iwconfig reports wrong bitrate (6 Mb/s)

[Harald Hannelius]

Upgraded to Wily. iwconfig now says the Bitrate is 6 Mb/s when 'iw dev wlan0 link' seems to report the correct bitrate.

Firmware iwlwifi-7260-13.ucode

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: wireless-tools 30~pre9-8ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.1.0-3.3-generic 4.1.3
Uname: Linux 4.1.0-3-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.18-0ubuntu9
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Fri Sep 4 12:43:52 2015
Dependencies:
 gcc-5-base 5.2.1-15ubuntu5
 libc6 2.21-0ubuntu4
 libgcc1 1:5.2.1-15ubuntu5
 libiw30 30~pre9-8ubuntu1
 multiarch-support 2.21-0ubuntu4
InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-11-11 (1393 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
SourcePackage: wireless-tools
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to wily on 2015-09-04 (0 days ago)

[Harald Hannelius (harald-arcada)]

I installed backports-4.2 rc1 something. Now iwconfig reports 390 Mb/s as Bit rate, regardless of what we're nominally handshaked on with the AP. It looks better, but isn't any faster.

Oh, and ucode 15 this time.

[steve davis (launch-faygate)]

I get the same problem, except rate sits at 36Mb/s as I walk around the house and real rate varies between 1 - 54Mb/s.

OS: 64bit
Distro: Lubuntu 15.10
Desktop: LXDE
uname -a: 4.2.0-19-generic #23-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 11 11:39:30 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[fgimenez (fgimenez-w)]

Same issue here.
iwconfig reports some number and it doesn't change no matter how the real rate varies depending on signal (I guess it's stuck on some initial rate).
while "iw dev wlan0 link" reports the rate properly and matches the rate I see on the router's end.

I've run this a few times and I can see "iw" reporting the rate changes while "iwconfig" is stuck at the same number all the time.

$ iwconfig wlan0 | grep Rate
          Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
$ iw dev wlan0 link | grep rate
        tx bitrate: 300.0 MBit/s MCS 15 40Mhz short GI

$ iwconfig wlan0 | grep Rate ; iw dev wlan0 link | grep rate
          Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
        tx bitrate: 150.0 MBit/s MCS 7 40Mhz short GI

$ iwconfig wlan0 | grep Rate ; iw dev wlan0 link | grep rate
          Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
        tx bitrate: 300.0 MBit/s MCS 15 40Mhz short GI

OS: 64bit
Distro: Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (using wily hardware enablement stack)
Desktop: KDE
uname -a: 4.2.0-27-generic #32~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 22 15:32:26 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[fgimenez (fgimenez-w)]

forgot to mention the wifi card:
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] (rev 34)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN
        Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi

and firmware (from dmesg):
[ 26.341095] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version 18.168.6.1 op_mode iwldvm

This started when I upgraded from Vivid enablement stack (kernel 3.19) to Wily's (kernel 4.2).
Booting with 3.19 fixes it.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[GPratique (gpratiqueav)]

Same here, "iwconfig" is always reporting the same fixed bitrate value regardless of the real one reported by "iw dev wl3ps0 link".

Linux Mint 18 Sarah Cinnamon 64b (fresh install)
Kernel 4.4.0-34-generic x86_64 on Dell Latitude E6520 with Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]

[ubupek (ubupek)]

Still the same bug.
Linux Mint 18.1 Serena Mate x86_64 (fresh install).
Kernel 4.4.0-53-generic - DELL Precision M6600.

[GPratique (gpratiqueav)]

Same problem after upgrading to :

Linux Mint 18.1 Serena Cinnamon 64b
Kernel 4.8.0-46-generic x86_64 on Dell Latitude E6520
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]

RANT:
This bug is now 19 months old, and nobody is interested in fixing it (and i do not have the knowledge to fix it myself). Tons of Linux bugs have the same fate, lost in cyberspace :-(

[ubupek (ubupek)]

For conky use this:
${execi 10 iw dev wlp3s0 link | grep rate | awk '{print $3}'} Mbit/s

[Dennis Mungai Lin.Jr. (brainiarc7)]

Still present in 2018.

iw dev wlp112s0 link
Connected to e4:f4:c6:11:db:df (on wlp112s0)
 SSID: War
 freq: 5500
 RX: 3408930932 bytes (2317180 packets)
 TX: 117918998 bytes (1283736 packets)
 signal: -41 dBm
 tx bitrate: 6.0 MBit/s

 bss flags: short-slot-time
 dtim period: 1
 beacon int: 100

[Seb Bonnard (sebma)]

On ubuntu artful (17.10), both `iwconfig` and `iw dev` report 6Mb/s :

$ iwconfig wlp6s0
wlp6s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"eduroam"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:5.24 GHz Access Point: CC:46:D6:CB:1E:6E
          Bit Rate=6 Mb/s Tx-Power=18 dBm
          Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=53/70 Signal level=-57 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:18 Missed beacon:0

$ iw dev wlp6s0 link
Connected to cc:46:d6:cb:1e:6e (on wlp6s0)
 SSID: eduroam
 freq: 5240
 RX: 245022251 bytes (1712002 packets)
 TX: 26564 bytes (225 packets)
 signal: -56 dBm
 tx bitrate: 6.0 MBit/s

 bss flags: short-slot-time
 dtim period: 1
 beacon int: 102