How to access Webstar DPC2100R2 hidden pages

[GreyGeek]

While checking out my Timewarner cable modem, DPC2100R2, I found this neat little document.

How to access Webstar DPC2100R2 hidden pages

If you have Time Warner Cable and perhaps other cable operators as well that use Webstar DPC 2100 modems, and you happen to have one of these modems, no doubt you've become frustrated when you go to check the modem log if troubleshooting a connection issue, only to be greeted with the web page that says that this feature is not enabled. You however can still get at the information you're looking for. I don't understand why these diagnostics pages have to be hidden from us, especially when other modems show us the info we want with no issues. But here are the steps to gain access to the other diagnostics pages on a webstar DPC2100 modem.
First, go to http://192.168.100.1/_aslvl.asp and change the access level from 1 to 2. Enter the password of W2402 and hit submit. You should then be able to access the signal and logs pages with no issues. I've however noticed that the access level after maybe about a minute or so reverts back to level 1, so if while browsing the page, if it refreshes and it suddenly says this feature is unavailable again, just repeat the steps above. Like I said, I wish I knew why so much effort is made to keep us from truly seeing what's wrong with our connections. There's no harm in viewing this info ya know. So there's my hopefully useful tip for today

[GreyGeek]

After accessing my cable modem logs I found something rather interesting, and which explains my drop down and drop outs, which I attributed first to my wifi chip driver, the to my old TP-TL-WR1043ND wireless router, which gave me an excuse to upgrade it to an IPv6 compatible wireless router ( ). Here's the log entries:

 Sat Jun 09 18:40:32 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response. 
 Sat Jun 09 18:40:23 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out 
 Sat Jun 09 18:39:37 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - Re- initializing MAC 
 Sat Jun 09 13:52:21 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response. 
 Sat Jun 09 13:52:16 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ... 
 Sat Jun 09 13:52:03 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out 
 Sat Jun 09 13:50:46 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un... 
 Sat Jun 09 13:50:13 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ... 
 Sat Jun 09 10:16:09 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response. 
 Sat Jun 09 10:16:02 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ... 
 Sat Jun 09 10:15:46 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out 
 Sat Jun 09 10:14:57 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - Re- initializing MAC 
 Sat Jun 09 10:14:38 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out 
 Sat Jun 09 10:11:57 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un... 
 Sat Jun 09 10:11:24 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ... 
 Sat Jun 09 09:42:20 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response. 
 Sat Jun 09 09:42:12 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ... 
 Sat Jun 09 09:41:56 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out 
 Sat Jun 09 09:40:50 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un... 
 Sat Jun 09 09:40:18 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...

Those correspond to my dropouts, which required that I disconnect and reconnect my wifi router to re-establish a connection. BTW, when the connection was dropped I couldn't ping google.com, but the wireless didn't show any indication that it didn't have a connection with the Internet unless I let the situation set for several minutes, or I was busy writing something and the webpage disappeared.

As soon as I configured my new Linksys E2500 than this appeared:

Mon Jun 11 02:36:38 2012  	 Critical (3) 	 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - .

and the problem continues. So does the problem with a lack of range. Just like the TP wireless, setting 10 feet from the wireless most of my neighbors, 5 to 15 times farther away, have stronger signals being picked up by the wireless than mine. When I surf from my bedroom, 60 feet away, it gets even worse, but the neighbors signals are still strong. A couple of them have no clue about security and run their wireless open. All of them are using Windows.

I also discovered that the Cisco DCP2100R2 cable modem TW gave me is DOCSIS 2.0, which means it doesn't support IPv6.

So, I am going to get a Motorola SB6120 cable modem that uses DOCSIS 3.0, which supports IPv6.
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB612...dp_ob_title_ce

[SteveRiley]

Ah, those are just DOCSIS error messages from the modem's WAN side and have almost no relationship to connection quality. My log is filled with them, yet I never have issues with poor connectivity.

To fight your neighbor's wireless, investigate getting a wi-fi access point that you can reflash with DD-WRT. This will allow you to crank up your transmission power. Alternatively, if you can get your equipment up to the 5 GHz range, the neighbor collisions should go away, because there are so many more channels (and fewer, for now, devices).

Finally...spend the extra $10 for the SB6141. The 6121 bonds only four downstream channels. The 6141 bonds eight channels; you'll see less variability in speeds when you have more channels to spread across. And if you're lucky, TW has probably screwed something up somewhere, and you'll get an "accidental" speed boost. I know plenty of Comcast customers who've noticed that. I plan to (finally) buy my own cable modem for exactly this reason.

