I have two computers running Ubuntu 14.04 (ok, one is actually Mint 17.1, but that's based on Ubuntu 14.04), and I am looking to use one as a wi-fi hotspot for the other. Both computers have identical USB Wi-fi dongles supporting dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) 802.11a/b/g/n modes. Although I have managed to set up a hotspot, it seems limited to 54 Mbps in either g or a mode, even though the dongles are capable of 300 Mbps in n mode. It is important to me to unlock the full speed of the devices.
What I have tried:
On Computer 1 (which creates a hotspot):
Open NetworkConnections, click Add, select Wi-Fi, click Create.
Then fill in the SSID, set Mode to Ad-hoc, leave Band on Automatic (although I have also tried limiting to "A (5 GHz)" or "B/G (2.4 GHz)", chosse Device MAC address. In Wi-Fi Security tab, I select "WPA & WPA2 Personal", and enter a password. in "IPv4 Settings" tab, I select Method "Shared to other computers". Click Save, and connect to it.
On Computer 2 (joins the hotspot):
I cannot use a GUI so I set it up with nmcli
.
# nmcli dev wifi connect SSID password <password>
and I'm off to the races!
… except I lose the race because nmcli dev wifi
reports the rate as 54 Mb/s, and scp
on a large file reports ~3.3 MB/s, which corresponds to 54 Mb/s at half-duplex.
I have also tried setting up the hotspot with ap-hotspot
after disabling NetworkManager on Computer 1, and I have also tried using wicd
instead of Network Manager on Computer 2, but no combination seems to give me N mode/speed greater than 54 Mbps.
Some debug output
Computer 1
user@computer1:$ iwconfig wlan1
wlan1 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"MY_SSID"
Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.412 GHz Cell: AE:68:F9:9C:EA:00
Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on
user@computer1:$ nm-tool
NetworkManager Tool
State: connected (global)
- Device: wlan1 [MY_SSID-hotspot] --------------------------------------------
Type: 802.11 WiFi
Driver: rt2800usb
State: connected
Default: no
HW Address: 7C:DD:90:79:F2:89
Capabilities:
Wireless Properties
WEP Encryption: yes
WPA Encryption: yes
WPA2 Encryption: yes
Wireless Access Points (* = current AP)
*MY_SSID: Ad-Hoc, AE:68:F9:9C:EA:00, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 100 WPA2
<snip other networks, all reporting Rate 54 Mb/s>
IPv4 Settings:
Address: 10.42.0.1
Prefix: 24 (255.255.255.0)
Gateway: 0.0.0.0
Computer 2
user@computer2:$ iwconfig wlan1
wlan1 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"MY_SSID"
Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.412 GHz Cell: AE:68:F9:9C:EA:00
Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
user@computer2:$ nm-tool
NetworkManager Tool
State: connected (global)
- Device: wlan1 [MY_SSID] ----------------------------------------------------
Type: 802.11 WiFi
Driver: rt2800usb
State: connected
Default: yes
HW Address: 7C:DD:90:6C:2B:23
Capabilities:
Wireless Properties
WEP Encryption: yes
WPA Encryption: yes
WPA2 Encryption: yes
Wireless Access Points (* = current AP)
*MY_SSID: Ad-Hoc, AE:68:F9:9C:EA:00, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 100 WPA2
IPv4 Settings:
Address: 10.42.0.88
Prefix: 24 (255.255.255.0)
Gateway: 10.42.0.1
DNS: 10.42.0.1
Best Answer
To have 802.11n mode, in your /etc/hostapd.conf you need the directives:
So basically, you need support for g mode, with 802.11n extensions, and the ht_capab directive is for enabling support for 40MHz. If your chipset does not support 40MHz bandwidth, comment it out.
Beware that for 40MHz bandwidth, you would better look out which channel you are using. I would suggest using a program to listen to and analyse the use of the wifi spectrum in the neighbourhood.
You can also run a command line to scan the networks being used:
You can also try to put in /etc/hostapd.conf
If it is supported, it will be faster, however some chipsets have stability problems with this last directive.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Multimedia_Extensions
"Wireless Multimedia Extensions (WME), also known as Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), is a Wi-Fi Alliance interoperability certification, based on the IEEE 802.11e standard. It provides basic Quality of service (QoS) features to IEEE 802.11 networks. WMM prioritizes traffic according to four Access Categories (AC) - voice, video, best effort, and background."