internal wireless antenna wires - incorrect hookup - how critical is it?

So i got this brand-new Alienware M18xR2 with intel 2230 wireless (two antennas).

For the reason unknown, one of the three antenna connector came ripped off from the factory,
while the other two was intact. (It seems Dell Outlet NEW ain't exactly NEW)
Since 2230 utilizes only two antennas, I thought it was no big deal and conntected
two remaining antennas to 2230.

I soon realized that from Dell Service manual, I need White antenna for the MAIN and Black antenna for the AUX.
The Gray one is optional, which is not required for my 2230.

However, I have Gray and Black intact, while White is missing. Seeing no other choice, i connected Gray to the MAIN(incorrect hookup) and Black to the AUX(correct hookup).

The wireless seems to run okay, although it seems a bit slower than my other notebooks.

My question is, how critical is it to have this incorrect wireless setup? what are the difference between
those three wires? is it simply a location of those antennas? or is there some fundamental engineering
difference between those wires?

thanks!

 

As far as I can tell, they perform the more or less the same, coming from trying to route 3rd antennas on a HP dv6 and testing 5 x antenna on my m6600.

But you can always use that as a excuse for a swap

 

you are correct in that the colors usually denote the location for each colored wire. if you have an N class WIFI card then you really need the third antenna.... i have installed them, but usually it's easier to put them in an empty part of the laptop chassis and not in the LCD assembly. while you will loose just a bit of the third antenna's reception, it will still be an improvment over 2 IF YOU HAVE AN N CLASS WIFI CARD.

otherwise, maybe try to reverse the colors around if it's a G card.... it may help but it can't hurt....

good luck
bigO

 

A bit of clarification- "n" card doesn't mean three antennas. Most 802.11n cards are two stream ones and need only two antennas.
Those that need three do not benefit from this unless a three stream router is involved on the other end.

It has been tested by one of our moderators that adding a third antenna doesn't improve reception or signal quality or range for that matter- it's purely the matter of speed in three stream configurations (450mbps ones)

Also as baiii pointed out it doesn't matter if you switch them or not.

 

Really? I was pretty sure that the conclusion was that it did improve.