Very slow wifi on Asahi compared to MacOS on M1 2022

Our Neighbors Asahi Linux Ask Asahi
, , , , , ,
1

Hi very new to linux here.

I have very big difference in download speeds when booting between Asahi and MacOS.

I have done this test on multiple different networks and all have similar results.

Browsers used Chromium and Firefox. Zero extensions

My Asahi speed test: 6.09 Mbps Download / 44.78 Mbps Upload
Mac OS speed test: 47 Mbps Download / 48 Mbps Upload

Is this normal for Asahi linux?

I saw on another forum to post the output of the following commands

Here is my inxi -Fxpmrz

System:
  Kernel: 6.9.12-401.asahi.fc40.aarch64+16k arch: aarch64 bits: 64
    compiler: gcc v: 2.41-37.fc40
  Desktop: GNOME v: 46.4 Distro: Linux Asahi Remix 40 (Workstation Edition)
    base: Fedora 40
Machine:
  Type: ARM System: Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, M1 Pro, 2021) details: N/A
    serial: <filter>
Battery:
  ID-1: macsmc-battery charge: 72.3 Wh (100.0%)
    condition: 72.3/78.2 Wh (92.4%) volts: 12.8 min: 9.0 model: bq40z651
    status: full
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.9 GiB
    used: 8.89 GiB (28.8%)
  RAM Report: message: No RAM data found using udevadm.
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: N/A variant-1: firestorm variant-2: icestorm bits: 64
    type: MT MCP arch: ARMv8 rev: 0 cache: L1: 2.9 MiB L2: 28 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2572 high: 3228 min/max: 600/2064:3228 boost: enabled
    cores: 1: 600 2: 600 3: 3228 4: 3228 5: 3228 6: 3228 7: 2904 8: 2904 9: 2904
    10: 2904 bogomips: N/A
  Features: Use -f option to see features
Graphics:
  Device-1: agx-t6000 driver: asahi v: kernel bus-ID: N/A
  Device-2: display-subsystem driver: apple_drm v: N/A bus-ID: N/A
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 24.1.2 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: dri: asahi gpu: apple-drm
    resolution: 3456x2160~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: mesa v: 24.2.0-asahi20240727 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: Apple M1 Pro (G13S C0)
  API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends.
Audio:
  Device-1: t6000-dpaudio driver: dcp_dp_audio bus-ID: N/A
  Device-2: j316-macaudio driver: snd_soc_macaudio v: kernel bus-ID: N/A
  API: ALSA v: k6.9.12-401.asahi.fc40.aarch64+16k status: kernel-api
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.7 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom BCM4387 802.11ax Dual Band Wireless LAN vendor: Apple
    driver: brcmfmac v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0
  IF: wlp1s0f0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Broadcom BRCM4387 Bluetooth vendor: Apple driver: hci_bcm4377
    v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 01:00.1
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.97 GiB used: 15.91 GiB (1.7%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Apple model: SSD AP1024R 0ba0163ae25c8229
    size: 931.84 GiB temp: 27.9 C
  ID-2: /dev/nvme0n2 vendor: Apple model: SSD AP1024R size: 3 MiB
    temp: 27.9 C
  ID-3: /dev/nvme0n3 vendor: Apple model: SSD AP1024R 0ba0163ae25c8229
    size: 128 MiB temp: 27.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 596.57 GiB used: 15.49 GiB (2.6%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 302.6 MiB (31.1%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 498.9 MiB used: 132.1 MiB (26.5%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4
  ID-4: /home size: 596.57 GiB used: 15.49 GiB (2.6%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  Src: lm-sensors+/sys Message: No sensor data found using /sys/class/hwmon
    or lm-sensors.
Repos:
  Packages: 5
  No active dnf repos in: /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-asahi-remix-hotfixes.repo
    1: fedora-asahi-remix-hotfixes ~ https://fedora-asahi-remix.org/repos/hotfixes/$releasever/
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-cisco-openh264.repo
    1: fedora-cisco-openh264 ~ https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=fedora-cisco-openh264-$releasever&arch=$basearch
  No active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates-testing.repo
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo
    1: updates ~ https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=updates-released-f$releasever&arch=$basearch
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora.repo
    1: fedora ~ https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/group_asahi-fedora-remix-branding.repo
    1: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:group_asahi:fedora-remix-branding ~ https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/@asahi/fedora-remix-branding/fedora-$releasever-$basearch/
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/group_asahi-fedora-remix-scripts.repo
    1: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:group_asahi:fedora-remix-scripts ~ https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/@asahi/fedora-remix-scripts/fedora-$releasever-$basearch/
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/group_asahi-flatpak.repo
    1: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:group_asahi:flatpak ~ https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/@asahi/flatpak/fedora-$releasever-$basearch/
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/group_asahi-kernel.repo
    1: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:group_asahi:kernel ~ https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/@asahi/kernel/fedora-$releasever-$basearch/
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/group_asahi-mesa.repo
    1: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:group_asahi:mesa ~ https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/@asahi/mesa/fedora-$releasever-$basearch/
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/group_asahi-u-boot.repo
    1: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:group_asahi:u-boot ~ https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/@asahi/u-boot/fedora-$releasever-$basearch/
  No active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-free-updates-testing.repo
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-free-updates.repo
    1: rpmfusion-free-updates ~ https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/metalink?repo=free-fedora-updates-released-$releasever&arch=$basearch
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-free.repo
    1: rpmfusion-free ~ https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/metalink?repo=free-fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver.repo
    1: rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver ~ https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/metalink?repo=nonfree-fedora-nvidia-driver-$releasever&arch=$basearch
  No active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing.repo
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-updates.repo
    1: rpmfusion-nonfree-updates ~ https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/metalink?repo=nonfree-fedora-updates-released-$releasever&arch=$basearch
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree.repo
    1: rpmfusion-nonfree ~ https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/metalink?repo=nonfree-fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch
  Active yum repos in: /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo
    1: code ~ https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode
Info:
  Processes: 421 Uptime: 58m Init: systemd target: graphical (5)
  Compilers: gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 inxi: 3.3.34

