Deplorable wireless performance on new XPS 1647

Just recieved my new XPS (i5 520, RGBLED, 4670, etc) nice fit an finish. Absolutely useless wireless. Mine came with Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-card. I can only connect to my router (Linksys WRT54G3G-AT 3G) if laptop stays within 10-15 ft from router. Even when in immediate proximity dell wireless utility says poor signal. I could have believed it was my router fault but my 7 years old Toshiba Satellite with $15 TRENDnet G card can link up to this router all the way from my detached workshop which is good 150-200 ft away. Anywhere around the house it shows at least 70-80% signal strength and 54Mb link. My new dell at best gets 5.5Mp and more like 1-2 in real download sitting right beside the router. It's totally unusable. I got latest drivers from Dell, installed A03 bios, fiddled with advanced settings. No effect! I mean it's unusable as mobile computer pretty much. Hopefully its just a card issue and not screen built-in antenna.

Guess I'd have to call Dell and get them to fix it otherwise I will have to demand refund I didn't pay 1200 for poor desktop substitute.

On the other note, I ran 3dMark06 and only got barely over 5000 score. What's up with that? I have again fairly old desktop with Athlon X2 64 3.2 Ghz , ATI 3850 ant get 9000+.


Any one else experienced similar problem on newish XPS? I've searched and didn't find anything.

 

Yes you can go with Dell's solution route but you will only get a similar replacement. Or, you can invest in an Intel 6200/6300 wireless card which you cant go wrong with and they are cheap. I particularly prefer the 6300 since it has 3 antennas. your call man.

 

the dell wireless cards are junk. Why didn't you buy the intel? I've used their dell cards with little success before. Intel all the way though. Safe yourself the trouble and ask them to send you an intel card to exchange the dell one. Offer to pay the difference. If not, just buy one off ebay. Intel wifi 5300 adapter should drop right in, or it might be the 6200. Either way that's the option I would have went with, not their poor "dell" brand solution.

 

Guess I'll take cover off and see if antenna is attached properly. Is it soldered on? One in the middle right? http://www.notebookreview.com/shared/picture.asp?f=39915

 

Any thoughts on 6300 performance vs 5300? I have the later in my xps 1645 and rather like it, but an upgrade is always an upgrade...

I can never find data on these sorts of things.

 

they're not soldered on, they have small push on "cups" that go over the bnc style coax connector. I found that using one of the small style screw drivers to help 'drive them home' works. You'll feel a slight thunk/clip when you set it the whole way.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5934843

according to intel is 40% better lolol.

I found someone on ebay that has a lot of them, 48$/ea. Might be worth it. I'm too lazy to bother/care.

in that thread the talk about it being 3x3, so you would need the additional antenna, but you won't see anything more until the 3x antenna 450mbit routers come out.

 

One thing to note: Make sure your router's firmware is up to date. This can solve a lot of issues. Even though it is otherwise working, it may not have the capability to work properly with the new card.

Also, Dell Control Point Connection Manager was just updated in the last week, so make sure that is up to date.

 

my 6300 is on its way from Japan. I ordered it it thru ebay. I will update you guys with performance when I get it.

 

i've seen dubious performance on dual-band n (airport extreme) when using the 5.0ghz band, but i get great range on the 2.4 ghz band -- i took the xps 16 into the external garage (which is a bit of a faraday cage and 400ft out from the router) and still got a reliable 4 (out of 5) bars. the 5.0 connection, on the other hand, is kinda trash -- i got 1-2 bars with it.

 

What kind of router are you using? My Verizon Fios router is giving me hard time, its old and doesnt support N and verizon has no plans to release a newer version. Its actually a cable modem/wireless router. I wish I can just go to BB and get whatever newest.

 

The 1520 doesn't do bad with my WRT610n's running DD-WRT, I use 5GHz, 40MHz channel width. 2.4GHz is used for G

I'm still going to buy a Intel 6300, one of my netbooks could use the Dell 1520

Linksys has beeing doing WRT610n v1 refurbs for $93

 

You will get better range at 2.4 vs 5 (especially when you have several walls).

 

ah, okay. my router is an airport extreme. thanks!

 

Some things to consider;
(other than the poor range and throughput as seen in this review of the airport extreme dual band)
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...ng-new-apple-airport-extreme-briefly-reviewed
And the incorrect antenna wiring on this unit.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...4-more-surprises-from-the-new-airport-extreme

5GHz bands have much greater spectrum available. In this band there are 12 non-overlapping channels, each with 20MHz of bandwidth. This means significantly better performance as compared to the 2.4GHz band. The entire 2.4GHz band is 80MHz wide, which only allows three non-overlapping channels. If high performance is an important requirement, then lean toward the 5GHz band.

Distance from router/access point is also another factor because as the frequency increases range generally decreases. As a result, 5GHz systems generally have less range than ones operating in the 2.4GHz band. You may benefit by using 2.4GHz if you are some distance from your router/access point unless high performance is critical.

