread to be a complain-fest about linux not being caught up in all respects. I was just wondering if somebody knew the underlying cause of this reduced internet access

I guess I don't understand how the forum works, I am under the impression that the first posting on the topic is the originator of the topic/posts..
--but I don't know for sure..

[SpideyWebber]

I have also had this issue between Vista and Mint 7 on my Sony Laptop a VGN-NR32M/S
with the dreaded Atheros 5007 series card.

Following the advice sudo iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M

to change the speed to 54M seems to have worked fine for me.

This removes another hurdle which was stopping me booting exclusively in to LM7 my prefered OS now.

Thanks for the help.

[ibm450]

i use the following:

sudo iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M
sudo ifconfig eth0 mtu 1492

regards

[SpideyWebber]

Actually spoke too soon, I still have the problem, Vista connection is fine, at work and at home.

LM7 connection at home is a pain, at work, too slow to use.

[Jjjackson]

Try this, open the terminal, enter

sudo iwconfig wlan0 rate 11M

after that, type your password when asked, (will probably not enter dots or anything) then hit enter.

go to your browser and see if it's faster, if so, get back to me

If it works, you will have to do that everytime you log on, but there is a work around for that.

[SpideyWebber]

The saga continues.
I'm now finding that I can connect to a network, only if I connect through Vista on this laptop first.
Even then, a connection isn't allways established, and at work, the speed can range from 1Mb up to 54Mb.

This seems really weird, and cant really explain it, unless the card holds some settings which Vista applies on reboot.

still a Sony VAIO
VGN-NR32M/S
LM7 Gloria Main Edition (Gnome)

[ibm450]

Gosh, what a speed differance on xp opposed to LM on internet browisng .

i used windows for the forst time this week and instantly noticed the browsing speed. cant figure out why???
here is a copy of my Tcpip\Parameters settings in case it means anything for the LM developers to work out the browsing woe:

Code: Select all

[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
TcpWindowSize=128480
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize=128480
EnablePMTUDiscovery=1
EnablePMTUBHDetect=0
SackOpts=1
DefaultTTL=128
TcpMaxDupAcks=2
Tcp1323Opts=3
DisableUserTOSSetting=-1
DefaultTOSValue=-1
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Afd\Parameters]
DefaultReceiveWindow=-1
[Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
MaxConnectionsPerServer=4
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server=8
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ICSharing\Settings\General]
InternetMTU=-1
[SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}]
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}=-2
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
MaxNegativeCacheTtl=0
NegativeCacheTime=0
NetFailureCacheTime=0
NegativeSOACacheTime=0
[SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Psched]
NonBestEffortLimit=0
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]
LocalPriority=5
HostsPriority=6
DnsPriority=7
NetbtPriority=8
[System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters]
SizReqBuf=16384
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NdisWan\Parameters\Protocols\0]
ProtocolMTU=-2
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{82812353-B868-4643-BE4F-030104A291F8}]
MTU=1492
TcpWindowSize=30492
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Psched\Parameters\Adapters\{82812353-B868-4643-BE4F-030104A291F8}]
NonBestEffortLimit=-1
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{7361A18A-E977-4C96-97F0-E586857CD9F6}]
MTU=-1
TcpWindowSize=128480
[SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Psched\Parameters\Adapters\{7361A18A-E977-4C96-97F0-E586857CD9F6}]
NonBestEffortLimit=-1