[Solved] Bad ping in wifi connection

General system
1

Ok, at start here is some info of my network:

[mardi@mardi-82l7 ~]$ inxi -Na
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek vendor: Lenovo driver: rtw89_pci v: N/A modules: rtw89pci
    port: 2000 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8852 class-ID: 0280

Because my laptop needs a wifi driver for Realtek RTL8852AE I have installed rtw89-dkms-git from AUR. So far it has worked without problems. But few days ago I noticed weird behaviour of my wifi speed. The speed is ok, but ping suddenly went higher than before. It’s usually around 30 ms, but now near 100 ms. I think it has something to do with that wifi driver. I remember seeing some updates for it some time ago.
I have a RT5370 Wireless Adapter for those cases when I have had problems with wifi and everything seems to work just fine with it. But I would like to get my wifi work normally without it, because my laptop has only 2 usb ports and that wireless adapter takes now one of them. Any solutions? Is downgrading wifi driver possible?

2

It is my understanding that the 5.16 kernel will support the RTL8852AE.
The only information i see looking quickly is the following.

3

So I wait until the 5.16 kernel is available in repos?

4

I don’t see any other info currently. This is the latest Realtek WiFi 6 AX chip. If it gets support in the 5.16 kernel then you won’t need the AUR package. I guess it’s a wait and see what happens between now and then.

Edit: This is just what i gather from reading the little info i can find.

5

Ok. That bad ping troubles me only when I play Supertuxkart online. Until it gets fixed I’ll manage with that wireless adapter… :wink:

6

Are you sure it’s not something to do with the site?

7

No, it’s not the site. Speedtest.net shows this:
Screenshot_20211222_083651

1 Like
8

Well it’s obvious you have enough bandwidth. Have you tried resetting your router? Maybe speak with your service provider and have them check your lines and equipment. It could be a routing issue somewhere along the route causing it with lost packets. :man_shrugging: The new WiFi is AX standard and will connect with whatever standard your router is. It could be the a driver issue with this new hardware. But if it’s only this site then has to be another issue.

9

Yes, resetting my router is the first thing I do when I have problems with wifi. But it wasn’t the case this time. I have 3 different laptops at home all with EOS. Only this Lenovo with that Realtek driver had the problem. I say had, because it seems to be solved at least for now. I uninstalled that rtw89-dkms-git and then reinstalled it. It didn’t make any difference at first, but after restarting laptop couple of times my wifi seems to be ok. Weird, huh?
I have few questions though. What happens if that 5.16 kernel includes correct wifi driver and I still have that git version installed? Should I remove it later? How do I even know if that new kernel has it?

1 Like
10

I guess it’s wait and see. I’m just going by what i read on github. If the 5.16 has a kernel module for it then you should be able to remove the rtw89-dkms-git package and it should load on boot and work. It won’t be long now as the 5.16 kernel i think is release date of around jan 9. Whether this happens in the first release or later on is hard to know.

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/kvalo/wireless-drivers-next.git/commit/?id=e3ec7017f6a20d12ddd9fe23d345ebb7b8c104dd

Edit2: Sounds like it should be included in the new kernel.

11

Thanks for the information. I will wait for the next kernel then. Because my wifi problem seems to be solved at least for now, I will make this case solved.