Sending a wav file means a TCP connection between two computers. TCP connections are the most common type of traffic, and the hardware is optimized accordingly. UDP multicast is different, and apparently network hardware is not necessarily as efficient with processing that protocol. Comment #9 seems to suggest that the wifi specification itself forces multicast to be inefficient, so it's not necessarily just the hardware's fault.
Starting from PA version 5.0, module-rtp-send should not generate traffic when nothing is playing (it can still be configured to play silence, but paprefs doesn't configure the module that way). If you observe different behaviour, please file a new bug and attach the output of "pactl list". -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to pulseaudio in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/411688 Title: pulseaudio floods network with multicast packets Status in PulseAudio: Unknown Status in pulseaudio package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in pulseaudio package in Arch Linux: Unknown Status in pulseaudio package in Debian: Fix Released Bug description: Binary package hint: pulseaudio Since a karmic update last week, when pulseaudio is running it floods the network with multicast packets, to the point where the wireless interface I'm using is so flooded that no other network traffic can be transfered. Here is a snippet of tcpdump -i wlan 0 -n: ---8<--- 01:10:36.532748 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23823, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d0f 4000 0111 2d6d 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f9f6 800a ee8e 0x0020: 0071 a980 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.539999 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23824, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d10 4000 0111 2d6c 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f8b5 800a ee8f 0x0020: 0071 aac0 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.547289 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23825, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d11 4000 0111 2d6b 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f774 800a ee90 0x0020: 0071 ac00 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.556725 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23826, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d12 4000 0111 2d6a 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f633 800a ee91 0x0020: 0071 ad40 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.561680 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23827, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d13 4000 0111 2d69 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f4f2 800a ee92 0x0020: 0071 ae80 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.568984 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23828, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d14 4000 0111 2d68 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f3b1 800a ee93 0x0020: 0071 afc0 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.576212 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23829, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d15 4000 0111 2d67 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f270 800a ee94 0x0020: 0071 b100 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.588095 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23830, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d16 4000 0111 2d66 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 f12f 800a ee95 0x0020: 0071 b240 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.590645 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23831, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d17 4000 0111 2d65 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 efee 800a ee96 0x0020: 0071 b380 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.605081 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23832, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d18 4000 0111 2d64 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 eead 800a ee97 0x0020: 0071 b4c0 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.612355 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23833, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d19 4000 0111 2d63 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 ed6c 800a ee98 0x0020: 0071 b600 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.619789 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23834, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d1a 4000 0111 2d62 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 ec2b 800a ee99 0x0020: 0071 b740 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.627001 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23835, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d1b 4000 0111 2d61 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 eaea 800a ee9a 0x0020: 0071 b880 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.634033 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23836, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d1c 4000 0111 2d60 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e9a9 800a ee9b 0x0020: 0071 b9c0 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.643178 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23837, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d1d 4000 0111 2d5f 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e868 800a ee9c 0x0020: 0071 bb00 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.648509 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23838, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d1e 4000 0111 2d5e 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e727 800a ee9d 0x0020: 0071 bc40 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.655723 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23839, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d1f 4000 0111 2d5d 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e5e6 800a ee9e 0x0020: 0071 bd80 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.662926 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23840, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d20 4000 0111 2d5c 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e4a5 800a ee9f 0x0020: 0071 bec0 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.670210 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23841, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d21 4000 0111 2d5b 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e364 800a eea0 0x0020: 0071 c000 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.679610 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23842, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d22 4000 0111 2d5a 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e223 800a eea1 0x0020: 0071 c140 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 01:10:36.684789 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 1, id 23843, offset 0, flags [DF], proto UDP (17), length 1320) 10.0.0.1.45232 > 224.0.0.56.46812: UDP, length 1292 0x0000: 4510 0528 5d23 4000 0111 2d59 0a00 0001 0x0010: e000 0038 b0b0 b6dc 0514 e0e2 800a eea2 0x0020: 0071 c280 ed51 a42b 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0x0040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 ---8<--- As can be seen, these packets are sent several hundreds times a second and this completely overloads the network interface. Apparently I have pulseaudio set with network access enabled, but I can't disable it as the pulseaudio configuration is completely disabled (see screenshot). As pulseaudio keeps recovering itself the only way I can get any work done at the moment is to run "while true; do killall pulseaudio; sleep 1; done" whenever I want to do anything on the network. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/pulseaudio/+bug/411688/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp