Can I use two internal wifi cards at the same time?

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Apple Bumpkin

Can I use two internal wifi cards at the same time?

Post by Apple Bumpkin »

I just recently installed a second wifi NIC in my Dell Latitude E6530 running Linux Mint 17.2 x64 Cinnamon. This laptop came with its own wifi card, Broadcom BCM4313, and it worked flawlessly out of the box.
I installed a second wifi NIC, Qualcomm Atheros T77H053.00, and it also works flawlessly out of the box, but now my Broadcom doesn't want to connect to any Access Points. The Qualcomm connects to the same APs that the Broadcom won't, so I'm thinking there is some sort of conflict between the two cards, I don't know how to find information to confirm this though.

I'm hoping someone can give me some insight on solving this, thank you.

To clarify:
I'm not trying to connect both Wireless NICs to the same APs. I'm trying to figure out why the Broadcom NIC doesn't connect to anything. At all. It used to but not since I installed the Qualcomm. The Broadcom can see APs no problem, it just doesn't connect. It doesn't even connect to APs it used to connect to before the Qualcomm was added.

Yesterday I reinstalled a fresh copy of Linux Mint 17.2 x64 Cinnamon just to be sure, still facing the same issue.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=203091

Edit:: I did some testing and I was able to prove that two wifi cards CAN work together. To do this, I booted up into SystemRescueCD and connected to my APs with BOTH cards running at the same time. They are connected to two separate APs that have different MAC Addresses, but this shows that it's possible.. Now how can I get the same results in linux mint?

Proof: http://i.imgur.com/fMDAyLN.png

EDIT:: SOLVED!
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmint/comm ... me/cuawvp1

Credit to /u/i_am_cat, I couldn't have done it without you.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 6 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Chiefahol

Re: Can I use two internal wifi cards at the same time?

Post by Chiefahol »

Are you connecting to 2 different networks?

I don't think you can use 2 wifi cards to connect to the same AP.
Apple Bumpkin

Re: Can I use two internal wifi cards at the same time?

Post by Apple Bumpkin »

No, not two NICs connecting to the same AP. Only the Qualcomm connects to anything. The Broadcom doesn't connect to anything anymore even if the Qualcomm isn't connected to anything.
JohnBobSmith

Re: Can I use two internal wifi cards at the same time?

Post by JohnBobSmith »

I'd say conflicting drivers would cause this issue. In my laptop, my USB wifi adapter enabled at the same time as my PCI-E adapter causes mega network slowdown, sluggishness, and dropped packets or dropping connection entirely. I'm not sure why there would be a reason to use 2 NIC's at the same time. I've only found a lot of glitches in trying to do so.

So my answer is no. While you *can* do it with the right setup, in my experience it causes huge issues and wouldn't be very usable.

If you want to be able to toggle between adapters, IE run one at a certain time, another at a different time for whatever reason, thats a different story. Same thing if you want to repair one device to make it work better.

If you can clarify what you want to achieve, then perhaps someone can help you work towards a solution. :)
Apple Bumpkin

Re: Can I use two internal wifi cards at the same time?

Post by Apple Bumpkin »

Thank you for the post. I feel that I have been very clear already. I want both of my wireless NICs to work. I'm not trying to connect both NICs to the same AP, as I've clarified in my OP, but I would like both of them to work independently. That could mean on two separate APs, that could mean one connected and the other idle, that could mean many things. At this point the only thing I'm trying to achieve is to get my Broadcom NIC working again.
JohnBobSmith

Re: Can I use two internal wifi cards at the same time?

Post by JohnBobSmith »

Apple Bumpkin wrote: At this point the only thing I'm trying to achieve is to get my Broadcom NIC working again.
That is the part that I was wondering about. Sadly I dont know a lot about networking or drivers. Hopefully someone who knows the web and its hardware more than I do will be able to assist further.
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