Lite and wireless adaptors (usb)

[Şerban S.]

Hi, again!

I've been thinking on some of the here pointed out ideas:

[...] the desired connection I need is not with a wifi router, it is with a wireless hotspot. [...] I am using mobile data on a phone  [...]

I get it!
Nevertheless, I never had a great relationship with the satellite data transfer. The fees for using phone network data support, is per MB and this skyrockets the bills...
I guess you can imagine that if you consider that each move you make on an IT device is translated into some bits/bytes (an emoticon, for one!), it's easy for me to figure out how come that the said "free GBs" fly out on the window for so many.
As for the "unlimited traffic" claimed by more and more networks, it's just marketing hype. Actually, the mostb common limit is 50 GB/subscription. After that, the extra-cost gets into play and you find yourself paying lots of $$$$$$$.
As a showcase: My current ISP bill goes almost constantly at about 24 - 25 euros/month, for: 4 SIMS (Phones) and Internet Fiberlink 500 (which according to the four test-sites, is very close to the claims).
I used sometimes the network data but my 5 GB limit drained out quite fast so I put an end to this. I keep it only as a backup solution for really special situations.
Coverage is also good, at a range of about 5 miles (some 7,5 8 km) outside the boundaries of the towns/cities.

[...] I don't use public wifi [...]

Same here! Mostly, because of the security issues. Unencripted data, leaves a lot of space for "dark manoeuvres" and there are lots of people that are happy and very willing to exploit such opportunities.

I think the problem is still with the iphone itself. This happens less often if not at all if the hotspot comes from an android phone...

I'd go for this solution! An Android phone, with a decent specs list (8 cores, 128 GB storage and 6 GB RAM) goes at about 190 - 250 USD (new) and some 150 - 200 on the SH market.
Take a look here:

https://flip.ro/

Prices are in lei, but you can get a quotation for the current level on any currency site.
As for now, 1 euro = 4,97 lei; 1 USD = 4,60 lei.

As a showcase:
https://flip.ro/magazin/xiaomi/telefon-m...e=Ca%20nou
Price is 1000 lei, that is 217 USD (202 euro).
Last year, I bought a new Samsung A03, with 133 euro (141 USD). Main specs: 8 cores, 64 GB storage, 4 GB RAM, dual SIM.

I hope you'll find a solution. I'd go for testing on a telative/friend's Android phone and then choose the most convenient list of specs (price/specs).

Best regards!

[Linxer2]

Thanks.
I am not opposed to the general idea of switching back to an android phone. I do however have issues with them, and the one of all issues I cannot tolerate are the ones where calls cannot be completed to the phone even when nothing is wrong with it, texts that get delayed (incoming) up to 12 hours intermittently, or anything else related to the most basic functions any phone should do.
I have heard the saying once, and it rings too true for me, "iphones suck at basically everything, except, as just a phone, they work really well." Never knew why, but I can agree with this from experience.
I've had other terrible luck from just picking a good android phone.
One I had used a processor from the EU (I live in the states), which meant the highest possible network band was 2G (in america, 4G in EU), which is already discontinued out here.
Another phone I got which I still use as a media-only phone basically messed up my ability to get calls and texts just because I tried to degoogle it. Must have been a carrier thing embedded or something.
I have one semi-okay phone I'd use if my iphone were to go away, but it is unreliable since the speaker output just vanishes at random for no reason (where even a reboot would not bring it back, but waiting long enough will).

Don't get me wrong, if I could find the phone that just works, is android, and at least has hotspot capability, I'd jump on it, but I seem to have horrible luck finding one. I know for a fact that super-market store sold phones are trash, so those are out too.

It has gotten me a bit more interested in the basic issue though.
The summary of the problem is that iphone hotspot connections to linux (versus android) are unreliable. I will do some testing and generate some output in the terminal monday and see what I can come up with. I can do that much since I can at least establish a working network connection for a few minutes at a time.

[Şerban S.]

Hi!