[GreyGeek]

I looked at using DD-WRT on the W1043ND wireless, but decided in favor of getting an IPv6 ready one instead. I may still fool around with it since it won't matter if I brick it or not, and see what happens. Does DD-WRT add DOCSIS 3 ability to a wireless?

[SteveRiley]

Let's ensure we're aren't accidentally mixing things up here. I'm assuming you're using two separate devices: one cable modem and one wireless router. Is that right? If so, then any conversation about DOCSIS relates only to the cable modem. DOCSIS defines the standards used for modulating digital signals over television channels and the methods for bonding channels together. I am unaware of any cable modems that run user-customizable firmware.

Conversations about DD-WRT relate to flashing an open-source firmware onto a wireless router or access point. This often adds new features like the ability to fine-tune and increase transmission power. But it won't add stuff the hardware can't do: for example, DD-WRT won't magically convert an 802.11b access point into 802.11n.

So, assuming that you indeed do have separate devices, this provides the opportunity to optimize each one (for this reason, I would never purchase a combined cable modem + wireless router). Choose a future-proof cable modem like the Motorola SB6141 or the Linksys DPC3008 that are capable of bonding eight channels. And choose a wireless access point or router that's listed in the DD-WRT database.

[GreyGeek]

Ah, I did have that misunderstanding about where DOCSIS applies. Thanks for screwing my head back on the right way!

I just bought a Linksys E2500 Wireless router that's IPv6 ready, and I NOW plan to get an SB6141, thanks to your advice.

I've been having a problem with low power from my wireless even though I have it set for high power. The WR1043ND and now the Linksys E2500 are exhibiting the same problem: I'm ten feet away from my wireless but

Wireless Access Points (* = current AP)
    linksys:         Infra, 00:13:10:89:75:0D, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 11 Mb/s, Strength 100
    belkin.fec:      Infra, 08:86:3B:29:8F:EC, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 97 WPA WPA2
[COLOR=#ff0000]    *GreyGeek:       Infra, 20:AA:4B:3A:85:E3, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 77 WPA2[/COLOR]
    WIN_A9E8:        Infra, 4C:17:EB:20:A9:E7, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 94 WPA WPA2
    The Alois Family:Infra, 00:1E:58:32:BB:35, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 94 WPA
    NETGEAR:         Infra, E0:46:9A:6F:83:70, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 94
    BettyBoop:       Infra, C0:C1:C0:24:95:3C, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 94 WPA2
    5dfe:            Infra, 20:4E:7F:7A:09:02, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 97 WPA WPA2
    WIN_f0a6:        Infra, 2C:E4:12:46:F0:A5, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 95 WPA WPA2
    GarberNetgear:   Infra, 2C:B0:5D:81:97:BE, Freq 2422 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 97 WPA2

you'll notice that my wireless has the lowest strength. So, the new wireless router didn't help. I'm assuming that the weakness lay with the cable modem.

Also, this E2500 is supposed to be a "dual band" and offers me the opportunity to configure both the 5GHz and the 2.4GHz bands with their own ESSID. Their default settings contained the same ESSID, "Cisco53679", so I replaced them with "GreyGeek". However, I never see the 5GHz ("N") setting. The only one presented is a "G" connection. So, I renamed the 5GHz one "GreyGeek5N" and the 2GHz to "GreyGeek2G". The GreyGeek2G shows up in the ESSID map and I can choose it and set it up, but I never saw the GreyGeek5N. So, I don't understand how to take advantage of the "dual band" capability that is supposed to make your connection speed more consistent and a closer match to your rated bandwidth.

[SteveRiley]

I've been having a problem with low power from my wireless even though I have it set for high power. The WR1043ND and now the Linksys E2500 are exhibiting the same problem: I'm ten feet away from my wireless but...you'll notice that my wireless has the lowest strength. So, the new wireless router didn't help. I'm assuming that the weakness lay with the cable modem.

No, there's no signal strength relationship between your cable modem and your wireless router. Typcial power levels from a CMTS to a cable modem range from -1.5 to +0.1 dBmV. The 64-QAM or 256-QAM modulated signal is fully converted to standard Ethernet inside your cable modem. This is completely orthogonal to your wireless signal strength issue.

