Slow Link Speed Dell 1703 Wireless Card

[kiteboy]

Hi all

Just recieved an Inspiron 14Z from Dell

Issue is with wireless - we did have problems initially with wireless disconnects and genrally slow speeds

Im not entirely sure but removing Mcafee seemed to help with the disconnects at least - load of rubbish imo

Now my only other major issue is with wireless speeds on the 1703 card

I seem to max out at about 45mb on all broadband speed tests - while on another laptop I get the full speeds of 80mb on the same server at the same location

Im only getting a link speed of 72Mbps in the networking tab of Task Manager and this does seem rather slow - the other laptop gets 450Mbps (better wireless card - to go with my Asus N66U Router)

Anyway my thought process is that the 1703 wireless card is not up to much in the inspiron 14z- I understand that the 1703 card is wireless and bluetooth combined - with I think 2 antenna for bluetooth and wireless

Now I dont use bluetooth much if at all - so does it make sense to buy just a wireless card and connect the two antennas to the card and therefore losing bluetooth connectivity but gaining better wireless connection???

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated .........any wireless card recommendations with or without bluwtooth

I think I have an Intel Centrino WiFi Ultimate N 6300 in the other laptop by the way - that has three antenna connections - if I get another one of these and only connect two antennas - how does that affect speeds

Should I just look at cards with two antenna connections

Thanks for any advice guys

[sfx2000]

The Dell 1703 Wireless B/G/N adapter is based on the Atheros AR9485 - which is a single stream chipset...

http://www.wikidevi.com/wiki/Dell_Wi...11n_%2B_BT_4.0

In a 20MHz 802.11n 2.4GHz channel, 72Mbps is as fast as your going to go with that particular adapter - you might get a bit more by using wide channels in 2.4GHz, but friends don't let friends do wide channels in the ISM band if you want to be a good neighbour...

Welcome to budget laptops

One option for the 14z is to replace that card with Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230, as this is a configure to order option for that model.

enjoy!

[kiteboy]

Originally Posted by sfx2000

The Dell 1703 Wireless B/G/N adapter is based on the Atheros AR9485 - which is a single stream chipset...

http://www.wikidevi.com/wiki/Dell_Wi...11n_%2B_BT_4.0

In a 20MHz 802.11n 2.4GHz channel, 72Mbps is as fast as your going to go with that particular adapter - you might get a bit more by using wide channels in 2.4GHz, but friends don't let friends do wide channels in the ISM band if you want to be a good neighbour...

Welcome to budget laptops

One option for the 14z is to replace that card with Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230, as this is a configure to order option for that model.

enjoy!

Wow thanks!!!

This explains it then - the missus wanted budget and thats what shes got!!!!

Thanks for the info - I will either return it or try the new card that Ive ordered

[sfx2000]

Good luck with it... if you're other half is just using the machine for Email, Websurfing, you might be ok with the card that is already in place...

FWIW - Had a go-round with McAffee that was bundled on a relative's new Dell, and she had the same issues with frequent disconnects or not being able to find the AP... Not sure if it was a bugged version of McAffee or not, but removing it and replacing it with another Anti-Virus package cleaned up that problem...