Arch Linux

Eschatokyrios

Member

Registered: 2007-09-22

Posts: 51

private wlan really bloody slow

So, I have a desktop and a laptop, both with arch on them. Both of them have broadcom cards, with the b43 driver. I can iwlist and bring up the network with both of them, so I don't think it's a driver issue, but I might be wrong.

I'm trying to set up a private wireless lan between these two computers for the purpose of file transfer without having to drag out my ethernet cable. I assigned them 172.16.0.x ip addresses, set them to ad-hoc mode with the same essid, the works. After I brought both the networks up, I was able to ping each machine from the other, with times in the single-digit millisecond range, so I thought to myself "good!", and started ssh.

I got logged into the desktop from the laptop okay, but once I ran ls the connection started going really, really slowly. The ls stopped abruptly and took several minutes to finish. At the same time pinging started bringing up Destination Host Unreachable errors - but intermittedly. Sometimes pings would work fine, with single-digit ms range, but other pings took 20 or 40 or somtimes 100 ms, and there were large blocks of pings with Destination Host Unreachable errors. And ssh was still too slow to be of any use.

The two machines are roughly five feet from each other, so they should be getting a strong signal. Beyond that I'm not sure what the problem might be. The laptop's wlan0 works fine when connecting to public wifi, I can't test the desktop's since there's no access points in my room. Any suggestions?

fatlarry

Member

Registered: 2008-05-14

Posts: 31

Re: private wlan really bloody slow

Not sure if this applies, but do you have 2.4 GHz cordless phones/ microwave ovens, etc nearby when this happens? Unless your phones are DSS, there may be interference in the 2.4 GHz band

Aaron

Member

From: PA, USA

Registered: 2007-12-19

Posts: 108

Website

Re: private wlan really bloody slow

Was your router working correctly before you installed arch or is this the first time you've used it? Do you have temporary access to another router?

I had very similar problems with my WRT54, I ended up replacing it with a different router and my issue was solved.

As fatlarry suggested, interference is also a likely issue, make sure no one's making a hotpocket in the other room when you're using the wireless.

Also, are you sure you set up your router correctly?  Not to insult you, but it's possible you made a small slip.  Try resetting the router and try again. (Hold the reset button for 15 seconds, or find a 'factory restore' option under the router's UI)

Eschatokyrios

Member

Registered: 2007-09-22

Posts: 51

Re: private wlan really bloody slow

I'm sure that no one else is using a microwave or phone anywhere near me.

Was your router working correctly before you installed arch or is this the first time you've used it? Do you have temporary access to another router?

I had very similar problems with my WRT54, I ended up replacing it with a different router and my issue was solved.

As fatlarry suggested, interference is also a likely issue, make sure no one's making a hotpocket in the other room when you're using the wireless.

Also, are you sure you set up your router correctly?  Not to insult you, but it's possible you made a small slip.  Try resetting the router and try again. (Hold the reset button for 15 seconds, or find a 'factory restore' option under the router's UI)

Huh? I don't have a router. This is a purely ad-hoc network I'm trying to set up.

Eschatokyrios

Member

Registered: 2007-09-22

Posts: 51

Re: private wlan really bloody slow

Anyone have any ideas?