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I spent more than 2 weeks searching for a solution to the following problem without success:

On my Ubuntu 18.04, I am connected to a Wifi (named "SmartCampus") but the internet keeps dropping frequently (I don't know exactly the intermittent time interval, but I think it is variable. For a rough estimate: between 5 min to 15).

However, I can confirm the following:

  • This happens only with this wifi "SmartCampus".
  • I am also connected to this Wifi using my phone but everything is fine and internet is always available.
  • In the first days I try to turn off Wifi then reconnect to get internet working but recently I found that I don't need to turn off wifi but only by displaying the list of available wifis As follows

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When I do that , the internet works again.

Could you please tell me what is the problem? What can I do to fix this, because that's very annoying.

Here is the result of wireless-info script: wireless-info-report

I appreciate your help

  • In your paste, we see approximately twenty (!!) instances of SmartCampus and we see your wireless roaming from among them looking for a better connection. Substitute SmartCampus for eduroam in the duplicate and you have the answer. – chili555 Apr 26 '20 at 13:22
  • @chili555: That doesn't work. I tried it multiple times without success. –  Apr 26 '20 at 19:24
  • Have you tried forcing 2.4 GHz Band only? – Paul Apr 28 '20 at 09:47
  • @Paul: No, I didn't. –  Apr 28 '20 at 11:01
  • Would you mind giving it a shot? You can edit in the settings for the WiFi connection. See a screenshot and details here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/183525/how-to-set-wifi-driver-settings-to-prefer-5-ghz-channel-above-2-4-ghz – Paul Apr 29 '20 at 06:52
  • @Paul: Thanks for the link, but I tested nearly every solution I found on internet. But still have the same issue. –  Apr 29 '20 at 07:37
  • Are you using a laptop for this? May I ask for the make and model of it? Do you get the wifi disconnection on other Wifi Networks or is it JUST this SmartCampus? – Mostafa Najafiyazdi May 01 '20 at 19:47
  • @MostafaNajafiyazdi: Yes it is a Laptop: HP Probook. This problem happens only with this Wifi 'SmartCampus' –  May 01 '20 at 20:41
  • Already tried something like sudo iwconfig wlp3s0 channel 13, or whatever the channel is you are using? You may check your current connection with sudo iwlist wlp3s0 frequency. Before connecting with the channel extension you could give sudo ifconfig wlp3s0 down a try. And then sudo ifconfig wlp3s0 up. – starkus May 04 '20 at 17:17
  • With so many access points in the 2.4GHz spectrum, and perhaps 10 times the number of clients, I am surprised wireless work at all. – mikewhatever May 04 '20 at 22:31

4 Answers4

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As chili555 said the problem is that there are a great deal of instances of SmartCampus. Only one of them is of any real use to you so you should bind your connection to it using the instructions here Ubuntu connect drops. Worked for a while then started dropping again

guntbert
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Steve Roome
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  • Unfortunately, that's what chilli555 suggested but that didn't work. He also pointed me to that link. –  Apr 28 '20 at 16:35
  • I cant see that suggestion on the comments on your question. Chili555 suggested using Euroroam and I can see that would not work. What goes wrong when you try and bind to one AP using its MAC address? When I referred you to that link I did not realize that there is a much easier method for later versions of Ubuntu. Click on WiFi settings, select the AP and set a BSSID. – Steve Roome Apr 28 '20 at 16:49
  • Well, chili555 first closed my question and made it duplicate with the link above, but after trying the suggested solution it didn't work, I tried with all the MAC adresses, rebooted the PC, nothing worked. Now I am writing and experiencing the same issue. I had to disconnet and connect to be able to post this comment. –  Apr 28 '20 at 16:54
  • Can you be more specific on 'tried with all the MAC addresses'? From your wireless script results there is only one physical AP and hence MAC address that is close enough to provide a reliable connection, yet your hardware can sense the presence of a very large number. The physical AP you need to use is on channel 13. Edit the connection to force the adaptor to use the MAC address of this one. Also your setup has a very large number of remembered APs. For any that you do not use daily choose 'forget'. For any that you do use frequently uncheck 'connect automatically'. No need to reboot. – Steve Roome Apr 28 '20 at 18:14
  • I mean I tried different addresses of the cells. –  Apr 28 '20 at 18:18
  • I understand that. How did you find the correct MAC address, and what happened when you set the BSSID to it? Have you tried telling the network manager to forget all the unused known networks yet? – Steve Roome Apr 28 '20 at 18:24
  • Yes, I've opened nm-connection-editor and removed the unused known networks. For the MAC addresses, first I tried ones with a higher quality: sudo iwlist wlp3s0 scan. that didn't work so every time I tried to the others. –  Apr 28 '20 at 18:29
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Steve Roome Apr 28 '20 at 18:36
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I've had same exact problem and its quite frustrating (a question mark appears in wifi icon during download and wifi stops working).

  • I have a 2nd computer with windows next to ubuntu computer so its not the wifi connection.
  • The file was an anaconda download so its not the file
  • I downloaded to /home/username/download so its not directory permission

The only way I got connection to work consistently was to "turn off" wifi then "turn on" in wifi dropdown menu. Rebooting did not help.

Dan T
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I had faced same problem. You have not mentioned if you are using NetworkManager.service. In my case not only wifi but Ethernet speed was also reducing frequently. The work around that worked for me I am sharing here.

I installed Wicd using sudo apt-get install -y wicd.

After that the problem almost gone. When ever I face reduction in speed I run following:

sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager.service

sudo systemctl start NetworkManager.service

Hope this will help you.

Ajay
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I think that this is not a problem of your Ubuntu, but of the network itself.

The idea of restarting the network services is a bad one, because everything it does is only managing the network services not the connection and the speed. Usually, in wireless network because there are a lot of other access points we can consider interference as an opportunity to lose a successful connection.

You can contact the administrator of that network to find out the root cause, but remember to check the connectivity between you and the router by simply pinging the gateway to check whether you are connected or not.

BeastOfCaerbannog
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random name
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