Well, I can barely figure out a solution. The 2 G support here, is somehow in its last days.
There is a huge marketing war here for the 5G technology. It's a long debate here. The thing is that we have a fast internet here (including the wireless one). Mostly on the 4G. The 3G is still supported.
As an example, my wife works in Germany and she has a 5G Cube subscription. Although the marketing BS goes like "the latest and the greatest" she often experiences bottlenecking and even network dropouts. We do a lot of Zoom meetings so even if I can get connected, if she experiences a narrow bandwidth event, connection drops and we have to start over.
And we stay in touch, everyday.
As I see it, the only workaround available, is a more powerful router. Unfortunately, a powerful router, usually goes beyond the 100 USD range. A really powerful one (some 5000 meters range)  goes above 200 USD.
I found this on the local market:
https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/tp-li...21-review/
Now, judging from the specs, it should do the coverage required for an outdoor usage of the devices (say, laptop).
The real problem though, consists in the type of materials included in the building's walls. Any kind of metallic reinforcement, works like a Faraday cage and worsens the signal.
The other factor is humidity (rain, mist), which also spreads the signal further.
Theoretically, a common router sends the signal at about 150 - 300 meters. But experience says otherwise...
If you can test a better router without the need to buy it, that would be great.
At least, you can make an educated guess/choice.
A hardware related forum with a network devices category, might also help finding real user feedback.
I rarely base my buying decisions on manufacturer presentation. It' unreliable. Besides, I never met a seller saying "Go to the other store, I sell s**t stuff here!"
I usually seek user feedback, look for many opinions, PROs and CONs (if any).
Anyway, I'm sure that if we can find a solution, many people will be interested, since there are lots of people here that already use and want to revive old machines (laptops, desktops).
As for me, I'm also very found of my ASUS X200MA netbook and since I can use Linux Lite 6.6 on it, that's a "thumbs up!" for Linux Lite, generally speaking and for this community, in particular.
ASUS X200MA is an 9 years old machine and still works fine, with a 2024 OS release, in spite of its modest specs!

Best regards, Șerban!

[Linxer2]

Well, I figured out a workaround for this issue. I will quickly summarize an recap so as to keep this all together.
Initial problem 1: I had concerns that a wireless usb wifi adaptor device would never activate or show in any version of linux. In other distros, finding and installing these drivers is tricky, but in Linux Lite, the 3rd party driver manager that this distro comes with seemed to work some magic on its own. Using that got the device working quickly.
Solution 1: Scan and install drivers from the driver manager lite comes with.

Initial Problem 2: The concerns of the entire post here turned into an issue keeping my iphone based wireless hotspot connected to the network. I had confirmed in advance that this was an existing issue on most if not all distributions of linux, even though the phone itself appeared to be the center of the issue, despite being functional. Wifi hotspot would be found and working, but auto-drop after five minutes and rendered unable to reconnect without a full linux reboot. I had a linux mint with the exact same issue.
Solution 2: I was happy to find that despite lacking any understanding as to why, disabling the IPV6 trafiic mode for the specific hotspot connection has solved the problem, permenantly so. Doing this initially did not work when I performed it in mint, and the results were wonky as I changed and reverted lots of network settings specific to that connection. In both the case with mint and lite, disabling or ignoring the IPV6 protocol prevented the device from disconnecting (all other settings were as default values). I am currently logged in from that hotspot and it has been over an hour with no drop, tested more than once. I know that was not the initial concern of the post, but now this could be a solution if anyone like me is struggling with a random network drop on hotspot connections. What's going on under the code is anybody's guess. The network speed is pretty fast too, despite the bottlenecks of the physical hardware.

[Şerban S.]

Great!

I'm happy this went on a constructive path.
The Linux Lite 7.0, might help a little too.
Having a new kernel and some new firmware, might even get things far more better, but for now, we're on the suppositions ground.
Anyway, in spite of all adversities, you managed to solve the problem. At least, as it looks so far.

best regards, Șerban.