Howdy and I wish you a very pleasant evening.

I want to setup a little FTP server for my wifi network at home with my old laptop.
The idea is that there's an external hard drive connected via USB that my family and me can access via filezilla.
(For now. Maybe there is another software that is more "userfriendly" in a sense that tech illiterate people have an easier time using?)

For this purpose I use the latest version of lubuntu (since zorin os light 10 is using an older kernel that has issues with the wifi adapters I am using). I sucessfully setup an openssh server aswell as an x11vnc server so I can setup and tinker with the thing from the comfort of my desktop PC.

The laptop is rather old and doesn't support gigabit LAN unfortunately, but it has a 72 Mbit Wifi adapter built in (802.11bgn "rtl_wifi).
I also happen to have a wifi usb stick (RTL8191SU 802.11n "wlpls0") that should run at up to 300 Mbit/s.

iwconfig says though:

rtl_wifi is running at 72Mb/s

wlpls0 is running at 57,8 Mb/s

whole output: https://gyazo.com/01374dff2d0bba58c95cf49aa8d3e2d6


So my first question is:

1.) How can I find out why my wifi adapters are running at such slow speeds and how can I fix this issue?

2.) Even though iwconfig displays above speeds, both adapters are providing a bandwith of about 3 MB/s or 24 Mbit/s when using Filezilla (or dukto R6 for that matter).

I know that the router is configured correctly bc my Desktop PC's wifi adapter has no issues running in n mode:

https://gyazo.com/bee2e86eac7e296dee098167cbe5389e

I guess that has to be a driver issue then? Is there some way to force my wifi adapters to run in n mode?

3.) Is there a way of bonding both adapters together so that the effective bandwith is doubled for the purpose of providing a connection to the router which then connects to the other users in my home?

https://gyazo.com/2b1dab4c1d066bcf29f3bc7a9a28680a


I already tried to use dispatch proxy to achieve this, but it's not doing what I want. I don't want to increase the downstream to the laptop, but the upstream from the laptop.

And from what I've read about network bonding so far is that it is more of a redudancy feature than used to combine two (or more) connections.

Thank you in advance,

fondest regards

The usb port would be a bottleneck. On an old laptop you won't get usb-3.x, and I would not be surprised at your speeds on usb-2.x.

Usb speed can be dependent on cabling (quality & length, or lack thereof), and wifi speed is dependent on signal strength. I get 37 MB/S with a speedtest app beside my router, but only ~/20MB/S a bit further away.

If you want speed, forget the wifi bonding. Go to Cat 5 from laptop to router, and use an internal disk. Most laptops are ill equipped to act as servers. You may even benefit from a docking station for the thing.

+1

Also be aware that bonding network interfaces is a tricky art and depends a LOT on the switch/router being clever enough to know how to work with a bonded pair.

Advertised speeds like "300mb/s" are highly subjective and only ever reached in specific conditions with specific hardware.

Thank you for your replies,

I just want to make it clear that I am doing this mostly for fun. I don't want to create the best homeserver possible,
for that purpose I'd prbly go with a singleboard computer or a µATX board with an integrated CPU like here: http://geizhals.de/asrock-qc5000m-90...loc=at&hloc=de

I just happen to have that old netbook lying around anyways, and if I won't be able to get more than 4 mb/s upstream to the network out of it via wifi that's not the end of the world.

I just find it fun and interesting to do