Here is rfkill list all

0: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

Here is lspci

00:00.0 PCI bridge: Apple Inc. Apple Silicon PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Apple Inc. Apple Silicon PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4387 802.11ax Dual Band Wireless LAN Controller (rev 07)
01:00.1 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BRCM4387 Bluetooth Controller (rev 07)
02:00.0 SD Host controller: Genesys Logic, Inc GL9755 SD Host Controller (rev 01)

Thank you to anyone willing to help me

2

Nope, it’s not normal. I just did a speed test earlier today on an equivalent machine (same wifi chipset) and I got ~400Mbps download.

How are you doing the speed test? If you’re using a website, keep in mind that those sites will use different speed test servers based on location heuristics, which could be different depending on the OS.

3

Thanks for the response. I did the speedtest on a speedtest.net.

I noticed the drop in the connection from normal browsing so I don’t think it was the website but I will try again on another site

4

I tried with different ones and they are getting better around 30Mbps for download on Asahi. Thanks for that advice.

Then I used speedtest-cli and it went above 40Mbps. Thank you for you help. It must be something else that sometimes drops the wifi speed down

5

Added apple, f40 and removed audio, bluetooth, flatpak, pipewire, server

6

After some playing around I can definitely tell that the download speed is a lot slower.

The speed will sometimes be fast and sometimes be slow

It took >5 minutes to download google chrome installer.

But other times I can watch Youtube videos HD x2 speed no problem.

7

That sounds more likely like a network routing issue. As I said, different OSes can trigger different behavior regarding geolocation/etc (as well as IPv6 usage/preference). That can impact which download servers are chosen, which can then have very different performance based on internet routing issues/bottlenecks.

At this point if you want to confirm if it really is a wifi issue or not, you have to do local tests within your LAN (e.g. connecting to a computer that’s on a wired connection, with iperf). If that is slower than macOS then there’s something for us to look into, but if that all performs as expected then it’s an internet issue.

8

Thank you very much for your help. I think I will wait until I am out of the country I currently am in and try it again.

If I do go get an ethernet cable and try the local tests I will do that and report my findings here.