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I recently built a machine running Ubuntu 14.04 using a TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI wireless network adapter. When I click on the wireless connection icon on the Ubuntu taskbar, it almost always tells me that my connection speed is 54 Mb/s or thereabouts. In actuality, my download speed occasionally dips below 1 Mb/s, and certainly never surpasses 2 Mb/s. I have a NETGEAR WNDR3400 router. I want to improve my connection speed, as right now some online games are unplayable and Firefox has crashed multiple times. Help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

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  • What are you getting the tested speeds from?
    – El Turner
    Aug 4, 2015 at 15:09
  • Browsers don't generally crash because of slow connection speeds. Unless you're confusing stalled-out page loads for crashes.
    – Spiff
    Aug 4, 2015 at 15:13
  • elevate the router to a high location in the room if you can, you did not mention where both devices were in relation to each other or how far.
    – Moab
    Aug 5, 2015 at 1:13
  • The router is on the ground floor of my house, but my computer is on the second story.
    – evandewey
    Aug 5, 2015 at 2:08
  • Also, does the position of the antennae affect anything?
    – evandewey
    Aug 5, 2015 at 2:09

1 Answer 1

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  • Pick a cleaner channel.
  • Clean up whatever channel you pick, by disabling or moving other devices that use that frequency band.
  • Move closer to the router. But not too close. Less than 1m is probably too close.
  • Make sure your card's antennas are connected well and positioned well, away from interference (PC, display, display cable) and obstructions.
  • Keep the case on your PC. Part of the case's job is to reduce electromagnetic interference from your PCs boards from interfering with your radios.
  • Make sure to use only WPA2 (AES-CCMP) security. No WEP or WPA (TKIP). Only WPA2 is fast enough for 802.11n data rates. Clients will only connect in up-to-54Mbps 802.11a/g speeds if only WEP or only WPA (TKIP) is available.
  • Make sure WMM (wireless QoS) is enabled. 802.11n requires WMM. Disabling it disables 802.11n.
  • Make sure you've enabled 20/40MHz channel mode. 20MHz-only mode cuts your bandwidth in half, and 40MHz-only mode is nonstandard.
  • Contrary to a popular myth, you should NOT use 802.11n-only mode. Go ahead and leave the a/b/g rates enabled alongside the N rates. 802.11n devices need the ability to use those legacy rates at times. Just make sure to get rid of any old a/b/g devices you still use, or upgrade them to N.
  • Consider upgrading your AP. Your AP only supports 2 spatial streams, so its maximum signaling rate is 300Mbps. Your card supports 3 spatial streams, so it could do 450Mbps signaling if it had a 3-stream-capable AP to talk to.
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  • On Ubuntu, where would I go to change channel, etc?
    – evandewey
    Aug 4, 2015 at 23:52
  • The channel is set by the AP. As are most of the settings I mentioned.
    – Spiff
    Aug 4, 2015 at 23:55
  • Why Ubuntu is providing much slower speed than windows? Aug 6, 2015 at 20:12
  • @Sachith OP didn't say anything about Windows. If you have a question about Ubuntu being slower than Windows, post your own Question and document your own situation.
    – Spiff
    Aug 7, 2015 at 2:25
  • In my AP, there is a "mode" option, and the settings I can choose from are "Up to 54 Mb/s" "Up to 145 Mb/s" and "Up to 300 Mb/s". Would there be any drawback to changing this from the first option to the third?
    – evandewey
    Aug 9, 2015 at 23:40

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