Home / ubuntu / Questions / 686676
In Process
That Brazilian Guy
Asked: 2015-10-18 08:39:15 +0800 CST

Change default wifi sort order

  • 772

By default, Ubuntu lists nearby wireless networks sorted alphabetically, regardless of the signal strength.

How can I set the list to be displayed in order of wi-fi signal power?

enter image description here

14.04

2 Answers

  1. This behaviour of network-manager-applet is by design and can't be changed.

    From the bugtracker:

    We do understand that at the very first time you setup your computer (or when you're travelling somewhere), there is a need to select networks from a list (potentially fairly long) which is alphabetically listed; however;

    • this is only for the first time you go to a specific location. After that, your "favorite" networks float to the top, followed by a number of other networks (up to five in the "main" menu), then all others to a submenu, all of which alphabetically listed.
    • alphabetical listing makes sense following the concept that it's the natural way to look for a known network name -- which is the most common use cases: you know the name of your home network, if you go to someone's house, they would tell you the SSID to use, etc.
    • your "home" network will not always be at the highest strength (which is especially true where there are lots of wifi networks in range, due to factors such as interference)

    As such, I'll mark this bug as "Won't Fix". Thanks!

    (source)

    • 1

  2. I have 2 home routers set to different dns's.

    On the router that I don't want to use, I turned the setting to "automatically connect to this network when it is available" off in the corresponding profile.

    This way when I start my computer, it connects to the router that I want, perhaps this may work for you as well.

    • -1