Connection unstable on Arch/Fedora 33/Pop!_OS/Ubuntu 20.10

[mirkobrombin]

First of all, thank you very much for your immense work, seriously. (I have stability issues but at least it connects, seriously thanks).

I have tested this module on multiple distributions and it always works:

• Arch Linux
• Fedora 33
• Ubuntu 20.10
• Pop!_OS 20.10
• elementary OS 5

Compared to the module built into the 5.9 kernel, with yours I get better performance in terms of down/up.
Unfortunately, the only flaw I find in all distributions (inexplicably except on elementary os 5), is the constant drop of the connection. At irregular intervals, the ping increases inexplicably, reaching over 500ms.

I found the same problem with different behaviors for each distribution:

• on Arch Linux and Fedora 33 the ping goes up, the connection drops and I have to wait up to a minute for it to reconnect
• on Pop!_OS and Ubuntu 20.10 ping increases at intervals of 2 and 5 minutes, starting from 20ms and reaching 500ms (when we are lucky)
• on elementary OS 5 just works... really idk what is (wrong) but it works without connection drops or unstable ping

My connection is stable on other devices (a Xiaomi Notebook Pro with iwlwifi).

In all cases I have verified that no module is loaded other than yours (disabling the one in kernel 5.9 for example). Unfortunately the result does not change.

I have been investigating the problem for months without finding a solution and unfortunately I cannot use elementary as my main distribution due to the instability of the Nvidia drivers.

I am available to provide any details, information and logs in case they are useful to the investigation (in case it begins).

[tomaspinho]

Hey, Mirko.

Thanks a lot for the kind words and thorough testing.

This looks like the issues other users have been experiencing with access point scanning while connected to a network. Your network applet is probably initiating scans periodically and that is causing the slow downs or drop outs.

If you're up to that, you could try investigating changing the frequency of scanning or disabling it altogether.

Best.

[mirkobrombin]

Hey, Mirko.

Thanks a lot for the kind words and thorough testing.

This looks like the issues other users have been experiencing with access point scanning while connected to a network. Your network applet is probably initiating scans periodically and that is causing the slow downs or drop outs.

If you're up to that, you could try investigating changing the frequency of scanning or disabling it altogether.

Best.

Thanks for instant reply. Of course, just Idk how to do this on GNOME (or NetworkManager).
Edit: Ok I understand how to do it. I'll update you in case I no longer detect the problem. (I'm using Pop! _OS 20.10 right now).

[mirkobrombin]

The advice seems to work, I haven't had any connection and ping problems for an hour.

How to fix

For posterity, here's how I solved it with NetworkManager and GNOME in Pop!_OS (and maybe Ubuntu 20.10).

In the WiFi settings I set the BSSID in the network profile > Identity tab.

I read online that the Connectivity Check option of NetworkManager can be disabled. This by editing the file in /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager-intern.conf and adding the following instructions:

[connectivity]
.set.enabled=false

Then just reboot or restart the unit NetworkManager to fix the problem.

Thanks again @tomaspinho for the hint and the great work!

[tomaspinho]

Great tip, would you like to open a PR to add that to README? Would be splendid.

[mirkobrombin]

Great tip, would you like to open a PR to add that to README? Would be splendid.

All right. I am also testing on Fedora.