Radio Frequency Interference (RF) 2.4GHz WLAN users can experience interference from cordless phones, microwaves, and from other WLANs. The interfering signals can degrade the performance of an 802.11b/g/n WLAN by periodically blocking users and access points from accessing the shared air medium. If it's not possible to reduce potential interference to an acceptable level, then consider deploying a 5GHz system, which is relatively free from interfering sources.

My solution to this, like you, was to buy a dual band N router (Netgear WNDR3700), so when I get too far from my router/access point and the 5GHz signal starts to degrade, I simply switch over to the 2.4GHz band which has a much farther range.

 

didn't know there was such a disparity in range between 2.4 and 5. good info, and thanks!

 

Ok solved. Guess craftsmanship can be lackluster sometimes.

Neither one of antenna connectors were attached at all

Rectified this situation. Now wireless works like a champ.

Ok now to 3DMark06. 5000 is pretty low for this setup isn't it?

 

@ABK
Awesome. I cant’ believe someone would forget to connect the wires?
You didn't happen to see a 3rd antenna wire in there while you had it apart did you? (For a 3x3 wlan card) I think I see one in your pics, I just want to verify. Thanks!

 

I didn't see any. There are 2 other wires but they are obviously for 3G/4G type wireless connection.
Ran 3DMarkVantage - 2146 score, relatively low as well if think. I'm still learning that turbo boost stuff. Wonder if that didn't kick in.

 

Thanks! Have you seen or used this Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Monitor?

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18353

 

lol wow that's ridiculous.

I thought that might be the problem but figured dell was smart enough to connect that before shipping. I still don't care for the Dell cards glad you got it fixed thought.

 

Even I have the dell 1520 card and it works gr8 for me anywhere I go. I dont know why y'all criticize it. It might be that Intel's card has more features. All I care about is Dell's card just works!

 

Is it worth buying an Intel card to replace a Dell 1520n in an M1340? What about an Intel 6300 to replace an Intel 5300 in an M1640?

 

the only reason to go 6300 is if you intend on buying a 3x3 router (450mbit) otherwise just get 5300 for them. I would only bother if you're having connection issues or want to pull your hair out with the dell card driver/software.

 

I purchased on pretty decent promo last month, they wanted $30 to upgrade to the 6200 from the Dell 1520 WLAN. I knew you could buy a Intel 6300 WLAN from eBay for just a little more but have two adapters...

There was no 6300 upgrade option for me. I believe that Dell later raised their base prices and included the 6200 plus an additional year warranty.

I purchased the 6300 last night.

 

If you are having issues with the 1520, yes..

I wouldn't bother with upgrading the 5300.

 

If you guys want the intel 6200 or 6300 cheaper you can get one off of provantage for 24/34 respectively with 3-5 day shipping instead of waiting 3 weeks from hong Kong


Ordered my self one today...gets here Wednesday!

 

Guys, would you recommend this wireless card?:
Intel Wifi 5100 Agn 802.11n

Thanks.

 

The x100 cards are the low-end Intel cards. For an extra $10 you can get high-end 5300 instead.

 

Guys, im from Argentina and i can buy the Intel 6300 here : (..
Where can i buy one?
Any link with a seller that can do international shipping?

EDIT: Would you recommend this one?:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-INTEL-WIFI-...130?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5d65a812
Thanks.

 

Yes, the 6300 is their best card out right now.

 

Awesome, just ordered it... : )
Im gonna kep you updated.

 

If you're having wireless problems, try updating the drivers for the card. When I got my SXPS it refused to work about 50% of the time after rebooting, and the drivers said the compatible hardware was not installed. I had to install via Device Manager to bypass the check.

 

How does the intel centrino advanced 6200n compare to the 5300 N card?

I am looking at the xps 16 on EPP and the configuration I selected ($1099) comes with the built in centrino 6200n with no option for switching to the discrete card.

 

I had a 5300 on my original 1645, and got a 6250 (exact same as the 6200, but WiMax comparable) in my replacement. I was worried at first that the 6200/6250 wouldn't perform as well, as the 5300 has 3 antennas, and the 62*0 only has 2.

However, before I sent my old laptop back to Dell, I did a test. I have a wireless router (3-antenna trendnet wireless-n) on my 1st floor. I took my laptop up to my 3rd floor and ran inSSIDer, which gives me the exact strength in db of my signal (instead of just 3/5 bars). I recoded the average signal strength for each card. I found that I had about 5db stronger signal with the 6250, even though it had 1 less antenna.

BTW, Centrino isn't built in. Intel just changed using the term centrino for describing an entire system to describing just the wireless card. The 62*0 cards are the exact same mini-PCIe half-card form factor that the 5300 is (less 1 antenna).

 

oh ok, thanks. It looks like the 6200n (it is n compatible right?) seems good enough, i'm sure its better than the 'dell' integrated wireless.

What is wimax btw?

It will be interesting if you can order a different wireless card in that specific config 1467 on EPP.

 

I'm pretty sure WiMax is where an ISP sets up APs with a different standard, where signals can persist for kilometres. Usually it's for rural areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX

 

Yeah, the 6x series is wireless-n.

Wimax is a different standard that 'regular' wireless. It's a paid-for wireless mobile connection. If you know about smartphones, 4G and Wimax are the same thing.