My local ISP's modem (DSL) has a problem with the WiFi radio

[AZgl1800]

AZgl1500, just stick with us here. You are a good guy, but many people just want to get work done. Kali is not what you are looking for. They are not looking for you, either.

If you want to "monitor" Wifi connections (I take it you want to hack your neighbor's wifi) then you can do that with Mint, too. But my heartfelt recommendation to you is: just don't.

1st, I have no interest in "hacking" signals.
What got me to looking is my local ISP's modem which is DSL has a problem with the WiFi radio.
it just simply goes away for a few seconds, or minutes.... then I have to access my Win7 PC which is on a LAN to that DSL modem, and reset the WiFi radio......

I am having to do this every day, and sometimes several times a day.... if I quit using my laptop, it seems that the modem just decides to put the WiFi "to sleep" and drops the carrier strength.... and the speed capabilies go into the toilet. case in point, today, the best rate is 6.04Mbps, yesterday morning, it was 1.01Mbps

I can reset the modem's WiFi radio via the LAN connection thru the Modem Manager, and it will return to the normal 11.04 Mbps and stay that way as long as I keep the WiFi connection busy.


Here is a screenshot of http://www.speedtest.net/results for my DSL modem's WiFi radio over the past few testing sessions.




The peaks that go above the 11Mbps line are from my Verizon 5g/4g MiFi modem... VZW gives me much better service than the AT&T DSL does by far, but I can't afford to use it all the time.... my plan is 4gB/month and it don't take long to chew that up.


My cellphone has tools that aren't on my laptop, as of yet anyway.... looks like this, and I have to use it to see what is going on.... is it my laptop, or is it the modem?

this is my cellphone's WiFi monitoring tool.



so, can anyone point me to a tool that gives me a "monitoring tool like this" ?

[gm10]

1st, I have no interest in "hacking" signals.

I wonder what led you to the distro with the tag line "Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking Linux Distribution" then. Definitely not your best choice.

if I quit using my laptop, it seems that the modem just decides to put the WiFi "to sleep" and drops the carrier strength.... and the speed capabilies go into the toilet. case in point, today, the best rate is 6.04Mbps, yesterday morning, it was 1.01Mbps

That sounds like effects of wifi power-management, run this to disable:

Code: Select all

sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf

If that does not help, it will have to be disabled at the driver level (you know the drill, inxi output and we can help).

[AZgl1800]

Look at these results, all over the place, and a simple "fix" is to reset the DSL modem's WiFi radio via a LAN connection.





note these are all from this morning:

the laptop was off thru the night, turned it on, and speed results are absmal.....

tried twice, by changing the Server....

then I reset the WiFi radio from the Win7 PC's LAN connection to the DSL modem manager.

[AZgl1800]

if I quit using my laptop, it seems that the modem just decides to put the WiFi "to sleep" and drops the carrier strength.... and the speed capabilies go into the toilet. case in point, today, the best rate is 6.04Mbps, yesterday morning, it was 1.01Mbps

That sounds like effects of wifi power-management, run this to disable:

Code: Select all

sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf

If that does not help, it will have to be disabled at the driver level (you know the drill, inxi output and we can help).

I would agree with you, except that the cellphone's speed tests via WiFi agree with my laptop.



I make it a practice to run that tool every time the WiFi is bad....

Code: Select all

sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf

I would hope that doing it once, would make it permanent, but when the WiFi speeds drop into the toilet, I run it again, and reset the AT&T DSL modem's WiFi radio at the same times ( nearly so )

[AZgl1800]

here is what I am talking about,,,,,,

I have reset the WiFi radio on the DSL modem twice already in past 1/2 hour.

and it is down again.

[Moem]

Mod note:
Thread was split off from a chat thread that can be found here.

[gm10]

I would agree with you, except that the cellphone's speed tests via WiFi agree with my laptop.

So if you stop using your laptop's Wifi then your cellphone's speed drops?

That would be a level of weird that I cannot explain other than a generic "broken wifi router, let your ISP sort it out".

[Pippin]

A tool that could be helpful is wavemon.

[AZgl1800]

I would agree with you, except that the cellphone's speed tests via WiFi agree with my laptop.

So if you stop using your laptop's Wifi then your cellphone's speed drops?

That would be a level of weird that I cannot explain other than a generic "broken wifi router, let your ISP sort it out".

yes,
I think it is high time to call the ISP and let them sort it out.

[AZgl1800]

A tool that could be helpful is wavemon.

Holy Cow, if this is to be believed, the WiFi radio on my modem is a P.O.S.

https://youtu.be/8wxOECf_78Y

[Pippin]

Are you running wavemon as root?
Version 0.8.0? F9 will tell you.

I see some odd values like signal level 105 dBm.

[JeremyB]

A tool that could be helpful is wavemon.

:!: :!:

Holy Cow, if this is to be believed, the WiFi radio on my modem is a P.O.S.

https://youtu.be/8wxOECf_78Y

Try searching the internet for the model number, see what you find

[AZgl1800]

Are you running wavemon as root?
Version 0.8.0? F9 will tell you.

I see some odd values like signal level 105 dBm.

no, didn't think of doing that, will do that now and see how it effects things.

Okay, ran sudo wavemon and can't note any differences at all.
the last recording was only 12 seconds, and I noted that YouTube did not sync up with a clear picture of the video, so made a new recording that is 30 seconds long.

https://youtu.be/L51YVW95150

the modem is a Model BGW210-700 MID: R91ND7FU001178

did a search on that model number and would you believe the #1 complaint is the WiFi radio dropping out?

https://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T-Internet ... -p/5366094

kept on reading on that page, and it seems that modem is not fixable, I am going to do as this post recommends:

Re: Arris BGW210-700 WiFi Radios Keep Dropping

Called AT&T, after speaking with a knowledgeable tech rep, they shipped me a 5268AC router to replace the troublesome BGW210-700. Connected it 24 hours ago and after 3 restarts (right in a row) it has been stable. Both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios have stayed up and all devices connected for almost a full day. Will keep an eye on it and report in 24 hours.

and that modem is referenced here:
https://www.arris.com/globalassets/reso ... 5268ac.pdf

[AZgl1800]

A tool that could be helpful is wavemon.

Holy Cow, if this is to be believed, the WiFi radio on my modem is a P.O.S.

https://youtu.be/8wxOECf_78Y

well, the new AT&T Arris NVG599 modem came in Friday, and I wanted to let it 'bake in' so to speak and see how it performs over the 'long haul'.... funny that, the first 6 hours, I thought it was pure junk...
download speeds less than 200kbps ?? huh? not 11Mbps like it should be?

apparently it was having a "training session" with the AT&T servers, or maybe, the IT techs solved the "service issue" they told me about while on the phone with them.... they said "we see service problems with your line. do you want the modem sent out, or a tech sent out to look?"

well, a tech can only look at the service line itself, none of those ex-Telephone Lineman have a clue about internets.... I opted for the modem. it is an Arris NVG599 and has better specs than the old BGW-210 for the WiFi radio portion of it.

the next day saw it doing better, the 3rd day: today is now seeing the WiFi giving me almost equal transfer rates as what the LAN modem gets on CAT-5 to my desktop. speeds of ~11.2mbps during the quiet hours when folks are asleep.

the worst I have seen today, was at 2PM after folks had got back home from church and lunch at the local cafes. then it dipped down in the 6-7mbps region....

in all cases, the Uploads now are constant at ~0.98-1.2mbps

I can deal with that..... nothing like having fiber optic cable service, but for DSL, it is the best I will ever see.