Looking at the list, I see that you're running on channel 11 (frequency 2462 MHz) and so is "belkin.fec." Most everyone else is on channel 1 (frequency 2412 MHz); "GarberNetgear" is on channel 3 (frequency 2422 MHz) and also helpfully letting me know who they are and what kind of gear they have! But I digress... First thing I'd suggest is changing your channel. Park yourself on channel 7 (frequency 2442 MHz) -- that gives three free channels on both sides of you. Wireless channels actually overlap, and this is a common cause of performance problems.


What tool did you use to generate that list? My iwlist wlan0 scan looks very different. Let's try an alternate measurement method. What is the output of

sudo wpa_cli scan && sudo wpa_cli scan_results

However, I never see the 5GHz ("N") setting. The only one presented is a "G" connection. So, I renamed the 5GHz one "GreyGeek5N" and the 2GHz to "GreyGeek2G". The GreyGeek2G shows up in the ESSID map and I can choose it and set it up, but I never saw the GreyGeek5N. So, I don't understand how to take advantage of the "dual band" capability that is supposed to make your connection speed more consistent and a closer match to your rated bandwidth.

Well, it takes two to taNgo ... To get 802.11n working, both your access point and your wireless NIC need to support it. It appears that your wireless NIC lacks this capability. We can check:

iwlist wlan0 freq

[GreyGeek]

No, there's no signal strength relationship between your cable modem and your wireless router. Typcial power levels from a CMTS to a cable modem range from -1.5 to +0.1 dBmV. The 64-QAM or 256-QAM modulated signal is fully converted to standard Ethernet inside your cable modem. This is completely orthogonal to your wireless signal strength issue.

Didn't know that.

Looking at the list, I see that you're running on channel 11 (frequency 2462 MHz) and so is "belkin.fec." Most everyone else is on channel 1 (frequency 2412 MHz); "GarberNetgear" is on channel 3 (frequency 2422 MHz) and also helpfully letting me know who they are and what kind of gear they have! But I digress... First thing I'd suggest is changing your channel. Park yourself on channel 7 (frequency 2442 MHz) -- that gives three free channels on both sides of you. Wireless channels actually overlap, and this is a common cause of performance problems.


What tool did you use to generate that list? My iwlist wlan0 scan looks very different. Let's try an alternate measurement method. What is the output of

sudo wpa_cli scan && sudo wpa_cli scan_results

I knew that channels overlapped and that more than one AP on the same channel can slow performance, so yesterday I tried 7, 8 and 11. That didn't improve the range. I also made some Cisco recommended changes to the values below, for both the 5GHz and the 2.4GHz bands, but they didn't help, so I returned them to the default values that are shown:

Beacon Interval: 100 (Default: 100, Milliseconds, Range: 20 - 65535)
DTIM Interval: 1 (Default: 3, Range: 1 - 255)
Fragmentation Threshold: 2346 (Default: 2346, Range: 256 - 2346)
RTS Threshold: 2346 (Default: 2347, Range: 0 - 2347)

Well, it takes two to taNgo ... To get 802.11n working, both your access point and your wireless NIC need to support it. It appears that your wireless NIC lacks this capability. We can check:

iwlist wlan0 freq

My Linksys E3500 wireless router is a dual band router and the setup screen has setting for both values. The 5GHz band, regardless of any settings I try, never creates an AP. The frequency listing generated is only for b/g

:~$ iwlist wlan0 freq
wlan0 13 channels in total; available frequencies :
Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
Current Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)

Here are my E2500 setup screens:
http://ubuntuone.com/17RdjNLKZc49cXEd0JgNrG
http://ubuntuone.com/1hufShs0G9eo6rPRggYX68

I've disabled the 2.4GHz band and tried to get a 5GHz ("n") connection but when I do that no AP appears. I'm beginning to think my E2500 is defective.

[SteveRiley]

What's the wireless NIC in your PC? My suspicion is that your NIC doesn't support the 5 GHz band.

[GreyGeek]

Ah, the wireless chip in my Acer. I never thought about that. (My mind is going, Dave .... I can feel it....)

02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)

Well, it looks like it does. (b/g/n).

Now, the question is, does the rtl8192ce.ko driver support "n"?

Let's see what Google says...

