How I Got My Wifi Running Consistently on PC-BSD 8.0

Had a hard time looking for the way to setup Wifi on my PC-BSD 8.0 installation. After much navigation, I found it nestled within System Settings -> System Network Configuration.

So I did my configuration here and expected Wifi to connect instantly with no problems. And it connected, for at least 5 mins. then it cut-off and after a few seconds it connected again only to disconnect after 20 secs. (or less). In other words, it was giving me intermittent connection.

I was thinking of ditching PC-BSD but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and scoured the Internets for a solution. And fortunately, I found one which is shared below.

I go to Terminal (Konsole):

[riclags@nix]/home/riclags(14)% su
Password:
root@nix#

Now I am root.

root@nix# vi /boot/loader.conf

I have an Atheros card so this may only work for those who have Atheros cards, or for me only, I really can't tell. Anyway, inside the file, look for the portion with # Load Wireless Support and edit like so.

...# Load Wireless Support
if_ath_load="YES"
#if_ipw_load="YES"
#if_iwi_load="YES"
#if_wpi_load="YES"
#if_iwn_load="YES"
legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1
legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1
legal.intel_wpi.license_ack=1
legal.intel_iwn.license_ack=1
...

I inserted the if_ath_load="YES" and commented out the other if_***_load="YES" lines. Although I am not entirely sure if this is the correct way, but now, I get consistent Wifi connection. No more disconnections every 20 seconds! Yey!