slow/intermittent download speeds wifi

**whoxp** · January 19th, 2013

new to ubuntu and have noticed that my download speeds in speed tests and buffering on youtube are abnormally slow or intermittent.
Going off of the sticky hear so sorry if I am doing this wrong.
HP Pavilion dv6-6c35dx

Code:

mcf@ubuntu:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h Processor Root Complex
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI BeaverCreek [Mobility Radeon HD 6620G]
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI BeaverCreek HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6500D and 6400G-6600G series]
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h Processor Root Port
00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h Processor Root Port
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h Processor Root Port
00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB XHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:10.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB XHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB OHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB EHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB OHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB EHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson SMBus Controller (rev 13)
00:14.1 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson IDE Controller (rev 40)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson Azalia Controller (rev 01)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson LPC Bridge (rev 11)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 0 (rev 43)
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 6
00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 5
00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 7
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)
03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5116 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
03:00.1 SD Host controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5116 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)

Code:

mcf@ubuntu:~$ lspci -nn | grep RTL
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 06)
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter [10ec:8176] (rev 01)

Code:

mcf@ubuntu:~$ ifconfig wlan0
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 20:10:7a:21:fe:dc  
          inet addr:192.168.1.145  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::2210:7aff:fe21:fedc/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:252044 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:138965 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:352829824 (352.8 MB)  TX bytes:31063247 (31.0 MB)

Code:

  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 06
       serial: 08:2e:5f:95:a3:b0
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8168e-3_0.0.4 03/27/12 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:51 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:f0004000-f0004fff memory:f0000000-f0003fff
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 20:10:7a:21:fe:dc
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8192ce driverversion=3.2.0-29-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.145 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:17 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:f0200000-f0203fff

Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
3.2.0-29-generic x86_64

**ahallubuntu** · January 19th, 2013

First thing to try is updating your kernel. You are on kernel 3.2.0-29; the latest is 3.2.0-36 I believe (or 35). If you aren't sure which update is the kernel, just install all of the latest available updates in Update Manager, reboot, and try again.

The kernel contains drivers for your hardware, so updating it might fix issues with your wireless card.

If that doesn't help, you can try downloading a driver for your wireless card from Realtek. The current driver you are using is the "rtl8192ce" (Realtek's names are not intuitive; the name reported elsewhere in your output shows up as "8188CE".) So you could try downloading/installing the Realtek driver from http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/ for RTL8192CE. However, I suspect you'll need help building it. There are probably some other packages you need before it will build without errors. The Realtek driver I use is for RTL8192CU, and it builds very easily. Perhaps others have some tips on how to get yours to build correctly.