Centrino n-1030 wireless cards. Do they all have this problem?

Centrino wirelessN 1030 intermittent connectivity on brand-new laptops - Networking, Internet, Wireless Forum - Networking, Internet, Wireless - Dell Community

Re: New Inspiron n5110 (15r), Centrino Wireless N 1030 - dreadful wireless reception - Networking, Internet, Wireless Forum - Networking, Internet, Wireless - Dell Community

Centrino Wireness N 1030 poor...: Intel Communities

Well, I got an Inspiron 17r with the Centrino n-1030 and I am having the exact same problem. In my case I have run thru every one of the fixes and nothing works.

Has anyone else observed this problem?

 

You should consider upgrading your wireless card ( here are some possible choices) to the Intel Centrino 6200, 6300, etc, but check if the your Dell BIOS blacklists the network card.

 

If more recent drivers and disabling power-saving for Wi-Fi card didn't work it's probably time to upgrade.
As a rule of thumb I avoid entry level hardware and Intel- contrary to what people believe- is notorious for problematic Wi-Fi cards.
An exhaustive list of good cards they made is: 5300, 6200 & 6300- the last one makes no sense unless you have/plan on buying a 450mbps router.

 

Unfortunately Dell doesn't offer any upgrade choice on the model I bought.

After trying some more things I have gotten it to connect consistency at 130 Mbps. Seems a combination of the latest Intel drivers and ProSet software with a bunch of other changes will get it to stay connected. However, a 18 dollar external wireless which connects at the same speed gets TWICE the actual throughput. The external is an Atheros chip.

I checked around and it seems most, if not all, Sandy Bridge laptops use the Centrino n-1030. Since I need the USB 3.0 that is a feature of Sandy Bridge, and to the best of knowledge is not yet available on AMD based laptops, I am stuck with the Intel solution.

This is actually my second laptop and I pretty much only use it when I am on my treadmill for an hour a day. I want the USB 3.0 so I can copy large video files to the laptop for viewing. I also need the 17 inch screen for viewing. I guess I could stick with an external card, but its pretty b.s. that the Centrino chip is a disaster and people are apparently returning them en mass to Dell and HP. Since that is pretty much all I use the laptop for I really don't want to spend much more than the 550 I paid for this one.

 

It's not that bad there are bunch of laptops that use 6200 but it's usually an upgrade you make while configuring. It's hard to believe that Dell doesn't offer 6200 to upgrade.
Does Dell whitelist cards? If not you may simply buy one on eBay.

 

On older Dells I haven't had any problem changing the card.
I decided to just pop in one of those mini usb wireless adapters.
I figure eventually Intel or Dell will fix the issue.