Kotetsu

@Kotetsu

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Kotetsu @Kotetsu11/28/2023, 5:02 AM

Starra @Starra

Tim Chevalier @tjc11/25/2023, 2:03 PM

Why does Linux have a "make your wifi 50 times slower" setting enabled by default?

I was doing a fresh rsync backup of the home directory on a laptop I hadn't previously backed up. I noticed that with the verbose option enabled, rsync was reporting about 55 KB/s upload speed -- about as good as dial-up modem speed. I don't know if it's always been this bad for a while, or if I was only noticing it when looking at a program that was continuously reporting the upload speed.

I noticed that when I switched from home wifi to phone tethering, the upload speed went up to about 1 MB/s, which isn't what I would expect. I didn't want to run into some hidden data cap by uploading 100 GB over my cell phone, so I kept looking.

I found the fix on a six-year-old forum page: edit /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf" and change the line wifi.powersave = 3towifi.powersave = 2`.

After I did this, and reconnected to my home wifi, rsync started reporting between 2 MB/s and 4 MB/s. Even at the low end of that range, that's a 36x speedup from editing one line in a config file.

I don't know what "WiFi Powersave" is or why turning it on makes your connection 36 to 75 times slower. Nor do I know why the "make your connection 36 to 75 times slower setting" is the default in Ubuntu. Nor do I know why even with the "make your Internet slow" setting enabled, using my phone as an access point was still fast while using my home wifi resulted in dialup speed.

Why is this the default??

#computer #linux #wifi #networking

(fen)nic @76f0e4667ed32667d2bfc063699b246e11/26/2023, 11:47 PM

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ꙮ tatybara ꙮ @tati11/28/2023, 1:31 AM

is this why i had to run a cable to my home server fuuuuccccckkkk

Ceryl the Pretty @ceryl11/28/2023, 1:43 AM

I just made this change and everything immediately improved god damn what the fuck Linux.

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in reply to @tjc's post:

you have to Bee nice to me @prof-badvibes11/25/2023, 2:52 PM

holy shit i just turned it off, i have no idea why this isn't more well publicized?

signal eleven @widr11/25/2023, 5:54 PM

did it meaningfully change performance for your computer as well?

you have to Bee nice to me @prof-badvibes11/25/2023, 7:29 PM

Not performance but I did a speed test before and after and turning it off tripled my download speed

signal eleven @widr11/25/2023, 10:53 PM

i mean, that's. that's what i meant

hax @hax11/25/2023, 5:15 PM

year of linux on the desktop

Tim Chevalier @tjc11/26/2023, 12:57 AM

It's just around the corner!

Coda @Codarobo11/25/2023, 5:56 PM

For what it’s worth dialup was even worse than 55 KB/s, because its speed is measured in kbps, not KBs. It was more like 7 KB/s (because computers measured download speed in KB but modems measured their throughput in kb, and there are 8 bits in a byte)

Damien @eramdam11/25/2023, 6:04 PM

is that why the Steam Deck shipped with a day one patch displaying a "wi-fi power saving" toggle that was basically required to get decent speeds? lmao

Irenes (many)@ireneista11/25/2023, 7:49 PM

oh. huh

we use wpa_supplicant so we haven't hit this. we would not recommend wpa_supplicant except to people who want this stuff to be more work.

that seems quite frustrating

virtueisdead @virtueisdead11/26/2023, 12:48 AM

i do not see this as an option at all actually; there does not appear to be anything in the conf.d directory for NetworkManager

Tim Chevalier @tjc11/26/2023, 12:51 AM

I'm using Ubuntu 23.10 and haven't changed anything significantly from install defaults. Although given the link above, it seems like it's existed in Ubuntu for a while. Can't speak to other distros.

virtueisdead @virtueisdead11/26/2023, 12:53 AM

im just confused why my network manager directory is so empty at this point lol, seems very strange... though yeah ubuntu is wack i have avoided using it as long as i can

Azalea @azredm11/26/2023, 3:52 AM

We have two desktops and a ThinkPad running three different distros here - my desktop is Arch, my partner's is Mint, and the ThinkPad is Debian. Neither Arch nor Debian have this file at all, but Mint (the Ubuntu derivative) absolutely does, which we've modified now. I have not used Ubuntu in something like 15 years so I was thinking as I read that this was very atypical. All I can guess from the above is that this is just strange meddling on Canonical's part for the sake of some usability platitude or another, which is not surprising to me at all considering their reputation.

Lapis the Nevrean @lapisnev11/28/2023, 5:25 AM

I work with Ubuntu as a server OS at work and this isn't the first/only questionable change they've ever made. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS doesn't apply tweaks from sysctl files, so if you need them for server performance tweaks you have to use a kludge to apply them yourself! :D

in reply to @tati's post:

Val Packett @valpackett11/28/2023, 8:20 AM

what kind of fucked up wifi adapters are y'all running where powersave is broken 0.o

ꙮ tatybara ꙮ @tati11/28/2023, 8:27 AM

it was an intel 7260HMW for me, but this it’s is an old software bug no one’s bothered to fix

Val Packett @valpackett12/14/2023, 6:53 AM

interesting! i've never had problems with the 7260 on open drivers but i remember a family member having problems with it on windows