12.04 Ralink RT5390 wireless speeds mindblowingly slow

[aerinthaare]

I have an ASUS <insert model here, they're mostly the same>, and the PCI-e wireless card peaks out at a blazing 26 bits/second; it works normally on networks outside my home.
I use a Netgear WNDR3700v3 with the default firmware still in place. Is there some odd incompatibility between this card and my router or is there a config option to fix this? It seems the card isn't capable at all of utilizing my 5GHz a/n network, but the 2.4GHz b/g/n connects: with the blazing speeds mentioned above.
Machine specifications follow;

user@host:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release; uname -a; lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net; lsusb; iwconfig; rfkill list all; lsmod
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS"
Linux host 3.2.0-48-generic #74-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 6 19:43:26 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Ralink corp. RT5390 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe [1814:5390]
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e054]
        Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci
--
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet [1969:1083] (rev c0)
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:13c7]
        Kernel driver in use: atl1c
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 058f:a014 Alcor Micro Corp. 
lo        no wireless extensions.


wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Home"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 10:0D:7F:7E:70:44   
          Bit Rate=65 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=70/70  Signal level=-31 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:8  Invalid misc:1   Missed beacon:0


eth0      no wireless extensions.


0: asus-wlan: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
Module                  Size  Used by
nls_iso8859_1          12713  0 
nls_cp437              16991  0 
vfat                   17585  0 
fat                    61512  1 vfat
keucr                  67545  0 
usb_storage            49198  0 
rfcomm                 47604  0 
bnep                   18281  2 
bluetooth             180153  10 rfcomm,bnep
parport_pc             32866  0 
ppdev                  17113  0 
ext2                   73795  1 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     32474  1 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   224173  1 
snd_hda_intel          33719  3 
snd_hda_codec         127706  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              17764  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                97275  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi           13324  0 
snd_rawmidi            30748  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi
arc4                   12529  2 
joydev                 17693  0 
snd_seq                61929  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              29990  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14540  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
rt2800pci              18715  0 
rt2800lib              58967  1 rt2800pci
crc_ccitt              12707  1 rt2800lib
rt2x00pci              14620  1 rt2800pci
rt2x00lib              55326  3 rt2800pci,rt2800lib,rt2x00pci
mac80211              506862  3 rt2800lib,rt2x00pci,rt2x00lib
cfg80211              205774  2 rt2x00lib,mac80211
snd                    79041  16 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
eeprom_93cx6           12767  1 rt2800pci
soundcore              15091  1 snd
uvcvideo               72627  0 
videodev               98259  1 uvcvideo
v4l2_compat_ioctl32    17128  1 videodev
snd_page_alloc         18529  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
mei                    41616  0 
asus_nb_wmi            12710  0 
asus_wmi               24456  1 asus_nb_wmi
psmouse                97485  0 
mac_hid                13253  0 
serio_raw              13211  0 
sparse_keymap          13890  1 asus_wmi
lp                     17799  0 
parport                46562  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
wmi                    19256  1 asus_wmi
i915                  478239  4 
atl1c                  41718  0 
drm_kms_helper         46978  1 i915
drm                   241971  5 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit           13423  1 i915
video                  19651  1 i915

[kurt18947]

I suspect - don't know for a fact - that the RT5390 is the PCIe equivalent of the RT5370 USB. I have an RT5370 with a similar issue. It connects and is stable but it's pretty slow, typically from 26 to 54 mb./sec on an N150 network. I have two 'micro' USB device, the generic RT5370 and Edimax EW-7811Un. The Edimax using RealTek's driver is much faster than the RT5370 using the included linux driver. Maybe one day I'll try downloading and building the driver from Ralink/Mediatek. It's possible that the proprietary driver is better, dunno. That's my only thought.

[aerinthaare]

The questionable thing here is the fact that it connects to other networks with normal speeds, that's what I'm wondering about. I'd be happy to get 26-54 mb/s, because I'm getting about 1/1000000 of that(literally).
The ethernet works fine, which is what I'm tied to using at the moment, but the whole reason I got this thing and spent the time to fix the damage the person I got if from did, is to have a laptop that I can use around the house; ethernet can't let me do that.

[kurt18947]

If your device works properly on other networks, that sort of rules out the driver. Are you able to access the router or wireless access point that's providing the slow speeds? I'd probably do a hard reset back to factory defaults after making sure I knew the default user name & password. Use everything 'plain vanilla'. Set the wireless for G speed - N speeds can be problematic with some devices. Disable any encryption and see if it makes a difference. If you're getting your ethernet connection from the same device that supplies the wireless signal and your ethernet is working properly, that says at least the wired part of the router is working properly.

[aerinthaare]

Dropping a speed level on the wireless for my router fixed the issue, thanks. I figured, since it worked on other networks, that it was an issue with my router.

[GregA]

If configuring the device doesn't improve connectivity, another practical, simple solution is to get another wifi adapter. The "Panda Ultra Wifi" b/g/n 150 Mbs USB adapter is plug and play in Kubuntu 12.04 & 13.04. Speed & connectivity is great. Price is $12.99 on Amazon (not including shipping).

[kurt18947]

Dropping a speed level on the wireless for my router fixed the issue, thanks. I figured, since it worked on other networks, that it was an issue with my router.

Good deal. Can you get N speed connections on other accesss points? If so, I'm wondering if you could look into either a firmware upgrade for your router or, if supported, install an alternative firmware such as DD-WRT. Also, if you're so inclined could you mark your thread solved so others would know of your fix?

[aerinthaare]

I'll keep that adapter in mind if this becomes a problem in the future, Greg, but dropping to the -still entirely sufficient- b/g speeds of my router solved the problem in a snap. At 154MB/S it's still more than enough fr what I do.