Packet Dropped seen from `ifconfig` could be due to many reasons, you should dig deeper into NIC statistics to figure out real reason. Below are some general reasons - NIC ring buffers getting full and unable to cope-up with incoming bursts of traffic - CPU receiving NIC interrupts is very busy and unable to process - some cable/hardware/duplex issues - some bug in NIC driver Look at the output of * `ethtool -S wlan0` * `iwconfig wlan0` and the content of `/proc/net/wireless` for any further information.