The utility iw
shows the used bitrate and indicates the used IEEE 802.11 standard by its listed capabilities.
Read your interface name from the iw dev
output, and use it within <name>
.
iw dev <name> link
Example output when associated with a legacy (non-802.11n) AP:
tx bitrate: 36.0 MBit/s
"MCS index", indicating a 802.11n AP:
tx bitrate: 300.0 MBit/s MCS 15 40Mhz short GI
"VHT", indicating support for 802.11ac:
tx bitrate: 86.7 MBit/s VHT-MCS 8 short GI VHT-NSS 1
Compare this with the Linux driver 802.11n table. You'll see how the example "MCS 15 40Mhz short GI" 300 MBit/s corresponds to a row within the "HT40 rates" for the "short 400ns GI" column.
To see what your Wi-Fi adapter is generally capable of, independent of the AP link, run iw phy0 info
(synonymous to iw list
) and look for keywords like HT (802.11n) / VHT (802.11ac, (Very) High Throughput), MCS (Modulation and Coding Schemes) index number and long/short GI (Guard Interval).
For more explanations, continue with this Super User answer.