Score:2

Network performance extermely slow on Ubuntu 18.04.5 [Kernel 4.15.0-153-generic] / Dell XPS 15 9560 / Intel Corporation Wireless-AC 9260 (rev 29)

it flag

I own two laptops at home - one MacBook Pro and one Dell XPS 15 with Ubuntu 18.04.5.

Both are next to each other, connected to my home network.

MacBook Pro's speed test result:

Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from XFone 018 (141.xxx.xx.235)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Partner Communications (Tel Aviv) [1.73 km]: 19.941 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 57.03 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed......................................................................................................
Upload: 2.59 Mbit/s

Dell XPS 15 / Ubuntu 18.04.5 speed test result:

Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from XFone 018 (141.xxx.xx.235)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Partner Communications (Tel Aviv) [1.73 km]: 23.252 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 0.22 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed......................................................................................................
Upload: 0.15 Mbit/s

WiFi hardware:

Network:   Card: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>

$ lspci -v
...
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless-AC 9260 (rev 29)
    Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0014
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
    Memory at edc00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
    Kernel modules: iwlwifi

$ iwconfig
virbr0    no wireless extensions.

docker0   no wireless extensions.

vethba1d543  no wireless extensions.

wlp2s0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"spongebob"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.18 GHz  Access Point: AC:84:C6:46:43:6B   
          Bit Rate=866.7 Mb/s   Tx-Power=22 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=70/70  Signal level=-16 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:231   Missed beacon:0

vethaea3bba  no wireless extensions.

virbr0-nic  no wireless extensions.

br-fc08e482f3d3  no wireless extensions.

virbr1    no wireless extensions.

virbr1-nic  no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

br-b1fc08b5672f  no wireless extensions.

br-69d310606872  no wireless extensions.


$ modinfo iwlwifi 
                                                                                                                                                                                       
filename:       /lib/modules/4.15.0-153-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/iwlwifi.ko
license:        GPL
author:         Copyright(c) 2003- 2015 Intel Corporation <[email protected]>
description:    Intel(R) Wireless WiFi driver for Linux
firmware:       iwlwifi-100-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-135-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-105-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000g2a-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7265D-29.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7265-17.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-3168-29.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-3160-17.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7260-17.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-8265-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-8000C-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-9260-th-b0-jf-b0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-9260-th-a0-jf-a0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-9000-pu-a0-jf-b0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-9000-pu-b0-jf-b0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-9000-pu-a0-jf-a0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-QuQnj-a0-hr-a0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-QuQnj-a0-jf-b0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-QuQnj-f0-hr-a0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-Qu-a0-jf-b0-34.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-Qu-a0-hr-a0-34.ucode
srcversion:     578432A6FC6B903815C7082
alias:          pci:v00008086d0000A0F0sv*sd00000000bc*sc*i*
...
depends:        cfg80211
retpoline:      Y
intree:         Y
name:           iwlwifi
vermagic:       4.15.0-153-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
signat:         PKCS#7
signer:         
sig_key:        
sig_hashalgo:   md4
parm:           swcrypto:using crypto in software (default 0 [hardware]) (int)
parm:           11n_disable:disable 11n functionality, bitmap: 1: full, 2: disable agg TX, 4: disable agg RX, 8 enable agg TX (uint)
parm:           amsdu_size:amsdu size 0: 12K for multi Rx queue devices, 4K for other devices 1:4K 2:8K 3:12K (default 0) (int)
parm:           fw_restart:restart firmware in case of error (default true) (bool)
parm:           antenna_coupling:specify antenna coupling in dB (default: 0 dB) (int)
parm:           nvm_file:NVM file name (charp)
parm:           d0i3_disable:disable d0i3 functionality (default: Y) (bool)
parm:           lar_disable:disable LAR functionality (default: N) (bool)
parm:           uapsd_disable:disable U-APSD functionality bitmap 1: BSS 2: P2P Client (default: 3) (uint)
parm:           bt_coex_active:enable wifi/bt co-exist (default: enable) (bool)
parm:           led_mode:0=system default, 1=On(RF On)/Off(RF Off), 2=blinking, 3=Off (default: 0) (int)
parm:           power_save:enable WiFi power management (default: disable) (bool)
parm:           power_level:default power save level (range from 1 - 5, default: 1) (int)
parm:           fw_monitor:firmware monitor - to debug FW (default: false - needs lots of memory) (bool)
parm:           d0i3_timeout:Timeout to D0i3 entry when idle (ms) (uint)
parm:           disable_11ac:Disable VHT capabilities (default: false) (bool)


Kernel version:

$ uname -r
4.15.0-153-generic

Drivers:

$ sudo ls -l /lib/firmware/*9260*                                                                                                                                                                   
 
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2637216 Apr 24  2018 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-9260-th-b0-jf-b0-33.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2678092 Apr 14  2020 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-9260-th-b0-jf-b0-34.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2521412 Mar  2 22:27 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-9260-th-b0-jf-b0-38.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2620656 Apr 14  2020 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-9260-th-b0-jf-b0-41.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2558176 Apr 14  2020 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-9260-th-b0-jf-b0-43.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1463820 Mar  2 21:52 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-9260-th-b0-jf-b0-46.ucode


$ lsmod | grep iwlwifi 
                                                                                                                                                                                  
iwlwifi               290816  1 iwlmvm
cfg80211              634880  3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211


$ ubuntu-drivers devices     
                                                                                                                                                                            
WARNING:root:_pkg_get_support nvidia-driver-390: package has invalid Support Legacyheader, cannot determine support level
== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.0/0000:02:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v00008086d00002526sv00008086sd00000014bc02sc80i00
vendor   : Intel Corporation
manual_install: True
driver   : backport-iwlwifi-dkms - distro free


tomodachi avatar
pe flag
"Power Management:on" Can have negative effect on performance, try disabling it?
kumetix avatar
it flag
modinfo plot says "power_save:enable WiFi power management (default: disable)" - does that mean power management is on? how do I turn it off?
Score:4
vn flag

I would recommend that you try to install the newer HWE kernel. This can be done with the following command: (reference)

sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-18.04

Then reboot. This will install the kernel version 5.4, which has newer drivers.

You could also consider upgrading to 20.04 LTS, which enables even newer kernel versions. I believe being on a kernel that isn't ancient will help you in any case.

kumetix avatar
it flag
Worked like a charm! Thank you @Artur !
Artur Meinild avatar
vn flag
Thanks, I'm happy to hear that. It was just a guess, but generally updating to newest available kernel and drivers can solve many issues. Cheers!
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