apps slow to stuck on wifi but fast on 4G - any strategy for troubleshooting?

Retry8039

I have GOS on a Pixel 7 and many apps seem to get very slow at connecting to Internet when I am on wifi while there is no lag on 4G/LTE. For example, AntennaPod is really slow to start broadcasting (it can take 2 min and often fails) on wifi while it is instantaneous on 4G, K9-Mail can't fetch emails before connection issue on wifi while it works flawlessly on 4G, another radio broadcasting app I use never connects if wifi is on but work right away on 4G, etc. Surprisingly (?), I did not notice any lag or connection speed difference while browsing with Vanadium.

I'm curious to know if that is a known issue and if someone figured out what was wrong. If not, what would be a good strategy to identify the source of the problem and envision troubleshooting, one step at a time?

I am using default Internet parameters on GOS, except DNS on adguard.

de0u

Retry8039 What would be a good strategy to identify the source of the problem and envision troubleshooting, one step at a time?

Specifying a complete decision tree up front would be a lot of work. Here are some things I would try:

Is the problem better if you stand right next to your Wi-Fi router?
Is the problem better for a while at a regular distance from the router if you reboot the router?
Is the problem better when using some other Wi-Fi network, ideally a "commercial" network such as a business, university, or maybe a large restaurant chain (in the U.S., McDonald's offers free Wi-Fi).
Do you observe any difference if you connect to your Wi-Fi router using 2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz?

For this network, are you using per-connection randomized MACs or per-network?

Retry8039

de0u Thanks for sharing ideas! So far:

no, I'm usually pretty close to the modem anyways
well, it might be! I just tried rebooting the modem and those apps do not seem to show a lag
needs more testing
same thing whether I connect to the 2.4 or the 5 GHz

For this network, I use "per connection randomized MAC (default)".

de0u

Retry8039 For this network, I use "per connection randomized MAC (default)".

If it's your home network, and it's a random consumer-grade router, that may be a bad idea. Lots of low-end DHCP implementations will lock down IP addresses that were previously issued to old MAC addresses, in the hope that when that MAC address shows up again the device can be re-issued its old IP address (until a multi-day timeout expires). If your single device appears to be a different device every time it goes to sleep, your DHCP server could run out of IP addresses pretty quickly. In theory it should just recycle the longest-reserved address, but lots of them don't seem to be good at that.

Thus I would recommend using a per-network randomized MAC for any network you trust. And I would include an employer's network -- almost certainly as soon as you join an employer's network you'll sign on to something that will identify your device, so randomizing the MAC address won't be preserving your privacy.

Retry8039

de0u Awesome, thanks for the explanation! Now I understand better those other threads about wifi issues... and it seems most issues come down to this solution.

Update about #3: indeed, it seems I don't have the issue when connecting to a "commercial" network, even though I did not change the default parameter of per-connection randomized MAC.

de0u

Retry8039 I suspect if you use the same MAC address on your home network for a week you'll know if that was it. Good luck!

If not, feel free to come back for more guesses.

de0u

Retry8039 Does it seem as if this issue is solved for you?

Skyway

Today I was having the same issue apps and browser slow to load only on WiFi . rebooted router , tried both bands and still the same . finally disabled adguard and its no longer slow .
I'm curious why only on WiFi ?
Even on a different profile without adguard installed internet was slow .

de0u

Skyway If disabling AdGuard improved your situation I suspect you were experiencing a different problem. I'm not an AdGuard user so I don't think I can usefully speculate. Others here may be in a position to!

Retry8039

de0u yep, I tried to tag the post as "solved" but did not find how to do it!

de0u

Retry8039 One of the moderators will need to do that. I'm glad it's working.
Thanks for reporting back!