Re: WiFi scanning interval

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Sat, 2006-09-23 at 23:07 +0200, Dick Streefland wrote:
> I'm using NetworkManager on my laptop (via knetworkmanager) to easily
> switch between ethernet and WiFi networks. It works great, but there is
> one thing that is a little inconvenient: after moving the laptop, it can
> take up to 2 minutes before new WiFi networks are shown in the list of
> available networks. By inspecting the source code, I found out that the
> scanning interval is 15, 20 or 120 seconds, depending on the "state" of
> the wireless device.
> 
> Is there some trick to force the device into the "active" state to
> reduce the interval? I know that removing the kernel module works, but I
> would prefer a less drastic approach. If not, what are the consequences
> of decreasing the 120 second interval?

Drop the applet menu down, actually.  That will bump the scan interval
down, on the theory that you're actually interested in what APs are
around you since you just looked at the menu.

Scanning interrupts traffic for a certain period of time, and therefore
you can't scan at close intervals on many cards.  Some like the ipw and
prism54 fullmac cards do continuous background scanning, which on HEAD
(and will be in 0.6.5) will be automatically picked up by NM.

Dan