Need some advice from the computer gurus.
I have a Dell Inspiron 5748 - about 2-3 years old. My wifi connectivity is spotty and the speeds I'm getting from our home network are running about 20 Mbps slower than my wife's Thinkpad, and my daughter's Samsung when checked from the same locations throughout the house. The speed seemed to be great when I first got the laptop, but it's been giving me fits for months now and I've had to rely on an inconvenient wired connection at times. I've tried a couple of different USB plug in network adapters I ordered off Amazon, but they didn't perform any better so I ditched them and re-enabled the network card inside. Does it sound like I need a new card, or is there some other culprit to consider? If I need a new card, is there a recommendation for which to get? And is it something I could easily switch out with some help from Google and YouTube?

Thanks!

I'd probably change the power settings so the wifi adapter doesn't shut off. Also, check to see that it is set up for maximum performance.

quote:

Originally posted by striker1:
I'd probably change the power settings so the wifi adapter doesn't shut off. Also, check to see that it is set up for maximum performance.

I should have mentioned that I did that a little while back and it didn't solve the issue. Any other ideas?

location, location, location. Does the machine perform as poorly connected elsewhere? As with other wifi signals, other routers.

There's some tweaking to be done to the NIC parameters and also to fine tune the wifi signal/router.

Have you flushed the OS networking thingies? Word evades me right now, used to get fixed with winsockfix back in the XP days.


0-0

I would look for updated drivers first. Start with the dell website and use the service code on the laptop to find the model installed.

IF it is the card then it is not expensive or hard to do.
Keep in mind there are many factors that could be causing the sub-performance.
Could be simple as an internal antenna wire coming off or congestions from neighbors or misconfigured protocols or poor placement or ......
However, since it is cheap and easy ~ why not?

What is the age of your wife's Thinkpad and your daughter's Samsung? Could they be hopping onto the 5Ghz band, while you're relegated to the 2.4Ghz band? My Thinkpad has a dual band WiFi card and always rides the 5Ghz band at my home which is quite a bit faster than 2.4.

Thanks for all the help, Gents! Gonna try to respond in order:

0-0: I haven't taken it anywhere away from home to be able to answer. I've used my iPad or phone for the little bit of connectivity I've needed on all my recent trips. I'm completely ignorant in regard to NIC parameters and the OS thingies you mentioned.

pbramlett: I'll give that a shot next. Thanks!

smschulz: Any suggestions for what card to try if nothing else does the trick?

bigdeal: Wife's current ThinkPad is brand new, but she just got it a couple of weeks ago as a replacement for her last ThinkPad which was at least 7 years old. Neither has issues. Daughter's Samsung is a year or so old. My current Verizon router doesn't have a 5G band. I thought it did because one showed up when we added an extender to boost the signal upstairs, but the tech told me that it was really still just 2.4G since the actual router didn't support 5G. If you're familiar with Verizon Fios, my current router is the black and red with 2 antennae. ActionTec I think. I only have the 50/50 service but the other laptops/iPads/phones, all seem to fly. Wife's and daughter's both get around 35Mbps on downloads and uploads. I used to get upper 20's on mine, but lately it's been ~11 and sometimes just dropping altogether.