Check if I'm Using the Right Wireless Driver?
My internet connection is noticeably slower than other devices, and I've also been wondering if my computer is using the right wireless driver. Is there a way to check if I'm using the right one?
This is the output when I run lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: enp1s0
version: 07
serial: 60:18:95:10:fa:f2
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: cap_list ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=r8169 latency=0 multicast=yes
resources: irq:16 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:91500000-91500fff memory:91200000-91203fff
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: wlp2s0
version: 31
serial: 74:12:b3:a2:f5:31
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath10k_pci driverversion=5.11.0-44-generic firmware=WLAN.TF.2.1-00021-QCARMSWP-1 ip=192.168.1.144 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:138 memory:91000000-911fffff
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
Overall: Is there a way to see if I'm using the right wireless drivers?
I believe that you are running the only driver that is available for your device. Please run the terminal command:
lspci -nnk | grep 0280 -A3
Find the pci.id for your device; something like 168c:0042 or similar. Do a web search for this pci.id and I am quite confident that all you will find is that the driver ath10k_pci is the latest and has been built in to the Linux kernel for several years.
Ther are, however, a few things that you can do to help the speeds. First, I suggest that you connect to the 5 gHz segment of your router only. The autoselect feature of your router may steer you to the stronger, but slower 2.4 gHz segment but you can defeat that by renaming the segments, I suggest that you rename the access points; something like myrouter2.4 and myrouter5. Then, only connect to myrouter5.
Next, please check the settings in the router. WPA2-AES is preferred; not any WPA and WPA2 mixed mode and certainly not TKIP.
Also, select a channel that is away from those used by your nearby neighbors; check:
nmcli device wifi list
In my case, a few neighbors are on channels 36 and 44. I therefore chose channel 149.
After making any changes in the router, reboot it.
Is there any improvement?