Very slow internet connection on ubuntu 16.04

Question

This problem was present with 14.10, 15.04, and 15.10, I simply haven't been able to fix it.

I'm using Chrome 50 as a browser. I've changed the hosts: files dns line in nsswitch.conf file, and tried other suggested fixes.

My friend with MacOS does not experience the same slowness.

Here is some Laptop info. I'm on a Dell XPS 13 with i3 processor, and I can gladly show more if needed.

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 [8086:08b1] (rev 6b)
    Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 [8086:c470]
    Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
    Kernel modules: iwlwifi

Thanks in advance!

Edit: some output of sudo lshw

*-network
    description: Wireless interface
    product: Wireless 7260
    vendor: Intel Corporation
    physical id: 0
    bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
    logical name: wlan0
    version: 6b
    serial: 5c:51:4f:7c:2a:db
    width: 64 bits
    clock: 33MHz
    capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
    configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=4.4.0-21-generic firmware=16.242414.0 ip=192.168.0.104 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
    resources: irq:46 memory:f0400000-f0401fff

Well occasionally it fails to connect all together. Other times loading google.com takes over 1 minute. And some sites for measuring download speed fail to even complete the download (simply takes too long). The speed also changes over time. I am able to post this now, for example. — forallepsilon, Apr 28 '16 at 15:25
If you are connected via WiFi maybe sometimes there are a lot ot interference and that is why you can't navigate. Are you near the Access Point? — migrc, Apr 28 '16 at 15:59
Not particularly, but my friend with the MacBook is right next to me, and his connection is much faster. Would interference affect different hardware differently? — forallepsilon, Apr 28 '16 at 16:01
No, it shoudn't. Maybe is a drivers problem. Did you try with other OS? — migrc, Apr 29 '16 at 07:49
Only other Ubuntu version (14.10, 15.04, 15.10). How would I test/fix a driver problem? — forallepsilon, Apr 29 '16 at 15:31
Try live Ubuntu on the MacBook computer to check if the problem is related to OS and not hardware. — Melebius, Jun 22 '16 at 08:39

score 32 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 17 '17 at 06:33

32

I had a similar issue with my system preferring IPv6 over IPv4. To change to preferring IPv4 over IPv6.

Open a terminal

sudo nano /etc/gai.conf

Locate #precedence ::ffff:0:0/96 100 and and remove the #.

You may have to reboot. Should notice the difference quickly

edited Jan 17 '17 at 06:33

David Foerster

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answered Jun 22 '16 at 03:54

ILOVEKODI

602

@FromReview It works for me! :-) – Malabarba Jul 15 '16 at 22:01
Very strange. I have the a Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 (rev 73) on my MSI motherboard. Makes very little since that the wireless would pick up speed when forced to run in IPv4. I don't have the same issue on a laptop. Is this a device driver or firmware issue? – Aug 11 '16 at 19:04
That fixed it, but why does it work? – Joald Mar 04 '18 at 12:10
Is it supposed to be precedence ::ffff :0:0/96 100 or 10? I had 10 by default – walnut_salami Aug 10 '19 at 14:53
@ArturTagisow There's 10 and 100 both. If you scroll down a bit you will find 100. – Hackinet Feb 27 '20 at 04:37
What magic is this? – dearN Mar 25 '20 at 22:11

tylersDisplayName · Answer 2 · 2017-06-07T17:40:19.070

Update: In my case, my answer is not valid. The issue later returned. Dell later admitted an ongoing issue with the hardware running on Ubuntu and sent a tech to install a different Wireless card.

This resolved wireless issues for me (commands were provided by Dell Support):

sudo mkdir -p /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/
sudo wget -O /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board.bin https://github.com/FireWalkerX/ath10k-firmware/blob/7e56cbb94182a2fdab110cf5bfeded8fd1d44d30/QCA6174/hw3.0/board-2.bin?raw=true
sudo wget -O /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-4.bin https://github.com/FireWalkerX/ath10k-firmware/blob/7e56cbb94182a2fdab110cf5bfeded8fd1d44d30/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-4.bin_WLAN.RM.2.0-00180-QCARMSWPZ-1?raw=true
sudo chmod +x /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/*

Edit: For me, the issue was that the driver was looking for files that didn't exist. Presumably caused by running Ubuntu updates after setting up the machine.

How did you end up concluding the driver was looking for files that did not exist? Did you check some logs or something? I tried your solution and it did not work for me anyway... — Augustin Riedinger, Jun 07 '17 at 17:11

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 28 '18 at 21:40

I had similar problem. My solution was :

force disable the 802.11n protocol.

1/Open the terminal and use the following command:

sudo rmmod iwlwif
sudo modprobe iwlwifi 11n_disable=1

2/Restart computer.

3/If you have faster WIFI save changes permament by using commands:

sudo su
echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

Very slow internet connection on ubuntu 16.04

3 Answers3

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