2013-12-11 01:45:07

by Kam

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Subject: rtl8723ae owner.

I have the rtl8723ae PCIe wifi card. I've read through the messages on the
forums and experience similar issues to others who have inquired about the
card. I experience sluggish connections and disconnects, I for the most
can't connect to my school wifi at all.

I switched my router to 'AP' today after reading through the posts here and
initially the connection was faster than I've experienced thus far(since
switching to linux last year), I ended up shutting down the computer
eventually and after turning it back on few hours later, It was back to the
slow sluggish connection.

I've collected all the output that I could think of and wanted to contribute
it in hopes that it can assist the devs in testing/debugging the issues with
the card. The text file is a little but over 800 lines, so I will post it on
fpaste, if this isn't acceptable please let me know and I will repost the
text in preferred format. I am about ready to smoke the beacons off this
thing :P.

http://www.fpaste.org/60680/38672606/

Thank you!

Kam





2013-12-11 03:29:21

by Larry Finger

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Subject: Re: rtl8723ae owner.

On 12/10/2013 07:42 PM, Kam wrote:
> I have the rtl8723ae PCIe wifi card. I've read through the messages on the
> forums and experience similar issues to others who have inquired about the
> card. I experience sluggish connections and disconnects, I for the most
> can't connect to my school wifi at all.
>
> I switched my router to 'AP' today after reading through the posts here and
> initially the connection was faster than I've experienced thus far(since
> switching to linux last year), I ended up shutting down the computer
> eventually and after turning it back on few hours later, It was back to the
> slow sluggish connection.

What does switching the router to 'AP' mean? If it was not an AP before, you
would never have been able to connect to it.

> I've collected all the output that I could think of and wanted to contribute
> it in hopes that it can assist the devs in testing/debugging the issues with
> the card. The text file is a little but over 800 lines, so I will post it on
> fpaste, if this isn't acceptable please let me know and I will repost the
> text in preferred format. I am about ready to smoke the beacons off this
> thing :P.

One thing missing in what you posted is any messages from dmesg that describe
the disconnects.

The only thing I noted in your posting is that your channel is about as badly
chosen as is possible. Wifi is not like TV. The channel spacing is 5 MHz, but
the width for 802.11g is 20 MHz, and 802.11n is 40 MHz. If you do the math, your
choice of channel 9 overlaps *every* AP in your neighborhood. At -60 dBm, your
signal is not strong, and is even weaker than Home2.

I would choose a channel as low as possible. That would be #1 for 802.11g. Your
AP may not allow lower than #3 for 802.11n.

Next, you might try loading the module with the option "ips=0". That will
disable power save mode, and it might help.

I have been running a long-term test of rtl8723ae. After 100 hours, I have had a
total of 11 disconnects. Each of them has reconnected with very little
interruption in service. The difference is that my channel is chosen to have as
little interference as possible, and my signal strength is -44 dBm.

Larry