I mentioned it in a previous post, now I’m making a separate post to satisfy any Googlers out there.

Ever since disabling TCP Window Scaling on my TouchPad, I’ve been able to enjoy problem-free web browsing – a far cry from the hit-or-miss affair I endured previously.

I won’t get into the nuances of why setting a scaling factor of 0 may resolve your problem, but suffice it to say that it comes down to your client believing that certain TCP options are set while the server does not. Blame your router – that’s where the problem lies, but in my case I also found my smartphone’s WiFi hotspot to suffer from the same problem.

So in the name of mobility, I offer a fix on the TouchPad itself. Hopefully it works as well for you as it has for me.

[update] I’m including a summary of the steps you’ll need to follow.  I take no responsibility if you fubar your device!!! The actual fix is in step 6 below, which adds the option to turn off window scaling to the /etc/sysctl.conf file.  On my TouchPad this file did not previously exist.  Alternatively you can enter the following:

sysctl -w “net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling=0”

This will apply the change immediately, and you can see for yourself if it resolves your browsing issues.  If it does, use the command from step 6 below.

1. Turn on Developer Mode (search on Google, it’s quite trivial to do).
2. Download WebOSQuickInstall to your PC (again, search on Google).
3. Connect your TouchPad to your PC via USB.  Select the “Charge Only” option.
4. Run WebOSQuickInstall.
5. Go to the Tools menu, then Linux Command-line
6. Enter the following: echo “net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling=0” >>/etc/sysctl.conf
7. Close WebOSQuickInstall, and reboot your TouchPad

That’s it!