Laptops with Slow or Poor Wi-Fi Performance? Try Buying a New Wireless Adapter

pernunz on 26/06/2019 - 21:34
Last edited 27/06/2019 - 09:21 by 1 other user

After picking up the Lenovo E585 in this ripper of a deal I was a little disappointed with the Wifi Performance when it was a reasonable distance from the router.

I bought a new Wireless Network adapter, the Intel Wireless AC 9260 from uMart for less than $30 delivered

It was a pretty straightforward upgrade (as someone who's only previous experience has been upgrading from a HDD to an SSD) but the Wifi performance upgrade was fantastic. Where it would previously struggle to load 144p youtube (when a long distance from the router with multiple walls between device and router), I now get consistent 720p or better.

Would have loved to have posted this on the deal page, but comments are now expired, so hopefully someone else finds this useful.

If you've got a laptop and the Wifi performance is bad, the solution might be easier than you thought.

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  AdosHouse on 26/06/2019 - 21:48

  +3

  While a good piece of advice, I can't imagine the factory Qualcomm AC wifi unit being so bad that it couldn't even play a 144p video on Youtube. Chances are the the unit in your laptop was defective, or the antenna cables weren't connected properly.

  Still, good little find and upgrade.

  • 

    pernunz on 27/06/2019 - 07:09

    It was a fair distance from the router after multiple walls, in a garage at the back of my house. My phone and previous laptop struggle at that range, but now the laptop is fine.

    Even closing just the size of the chips the Intel one I linked was around 40% larger in size than the QC one I replaced.

    Edited my post to make it clearer. Performance of the old chip was normal when within normal distances, but the upgrade has boosted performance at range

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  grumps on 26/06/2019 - 21:49

  +2

  did you contact Lenovo support regarding this. they probably would have replaced the Wi-Fi card under warranty

  • 

    Blue Cat on 26/06/2019 - 22:50

    +1

    Yeah, but then you would probably have to waste 2 months battling Lenovo to accept a warranty repair, send it out, wait to get it fixed and get it shipped back.

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  Ryanek on 26/06/2019 - 22:14

  +1

  Make sure you have all the latest drivers.

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  Gravy on 26/06/2019 - 23:01

  +1

  I got given a handmedown macbook a while back that had very poor wireless distance. I took it apart and found the antenna wires weren't seated correctly on the card. Reseated… Fixered.

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  Gnostikos on 27/06/2019 - 14:56

  WiFi reception and connectivity issues are router-related 90% of the time, and nothing to do with the NIC.

  Even the shittiest 10-cent, 802.11n/802.11ac WiFi NIC should be capable of 50Mbp/s throughput easy, which is overkill for most Australian internet connections and home networks.

  The key thing with any NIC, whether wired or wireless, is to disable all power-saving/green/eco bullsh*t in the WiFi adapter's driver settings (usually in Device Manager) and change any performance-enhancing settings (i.e. set your preferred channel and band to match your router's).

  The problem is the ISP-bundled modem-routers or the sub-$100 routers most people use in their homes have garbage WiFi radios that simply cannot provide constant signal strength and throughput save for when a device is in line-of-sight.

  Spending big on a modem-router/router upfront (at least $150, preferably $200) will save you the headache of many network connectivity issues in years to come and will likely boost your downstream Internet speeds and line stability to boot.