# [Solved] Unstable wlan connection

## Talinx

My internet connection is not stable.

I think the problem is that my wlan gets initialized over and over again and I don't konw why.

I got internet, but it is very slow as consequence and I have to reload websites because sometimes the connection doesn't work (I assume my connection is rerouted while trying to establist a connection with a website).

I have tried passing net.ifnames=0 as kernel parameter, I have tried to prevent udev from assingning a name to my wlan interface, but I still got the problem.

dmesg returns this (only the last lines, and I replaced some hexadecimal numbers with a X since I don't know whether they could become an attack vector):

```

[ 1573.084117] wlan0: Limiting TX power to 22 (22 - 0) dBm as advertised by XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e

[ 1642.873101] wlan0: disconnect from AP XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e for new auth to XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0

[ 1642.879498] wlan0: authenticate with XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0

[ 1642.912568] wlan0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 (try 1/3)

[ 1642.913959] wlan0: authenticated

[ 1642.920791] wlan0: associate with XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 (try 1/3)

[ 1642.924511] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 (capab=0x1011 status=0 aid=1)

[ 1642.927080] wlan0: associated

[ 1642.932376] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x8114

[ 1642.932378] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code

[ 1642.932380] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search

[ 1642.932382] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37

[ 1642.932385] ath: Country alpha2 being used: DE

[ 1642.932386] ath: Regpair used: 0x37

[ 1642.932389] ath: regdomain 0x8114 dynamically updated by country element

[ 1642.971530] wlan0: Limiting TX power to 20 (20 - 0) dBm as advertised by XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0

[ 1662.749471] wlan0: disconnect from AP XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 for new auth to XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e

[ 1662.756138] wlan0: authenticate with XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e

[ 1662.788555] wlan0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e (try 1/3)

[ 1662.790675] wlan0: authenticated

[ 1662.794105] wlan0: associate with XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e (try 1/3)

[ 1662.798029] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e (capab=0x1411 status=0 aid=6)

[ 1662.800832] wlan0: associated

[ 1662.806168] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x8114

[ 1662.806170] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code

[ 1662.806172] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search

[ 1662.806174] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37

[ 1662.806177] ath: Country alpha2 being used: DE

[ 1662.806178] ath: Regpair used: 0x37

[ 1662.806181] ath: regdomain 0x8114 dynamically updated by country element

[ 1662.891001] wlan0: Limiting TX power to 22 (22 - 0) dBm as advertised by XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e

[ 1732.883611] wlan0: disconnect from AP XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e for new auth to XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0

[ 1732.890733] wlan0: authenticate with XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0

[ 1732.924947] wlan0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 (try 1/3)

[ 1732.926369] wlan0: authenticated

[ 1732.927415] wlan0: associate with XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 (try 1/3)

[ 1732.931217] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 (capab=0x1011 status=0 aid=1)

[ 1732.934295] wlan0: associated

[ 1732.941673] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x8114

[ 1732.941676] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code

[ 1732.941679] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search

[ 1732.941681] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37

[ 1732.941684] ath: Country alpha2 being used: DE

[ 1732.941686] ath: Regpair used: 0x37

[ 1732.941689] ath: regdomain 0x8114 dynamically updated by country element

[ 1732.983469] wlan0: Limiting TX power to 20 (20 - 0) dBm as advertised by XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0

```

As you can see it repeats.

I use the vanilla kernel (from kernel.org) version 5.0.5 (I got the same problem with version 4.20.13). The modules required by my wlan interface (the ath10 modules) are built into the kernel.

I use connman with econnman (the Enlightenment front end).

My device is a Lenovo IdeaPad 320S.

(My router can't be the problem, other devices (Ubuntu, Android, Windows) don't have this issue.)

I hope someone has some suggestions what I can try to get my wlan to work properly.Last edited by Talinx on Sat Mar 30, 2019 5:13 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## NeddySeagoon

Talinx,

```
[ 1732.883611] wlan0: disconnect from AP XX:XX:XX:54:90:9e for new auth to XX:XX:XX:54:90:a0 
```

Those number are the MAC address of of the router. They are not used outside of your local network.

What's significant is that there are two different MAC addresses, so you either have two routers, or one router with different MAC addresses for the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands.

Your log fragment shows that your wifi swaps backwards and forwards between the two access points.

You may be able to blacklist one AP.

Tell us about your router (make and model) and the tools used to manage your wifi connection

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## Talinx

My router is a Speedport W 724V Typ B from Deutsche Telekom.

The MAC address ending with 54:90:9e is from this router, on its configuration HTML page this is said to be the WiFi MAC address.

There are two WLan repeaters (both TP-Link TL-WA850RE) in the LAN, both have MAC addresses that don't appear in the dmesg output.

The router has a secondary WLan Hotspot, so-called WLAN TO GO. I am not connected to it and its MAC address is different by one digit, ending with 54:90:9f.

The router has both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz turned on, both have the same SSID and Password. If these frequencies use different MAC addresses I don't know how to obtain the address I don't know.

I was able to solve my problem by changing the SSID of the 5 GHz frequency band! (Turns out my other devices don't support 5 GHz connections so I had no problems there.)

Thank you very much NeddySeagoon!

But I still got one question: Since it is the default to have the same SSID for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, why is this a problem? Shouldn't my laptop be able to handle this when set up correctly?

----------

## The Doctor

I don't know of any device that can handle having to SSIDs with two names. Most places that offer 5g do so on a different SSID that is typically $NAME 5G.

Your other devices not supporting it is why they didn't have issues. So no, your laptop should not have been able to handle this.

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## NeddySeagoon

Talinx,

Use 5GHz if you can, its less crowded.  I have both bands.

Something I found out the hard way the other day is that my access point treats them as separate networks even though they share an IP range.

That is, devices on 5GHz cannot connect to devices on 2.4GHz and vice versa.

Its not a problem to me ... yet.

I've always used SSIDs ending in 24 or 5, since I know I want to use 5GHz if I can to get the best WiFi performance possible.

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