Ubuntu – Slow WiFi with Ubuntu 18.04 and Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168

18.04intel-wirelessnetworking

This is my story with an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 (M.2 2230) and Ubuntu Linux:

  1. I decide to manually update Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, including the kernel/dist-upgrade thing.
  2. Reboot.
  3. No WiFi connection, iwconfig command returns no adapters.
  4. While testing several reboots, I notice the wireless adapter sometimes appears and works.
  5. I decide to install Ubuntu 18.04 LTS from scratch in another hard drive.
  6. Boot live USB image (18.04.0 Desktop), go to desktop.
  7. I try Internet connection, I notice WiFi is very slow, like ancient times.
  8. I plug Ethernet cable and perform a minimal Ubuntu installation with last downloaded updates.
  9. Reboot, unplug Ethernet cable.
  10. I try Internet connection, WiFi is very slow.
  11. I search for solutions, I disable 802.11n (iwlwifi 11n_disable=1), WiFi works (connection speed is lower than 11Mbps), even after reboots.
  12. Not satisfied with solution, I decide to ask here and run Ubuntu forums network script.
  13. Network script result is HERE.

Related question threads I found:

Best Answer

What I did to solve this issue is installing the latest stable kernel, according to kernel.org that is at the time of writing 4.17.13.

I installed ukuu, the ubuntu kernel update utility using the ppa from "Tony George" (https://launchpad.net/~teejee2008/+archive/ubuntu/ppa):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ukuu

Then run ukuu either through the console (ukuu --help) or use the graphical version which can be found in the menu. Install the latest stable kernel and reboot.

Warning: There might be some issues; if they persist after a reboot, during the boot sequence, select your old kernel version (4.15 on my machine).

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