Is your wireless slow?

Improving Slow Wireless Performance on Star Labs Devices

If you’re experiencing slow Wi-Fi speeds or unstable wireless transfers, this guide can help you identify and resolve common issues.

🔍 Understanding the Issue

Star Labs devices use Intel wireless cards such as AX200, AX201, AX210 and AX211. These cards include advanced power-saving features that help reduce energy consumption, but on some networks this can reduce throughput or make the connection feel inconsistent.

💡 Note: If your wireless adapter appears as “Wireless-AC 9462”, don’t worry — this is simply how some Linux kernels identify the AX201 card.

By default, the wireless card may operate in power-saving mode. The steps below show how to identify the active wireless interface, temporarily disable power saving, test performance, and make the change permanent if it helps.

1. Find Your Wireless Interface

Open a Terminal window and run:

WIFI_IFACE="$(iw dev | awk '$1=="Interface"{iface=$2} $1=="type" && $2=="managed"{print iface; exit}')"
echo "$WIFI_IFACE"

This automatically selects the first active managed Wi-Fi interface. On many models this will be something like wlp0s20f3, but the exact name depends on the model and wireless card.

To confirm the current connection and link speed, run:

iw dev "$WIFI_IFACE" link

Look for the signal, rx bitrate and tx bitrate lines.

2. Temporarily Disable Power Saving

Run:

sudo iw dev "$WIFI_IFACE" set power_save off
iw dev "$WIFI_IFACE" get power_save

Then test your connection speed again to see if performance improves.

This change is temporary and will usually be lost after a reboot or reconnect.

3. Installing Useful Network Tools

To better monitor your wireless connection, install wavemon — a simple, live Wi-Fi monitoring tool.

📡 Install Wavemon

Debian / Ubuntu-based:

sudo apt install wavemon

Arch / Manjaro-based:

sudo pacman -S wavemon

Fedora-based:

sudo dnf install wavemon

To start live monitoring:

wavemon

4. Checking Wireless Signal and Connection Quality

Use these commands to view available networks and monitor your connection:

List all visible networks:

nmcli device wifi list

Monitor your current connection status:

watch -n1 iw dev "$WIFI_IFACE" link

These tools will help you detect weak signals, interference, or unstable links.

5. Make the Fix Permanent

If disabling power saving improves performance, you can make the change permanent with NetworkManager:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d
printf '[connection]
wifi.powersave = 2
' | sudo tee /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/99-disable-wifi-powersave.conf
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Then reconnect to Wi-Fi and check the setting:

iw dev "$WIFI_IFACE" get power_save

To revert this change:

sudo rm /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/99-disable-wifi-powersave.conf
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

6. Advanced Intel Driver Parameters (Use with Caution)

⚠️ Warning: The following settings are for advanced users only. Incorrect changes may cause reduced performance or compatibility issues.

For Intel wireless cards using the iwlwifi driver, you can create /etc/modprobe.d/starlabs.conf with additional driver options.

For example:

echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8 power_save=off" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/starlabs.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

Then reboot your laptop.

To revert to default settings:

sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/starlabs.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

Then reboot again.

7. Optional Driver Parameters

You can test additional parameters to fine-tune wireless performance:

Parameter	Description
`options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=0`	Disables Bluetooth coexistence. May improve Wi-Fi throughput, but can affect Bluetooth devices.
`options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=1`	Enables Bluetooth coexistence. Recommended if using Bluetooth devices.
`options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8`	Enables antenna aggregation for improved performance.
`options iwlwifi swcrypto=1`	Uses software encryption. Can improve stability on some systems.
`options iwlwifi power_save=off`	Disables Intel wireless driver power saving.
`options iwlwifi d0i3_disable=1`	Disables low-power idle state.
`options iwlwifi uapsd_disable=1`	Disables U-APSD; may fix low throughput on some access points.

✅ Summary

Identify your active wireless interface with iw dev.
Test disabling power saving with sudo iw dev "$WIFI_IFACE" set power_save off.
Use wavemon, nmcli and iw dev "$WIFI_IFACE" link to monitor signal and link speed.
If speeds improve, make the power-saving change permanent with NetworkManager.
Only use driver parameters if the basic power-saving change is not enough.

You should now experience faster and more consistent wireless performance.