Is it possible to use 5GHz wifi with Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+?

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Hi, I am running IPFire 183 on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+.

First off, I would like to thank IPFire and the community for making and supporting IPFire for the Raspberry Pi. For me as a retired person, this is a great way to have a personal hardware firewall.

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ has a dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless LAN.

I am using this wireless LAN (wifi) on the RED side of IPFire to connect to a home router. I am using Ethernet on the GREEN side to connect to my laptop.

[Router] < wifi RED > [Raspberry Pi 3B+] < Ethernet GREEN> [Laptop].

When I go to IPFire Home page, it shows:

WiFi Network: @ 2.412 GHz

The router that this Raspberry Pi connects to does support 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

Using speedtest.net, I am getting between 27 and 53 Mbps download speed, depending on time of day, etc.

The free memory on IPFire is around 50% and the CPU usage average is 4% (96% idle).

The Ethernet port on the Pi 3B+ has a max rate of 300 Mpbs.

So I dont think I am reaching any limits in memory, CPU or network throughput that would reduce download speed.

I presume I would get higher download speeds if IPFire was able to connect to the router at 5GHz.

Is there a way to set IPFire to use 5GHz?

Or anything else I could do to increase download speed?

Thanks ahead of time for any help.

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Hi Joe!

I started at about the same point - with a Raspberry Pi. I’ve experimented with the RPi3B+ and the RPi4B. And if you are getting near 50 Mbps you are doing well.

The RPi devices are not powerful enough to handle network traffic going two directions at one time. Yes it can do Ethernet at 300 Mbps, but the RPi cannot do both Ethernet and WiFi quickly and at the same time. It has the same problem with the USB-to-Ethernet adapter and the on-board Ethernet.

Yes, there is but I do not know what it is. See the HT Caps and VHT Caps in this link:
https://www.ipfire.org/docs/addons/wireless#wireless-settings

I think you’d want to set the VHT Caps (but that is a guess).

Out of curiosity:

  • how fast is your Internet upload & download speed?

  • Do you have other services running like IPS or QOS or ??

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Hi @jon

Thanks for replying to my post and sharing what you know. I appreciate the tips you gave.

I did look at

and managed to get my RPi wifi to connect at 5 Ghz.

However, it did not improve download speed, as you indicated.

I have not been able to figure out HT Caps and VHT Caps values / codes to use eg [MAX-MPDU-7991]. I think you need to find those based on the specific wifi chip being used and I am not able to find that for my Rpi.

I am renting a place where the wifi is provided by a property management company and so unfortunately I cant tell you at the moment what the Internet up and down load speed is.

I am running:

  • IPS
  • Location blocking
  • Guardian 2.0 Addon

Not using QoS - I was not aware of it but I will look into if it is useful in my use case.

Sounds like you have been experimenting with RPi’s quite a bit.

Did you find that the RPi 4 was faster than the 3 in terms of download speed? If so, about how much faster was it?

Are you currently using an RPi or did you move onto using something else?

Thanks again for your help.

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Is it possible to test with a mobile phone (or laptop or desktop) connected directly to the property management wi-fi? (with no IPFire). I am wondering if the wi-fi itself is the weak link.

For test purposes, please turn those services off. Then try testing the speed again. The IPS may be slowing things down. The Location blocking and Guardian add-on properly not but it is better to test and know. The QoS may slow things down so do not try that yet.

I did a few years ago. I started with the IPFire on an RPi first for fun and to learn. And then for when I travel. It makes a really nice “pocket firewall” (this is someone else’s term not mine but it a perfect name). I also have a few family members with 50 Mbps / 5 Mbps connections and I hope they will accept one!

I don’t remember how much faster. That was a few years ago and I just do not remember…

I moved on to something faster. First a 32-bit x86 and then a 64-bit x-86 and now a PC Engines APU device. The APU works the best and it doesn’t slow down with lots of services enabled.

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@jon,

Thanks again for your help.

Is it possible to test with a mobile phone (or laptop or desktop) connected directly to the property management wi-fi? (with no IPFire). I am wondering if the wi-fi itself is the weak link.

The older laptop that I am using is getting about 70 Mbps download speed when connected directly to the router.
But I just got a hold of a more modern laptop and it gets 360 Mbps download.
So I think that eliminates the router as a cause :slight_smile:

For test purposes, please turn those services off. Then try testing the speed again.

With

IPS
Location blocking
Guardian 2.0 Addon

running, at the moment I am getting 42 Mpbs (test 1) and 46 Mbps (test2 a minute later).

With IPS off, I am getting 49 Mpbs (test 1) and 33 Mbps (test2 a minute later) and 46 Mbps a minute later. I think this much slower speed even with IPS disabled is due to a lot of other people using the router.

But it seems to me that using IPS is not causing a significant decrease in download speed.

With

IPS
Location blocking
Guardian 2.0 Addon

all disabled I am getting 25 Mbps LOL which of course makes no sense other than this is due to the router being used by many people.

I think I should have mentioned at the outset when I created this post:

  • When I am asking for ways to increase download speed, it is not because I am unhappy with the existing download speed (it is good enough for me). It was more out of curiosity to see if speed could be increased. You have helped me a lot in learning more about the Rpi with IPFire, and I appreciate that.

  • I too would like to use the RPi as a “pocket firewall” as I do a fair bit of travelling. I am more than happy to consider a faster machine for home use.

You also mentioned that if I am getting around 50 Mbps, which I am often getting (or close to it), then I am doing well, so that is also helpful.

This was my first time using an RPi and has been a fun thing to do and a great learning experience.

Thanks again for your time and effort in helping me :slight_smile:

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