[GreyGeek]

Based on some google pages I checked dmesg:

12.454040] rtl8192ce 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17[   12.454052] rtl8192ce 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   12.464122] rtl8192ce: Power Save off (module option)
[   12.464124] rtl8192ce: FW Power Save off (module option)
[   12.945350] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[   12.972467] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device WebCam (0402:7675)
[   12.975433] input: WebCam as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.0/input/input10
[   12.975556] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[   12.975558] USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)
[   13.256850] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[   13.256854] cfg80211:     [B](start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)[/B]
[   13.256857] cfg80211:     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.256859] cfg80211:     (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.256861] cfg80211:     (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[B][   13.256863] cfg80211:     (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)[/B]
[B][   13.256865] cfg80211:     (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)[/B]
[   13.506412] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2412 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506417] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506420] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2417 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506423] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506426] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2422 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506429] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506431] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2427 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506434] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506437] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2432 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506440] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506442] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2437 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506445] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506449] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2442 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506452] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506454] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2447 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506456] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506458] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2452 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506460] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506462] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2457 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506464] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506466] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2462 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506468] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506470] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2467 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506472] cfg80211: 2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506474] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2472 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.506477] cfg80211: 2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.506478] cfg80211: Disabling freq 2484 MHz as custom regd has no rule that fits a 20 MHz wide channel
[   13.506680] cfg80211: Ignoring regulatory request Set by core since the driver uses its own custom regulatory domain
[   13.506793] cfg80211: [B]Calling CRDA for country: EC      (Why is it calling the European Country?)[/B]
[   13.510102] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2412 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510106] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510108] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2417 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510110] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510112] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2422 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510115] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510117] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2427 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510119] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510121] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2432 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510123] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510125] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2437 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510127] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510129] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2442 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510131] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510133] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2447 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510135] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510137] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2452 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510139] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510141] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2457 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510143] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510145] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2462 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510147] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510149] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2467 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510151] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510153] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2472 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[   13.510155] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   13.510157] cfg80211: Disabling freq 2484 MHz
[   13.510160] cfg80211: [B]Regulatory domain changed to country: EC[/B]
[   13.510164] cfg80211:     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[   13.510166] cfg80211:     (2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
[B][   13.510168] cfg80211:     (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 1700 mBm)[/B]
[B][   13.510170] cfg80211:     (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2300 mBm)[/B]
[B][   13.510172] cfg80211:     (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 3000 mBm)[/B]
[   13.555859] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
[   13.556365] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
[   15.339655] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
[   15.339735] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: irq 43 for MSI/MSI-X
[   15.339773] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   15.508579] HDMI status: Codec=3 Pin=6 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=0
[   15.508686] input: HDA Intel HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input11
[   15.508794] input: HDA Intel Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input12
[   15.508876] input: HDA Intel Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input13
[   15.513361] init: failsafe main process (825) killed by TERM signal
[   17.012758] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[   20.161759] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16
[   20.161782] NET: Registered protocol family 31
[   20.161784] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[   20.161787] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[   20.161789] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[   20.161795] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[   20.200259] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[   20.200267] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[   20.200269] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[   20.391886] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[   20.391890] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[   22.602955] zram: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   22.603256] zram: Creating 4 devices ...
[   23.151102] rtl8192c_common: Loading firmware file rtlwifi/rtl8192cfw.bin
[   23.233649] Adding 980168k swap on /dev/zram0.  Priority:5 extents:1 across:980168k SS
[   23.239603] Adding 980168k swap on /dev/zram1.  Priority:5 extents:1 across:980168k SS
[   23.244349] Adding 980168k swap on /dev/zram2.  Priority:5 extents:1 across:980168k SS
[   23.248048] Adding 980168k swap on /dev/zram3.  Priority:5 extents:1 across:980168k SS
[   23.491114] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[   23.493694] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[   23.696875] atl1c 0000:03:00.0: irq 44 for MSI/MSI-X
[   23.782968] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   23.788530] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   26.972174] wlan0: direct probe to 20:aa:4b:3a:85:e3 (try 1/3)
[   27.105812] wlan0: direct probe responded
[   27.135423] wlan0: authenticate with 20:aa:4b:3a:85:e3 (try 1)
[   27.152474] wlan0: authenticated
[   27.172783] wlan0: associate with 20:aa:4b:3a:85:e3 (try 1)
[   27.185021] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 20:aa:4b:3a:85:e3 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=1)
[   27.185025] wlan0: associated
[   27.196114] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[   32.826044] postgres (1277): /proc/1277/oom_adj is deprecated, please use /proc/1277/oom_score_adj instead.
[   35.783486][B] IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver[/B]
[   38.002391] [B]wlan0: no IPv6 routers present[/B]
[   38.445466] vboxdrv: Found 4 processor cores.
[   38.445782] vboxdrv: fAsync=0 offMin=0x358 offMax=0x11b8
[   38.445857] vboxdrv: TSC mode is 'synchronous', kernel timer mode is 'normal'.
[   38.445860] vboxdrv: Successfully loaded version 4.1.16 (interface 0x00190000).
[   38.922589] vboxpci: IOMMU not found (not registered)
[   42.114172] init: plymouth-stop pre-start process (1713) terminated with status 1
[   48.240594] [B]sixxs: no IPv6 routers present[/B]
[   79.931652] hda-intel: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.

mmm... I thought SixXS didn't need IPv6 routers? But, that's beside the point.

