Ubuntu WiFi is slow after upgrade

Question

After my latest Ubuntu distro upgrade to version 11.10, wireless connection became extremely slow. The upgrading procedure failed on configuration files update dialog and I rebooted the laptop and run apt-get upgrade... Could that be because of misconfiguration or wrong driver? Any ideas?

Answer 1

The fact that you are able to connect to your wireless network at all means that it's probably not just a driver issue. I did a little research on the Internet, and it looks like other people have experienced similar problem.

It appears that the cause is Ubuntu power management not supplying enough power to your wireless adapter, making the device weaker and therefore slower. This thread seems to be the right fit for you, and shows how to disable the power management that's causing your problem.

Seems like the solution is:

gksu gedit /etc/pm/power.d/wireless

This will edit the power management's configuration file. Put into that file:

#!/bin/sh

/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 power off

Then you just have to do:

sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/power.d/wireless

and your wireless connection should be back to full strength!

Hope this helps! :)