[SOLVED] Poor wifi speeds

Technical Issues and Assistance Hardware
#1

Hello! I have searched and am not finding an issue quite like the one I am experiencing. Wifi speeds are slow, ethernet is snappy and quick. I am running a mid 2012 Macbook Pro. macos, windows, and KDE Neon do not have the wifi problems.

I assumed this was due to the broadcom wifi drivers which have proven to be a headache in the past, but I have a USB wifi adapter (Alfa AWUS036NEH) which has worked perfectly - plug & play - with every distro I've tried. However, I get the slow wifi speeds on the Alfa as well as with the internal wifi.

inxi -Fxz outputs the following:

System:
  Host: heisenberg Kernel: 4.19.28-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc 
  v: 8.2.1 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.15.2 Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Apple product: MacBookPro9,1 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Apple model: Mac-4B7AC7E43945597E v: MacBookPro9,1 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: Apple v: 222.0.0.0.0 date: 09/21/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 30.0 Wh condition: 44.3/75.2 Wh (59%) 
  model: SMP bq20z451 status: Charging 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-3615QM bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 36728 
  Speed: 1197 MHz min/max: 1200/3300 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1197 2: 1197 
  3: 1198 4: 1197 5: 1197 6: 1197 7: 1197 8: 1197 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Apple driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK107M [GeForce GT 650M Mac Edition] vendor: Apple 
  driver: nvidia v: 390.116 bus ID: 01:00.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: nvidia resolution: 1440x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 650M/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.116 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK107 HDMI Audio vendor: Apple driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.28-1-MANJARO 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM57765 Gigabit Ethernet 
  PCIe 
  driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: enp2s0f0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n 
  driver: bcma-pci-bridge v: N/A port: 2000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF-ID-1: wlp3s0b1 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 27.04 GiB (2.9%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 159.42 GiB used: 27.02 GiB (16.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 71.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 60 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 241 Uptime: 12m Memory: 7.73 GiB used: 2.85 GiB (36.9%) 
  Init: systemd Compilers: gcc: 8.2.1 Shell: bash v: 5.0.0 inxi: 3.0.32

lscpi -v gives me this (obv I've cut out a lot of irrelevant stuff):

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at c1a00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information: Len=78 <?>
        Capabilities: [48] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
        Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-00-00-ff-ff-00-00-00
        Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <?>
        Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
        Kernel modules: bcma

iwconfig gives me this:

enp2s0f0  no wireless extensions.

wlp3s0b1  IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"milksteak"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: DC:FE:07:9C:D7:58   
          Bit Rate=36 Mb/s   Tx-Power=30 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=63/70  Signal level=-47 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:321  Invalid misc:1758   Missed beacon:0

lo        no wireless extensions.

All of that is without the Alfa USB adapter plugged in. I assume some of that will be irrelevant given the fact this happens with either device, but I hope that's enough information. I appreciate any assistance.

[Solved] BCM4331 - Inconsistent and slow Wifi on mac
#2

Possibly you have a DNS issue if both your wireless and wired connections are slow. The pci-bridge for a driver is a tell tale sign that you have problems with your Wi-Fi driver.

I would suggest testing older and new kernels for improvement. Test out at least 4.14, 4.20, and kernel 5.

2 Likes
#3

Thank you for the reply. Changing the kernel did not work, but you were still very helpful!

I did some more searching using what you pointed out, the bcma-pci-bridge. I was able to solve my issue with the information here: Broadcom wifi driver fails to install properly

Thanks for putting me on the right track!

#4

Glad to see that fixed you up. I was going to post that link, but as I already posted it on similar thread a few hours ago I figured you'd suss it out.

Good stuff.

#5

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