It *appears* that cfg80211 does support 5GHz.

[GreyGeek]

I set the regulatory domain to US with

sudo iw reg set US

and dmesg shows:

[ 1726.773089] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
[ 1726.777970] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2412 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.777974] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.777976] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2417 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.777979] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.777981] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2422 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.777983] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.777985] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2427 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.777987] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.777989] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2432 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.777991] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.777993] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2437 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.777995] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.777997] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2442 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.777999] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.778001] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2447 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.778003] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.778005] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2452 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.778007] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.778009] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2457 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.778011] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.778013] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2462 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
[ 1726.778015] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.778017] cfg80211: Disabling freq 2467 MHz
[ 1726.778018] cfg80211: Disabling freq 2472 MHz
[ 1726.778020] cfg80211: Disabling freq 2484 MHz
[ 1726.778023] cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: US
[ 1726.778025] cfg80211:     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[ 1726.778027] cfg80211:     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[ 1726.778029] cfg80211:     (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 1700 mBm)
[ 1726.778031] cfg80211:     (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 1726.778033] cfg80211:     (5490000 KHz - 5600000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 1726.778035] cfg80211:     (5650000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 1726.778037] cfg80211:     (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 3000 mBm)

My Network-Manager reset and all of a sudden I am on channel 7 now, even though before I had set the E2500 to transmit on 7 in b/g, and rebooted the router and my Acer and it still came up in channel 1. But, the 5GHz band still does not show.

EDIT: Well, the mystery is over. From realtek's website:

Features

General 48-pin QFN CMOS MAC, Baseband PHY, and RF in a single chip for IEEE 802.11b/g/n compatible WLAN Complete 802.11n solution for 2.4GHz band 72.2Mbps receive PHY rate and 72.2Mbps transmit PHY rate using 20MHz bandwidth 150Mbps receive PHY rate and 150Mbps transmit PHY rate using 40MHz bandwidth Compatible with 802.11n specification Backward compatible with 802.11b/g devices while operating in 802.11n mode

The wifi chip in this computer, the RTL8188CE, does not support the 5GHz band.

But, I am going to leave the 5GHz band on for my wife's Acer One.

Now, on to other fish I must fry.

[SteveRiley]

mmm... I thought SixXS didn't need IPv6 routers? But, that's beside the point.

All IPv6 adapters will issue a neighbor discovery probe, even pseudo-adapters like those used for Teredo.

The wifi chip in this computer, the RTL8188CE, does not support the 5GHz band.

You found the answer. cfg80211 is reporting in dmesg what it's attempting to do. You can't rely on that report for a list of what the wireless adapter is capable of. For that, we use iwlist freq.

[GreyGeek]

My Network-Manager now shows this:

[TABLE="align: center"]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Type:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD="width: 30%"] Wireless 802.11[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Connection State:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] Connected[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]IP Address:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] 192.168.1.101[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Connection Speed:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] 72.2 MBit/s[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]System Name:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] wlan0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]MAC Address:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] 74:DE:2B:36:E4:35[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Driver:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] rtl8192ce[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Access Point (SSID):[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] GreyGeek[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Access Point (MAC):[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] 20:AA:4B:3A:85:E3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Band:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] b/g[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][RIGHT]Channel:[/RIGHT]
[/TD]
[TD] 7 (2442 MHz)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

So, according to the info from the RealTek website info repeated below, I have an "n" connection using a 20MHz bandwidth, and my connection speed is 72.2 MBit/s.

Complete 802.11n solution for 2.4GHz band
72.2Mbps receive PHY rate and 72.2Mbps transmit PHY rate using 20MHz bandwidth

Steve, thanks for your help and clarifications. It's nice to have an expert around when you need him! 8)

Now all I have to do is clean up that cable connection outside, and then figure out how to get 10/10.

[SteveRiley]

Wireless can be confusing sometimes, because there are so many variables. Fortunately, we don't have to memorize any of it, since Wikipedia continually offers such valuable nuggets as this list of wi-fi channels and frequencies.