[SOLVED] Abnormally high packet loss when pinging router (leading to slow internet?)

Snark1994 · 03-06-2012, 08:30 AM

I've been having problems with my wireless router. Recently we changed internet providers (from BT to Orange, if it makes any odds) which required a change of routers (BT Home Hub to a Netgear N150) and, although the internet was generally fast, it would occasionally become very slow (0-2 kB/s).

Over time, this has become more and more common, until nowadays I rarely get a download speed greater than 5 kb/s. For example, just now when loading the LQ homepage in Lynx, it claims the verage download speed was 232 B/s (bytes!). Similarly, when running "sudo pacman -Syu", I will normally get a speed of 1 MB/s initially, which then goes down rapidly over about 10 seconds until pacman says that less than 1kB has been downloaded in the last second and retries the download.

However, I've noticed that when pinging my router at 192.168.0.1, I get a package loss between 35% and 50%, which I feel must be contributing to the problem. A friend suggested that my router might be conflicting with a nearby router, but “iwlist scan” reveals 3 other APs, all of which are on channel 1, with my router being on channel 6 so I don't think this is the problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this might be happening, or a possible solution?

Thanks,

business_kid · 03-07-2012, 03:01 AM

You really have the answer in your hands.

Are your packets routed correctly? I would imagine that, putting the 2 symptoms together,
1. slow internet
2. pinging issue

that the problem is your modem can't reach you. Try another modem.Try another cable. Check your routing, and be aware that in most systems /etc/resolv.conf is overwritten as soon as you connect, so you may be sending to the wrong place. This is a favourite for screwing up dns, but it doesn't affect the ping issue if you use ips. check in the logs

Snark1994 · 03-11-2012, 03:38 AM

I've experimented a bit, but I can't seem to find a permanent fix. I'm just gonna hope that the current speed increase is a permanent one, and mark this thread as '[SOLVED]'. Thank you for your help

WizadNoNext · 04-03-2012, 11:13 AM

First: reset your router. Routers tend to get stuck and then you can only reset them.
Second: scan networks around and see if there's anything on channel 6-11. Try to move it from channel 6 to channel 9 (as there is virtually no overlap between channel 1 and 9). Channel 1 directly interfere with channel 2-5 and indirectly (by noise and other minor thing) with channel 6-8. Find your reception and noise levels and report it here. Unfortunately most routers do not provide such information for STATIONs (and even if they provide it is just percentage of signal ratio).

Server's AP (Cloud7.org):

Code:

marek@server:~$ sudo iw wlan0 station dump
Station 00:11:24:xx:xx:xx (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  10 ms
        rx bytes:       21700
        rx packets:     73
        tx bytes:       48021
        tx packets:     60
        signal:         -42 dBm
        tx bitrate:     12.0 MBit/s
Station 00:13:02:xx:xx:xx (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  5780 ms
        rx bytes:       7922054
        rx packets:     99337
        tx bytes:       79855112
        tx packets:     90427
        signal:         -28 dBm
        tx bitrate:     36.0 MBit/s

Cloud7.org connection on laptop:

Code:

marek@laptop:~$ sudo iw wlan0 link
Connected to 00:11:50:xx:xx:xx (on wlan0)
        SSID: Cloud7.org
        freq: 2437
        RX: 30299 bytes (291 packets)
        TX: 13886 bytes (82 packets)
        signal: -35 dBm
        tx bitrate: 54.0 MBit/s

Bridge's AP (Cloud7):

Code:

marek@bridge:~$ sudo iw wlan0 station dump
Station 00:13:02:xx:xx:xx (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  4830 ms
        rx bytes:       19447
        rx packets:     107
        tx bytes:       11250
        tx packets:     79
        signal:         -23 dBm
        tx bitrate:     48.0 MBit/s
Station 00:11:24:xx:xx:xx (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  5110 ms
        rx bytes:       11028
        rx packets:     72
        tx bytes:       4238
        tx packets:     40
        signal:         -43 dBm
        tx bitrate:     1.0 MBit/s

Cloud7 connection on laptop:

Code:

marek@laptop:~$ sudo iw wlan0 link
Connected to 00:c0:ca:xx:xx:xx (on wlan0)
        SSID: Cloud7
        freq: 2412
        RX: 178385 bytes (2340 packets)
        TX: 34395 bytes (220 packets)
        signal: -37 dBm
        tx bitrate: 54.0 MBit/s

Both APs are next to each other (literally just 25cm away from each other), laptop was just next to them. Actually laptop do not really loose signal strength even if moved few metres away.