Problem Ubuntu 16.04 wifi infrastructure mode

Question

I have recently updated my laptop from Ubuntu 14.04 to Ubuntu 16.04

For my university internet connection I must use infrastructure mode in the wifi configuration.

When I try to set up the university network with "Network Connections" in Ubuntu 16.04 there are only three options for mode: client,Hotspot and Ad-hoc. The infrastructure mode option was present in Ubuntu 14.04 but in Ubuntu 16.04 is not an option anymore.

I am sure that is not a hardware problem since everything was working fine with Ubuntu 14.04.

Is it a driver problem?

Is it a "Network Connections" problem?

The output of lspci is:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:4727] (rev 01)

Why are you trying to create a new connection? Do yo uwant to connect to your university access point? — Pilot6, Aug 03 '16 at 12:41
I am using wireless on lubuntu 16.04 LTS and I only see the same three modes you describe. This makes me think it is not hardware issue also since my adapter is a RT280USB stick. Looks like what you are looking for is described here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2329259 That final post looks like someone with a similar use-case to yourself so maybe there is still a problem with 16.04 for you. — tcagle53, Aug 03 '16 at 12:31

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 03 '18 at 06:16

I have the same problem in Ubuntu 16.04 as the wifi worked fine in 15.10 before installation (clean install) and it work fine in Windows 7/10), I do not know the reason but I fixed the problem partially as follows:

You have to know what your wifi interface is, so open a terminal and type:

ifconfig

The output should show something like

enp0s10   Link encap:Ethernet  direcciónHW 00:14:85:2d:d9:20
      ACTIVO DIFUSIÓN MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Métrica:1
      Paquetes RX:0 errores:0 perdidos:0 overruns:0 frame:0
      Paquetes TX:0 errores:0 perdidos:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
      colisiones:0 long.colaTX:1000
      Bytes RX:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo        Link encap:Bucle local
      Direc. inet:127.0.0.1  Másc:255.0.0.0
      Dirección inet6: ::1/128 Alcance:Anfitrión
      ACTIVO BUCLE FUNCIONANDO  MTU:65536  Métrica:1
      Paquetes RX:2465 errores:0 perdidos:0 overruns:0 frame:0
      Paquetes TX:2465 errores:0 perdidos:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
      colisiones:0 long.colaTX:1
      Bytes RX:284298 (284.2 KB)  TX bytes:284298 (284.2 KB)

wlp1s8    Link encap:Ethernet  direcciónHW 00:1d:1a:01:53:81
      Direc. inet:192.168.0.155  Difus.:192.168.0.255  Másc:255.255.255.0
      Dirección inet6: fe80::abe5:47fa:aee0:f1fc/64 Alcance:Enlace
      ACTIVO DIFUSIÓN FUNCIONANDO MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Métrica:1
      Paquetes RX:4150850 errores:0 perdidos:1 overruns:0 frame:0
      Paquetes TX:3166922 errores:0 perdidos:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
      colisiones:0 long.colaTX:1000
      Bytes RX:5126859398 (5.1 GB)  TX bytes:389946883 (389.9 MB)

As you see, my interface is wlp1s8.

Open the file /etc/rc.local with root permissions:

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

You'll see something like this:

#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

exit 0

Add the line

iwconfig wlp1s8 rate 54M

before exit 0, where wlp1s8 is your wlan interface, so that the edited file looks like this

#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

iwconfig wlp1s8 rate 54M    

exit 0

Restart your computer to apply changes.

This has fixed the problem partially; before this I lost the signal completely and the Internet was very slow. Now I don't lose the signal but the Internet speed falls after time (15-20 min.) from 1.6 mb. down/350 kb up to 350 kb. down/20 kb up.

PS: You can also try to restart the network interface: # sudo service networking restart. — Enrique Esteban, Aug 12 '16 at 13:12
FYI: when answering a question in English (as on AskUbuntu), it is helpful to set your system’s language to English using export LANG=C or export LANG=en_US.UTF-8 (etc) before running the commands and copying their output. — törzsmókus, Apr 29 '19 at 11:27

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 03 '16 at 13:24

0

Infrastructure mode and Client mode are one and the same. To connect to your university wifi, please use Client mode.

answered Aug 03 '16 at 13:24

chili555

60,188

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 30 '16 at 18:53

I finally made it work after several tries.

I think there is a problem with NetworkManager tool. Here is what I did:

1.-I disabled the "NetworkManager".

2.-I install "Wicd NetworkManager".

3.- Create a wifi connection with "Network Connections" tool and used "client mode" instead of "infrastructure mode".

4.-I connect to the university network with "Wicd".

I dont know how this is working, but now I am able to connect to university wifi. Setting only "client mode" instead of "infrastructure mode" and using the "NetworkManager" was not solving the problem.

Problem Ubuntu 16.04 wifi infrastructure mode

3 Answers3