Is Dell's wireless card THIS BAD

So I just bought a D-Link 655 Wireless N router and the matching adapter for my mom's laptop because her wireless card was only B. So I installed the router, got the latest firmware, and then put both her and my laptop on wireless to compare speeds and such. So her adapter lets her have 270mbps while mine at max output 130! it keeps steadily going down though.. now its like 19. It doesn't seem to be much slower but why is the Dell card so inconsistent?! I got the Dell 1505 Wireless N card. Is there a way I could upgrade this or optimize this card or will I have to deal with this well-below-what-I-expected connection

 

power savings? maybe the card was set on power settings? try disabling that in the driver menu, and also in the windows vista poer settings menu, maybe your speed will increase then.

you could probably get the dell 1510?
i would not recommend you getting intel wireless cards though... dell's broadcom chip powered cards are pretty good. intel has major issues with it's drivers and will probably still have them for some time... i work in an environment that uses 8021x security and intel cards turn themselves off after some time on the network.

 

The reason her connection speed is so high is because you're matching wireless chipset to wireless chipset.

I've heard good and bad things about the Dell wireless cards though.

 

it is in n mode only ill have to check the security but im pretty sure its on that too.. dell offers no new drivers since last year.. and i bought my comp in march lol.
i just checked with my sisters macbook and she gets 170-200mbps while im struggling to get 130... what the heck!?!
also i dont see any ways to tweak the settings on the Dell card. This is like really annoying.

 

Check your router settings. Make sure it's broadcasting correctly. I found that when I set my D-Link to G only, my 1505 card responded a lot better. Although, I much prefer the Intel 4965AGN as I hear it's more consistent. Just me though, I called in and asked for the upgrade.

 

i dont want to use G speeds because i have a N card and i just bought an N card for my mother so limiting the router to only 54 mbps is kind of out of the question. i broadcasted the router to only output N at 20/40 mhz.
im trying to figure out is there anyway to optimize my dell card or something

 

Is the problem occurring when you're on battery or plugged in?

 

both i dont even see an option in dells utility to change its wireless capabilities based off adapter or not

 

From what I remember, I saw different options for the wireless performance in the Advanced Power settings.

 

I too am seeing terrible things with the Dell 1505 adapter. I am setting up a XPS M1530 for my business partner. I have it and my Sony FZ190 sitting side by side. Connecting to the same wireless router the Sony shows "excellent" signal strength. The Dell fluctuates between "very good" and "fair". Both machines are on AC power sitting inches apart. I have moved the Dell around a bit to see if there was some "interference" but to no avail.

What's up with that? The Sony has the Intel 4965 card.

Gary

 

What router are your using? Are you trying to get N speeds? I get a "fair" signal in my bedorom, which is like 900sq away from the router while the adapter i bought for my moms laptop gets "excellent" to "very good". I know its the adapter so its meant to work with the router, but its not even listed under the "Recommended" adapters on the box of the router. Is it getting so much better signal and speeds because it has external antennas instead of internal? I'm still trying to figure out how to tweak the wireless card but i really see no options

 

I am only attempting "B" speeds. That is the limit of the wireless gateway I am using. (I have DSL router and then the wireless gateway attached to the router.) But why should the gateway matter anyway? The Sony laptop and the Dell, both with internal antenna, are literally sitting side by side. The Sony gets consistant steady 5 bars. The Dell struggles for three or four with the signal strength rising and falling continuously. The Dell card SUCKS, Monday morning it goes back to Dell for an Intel replacement.

Gary

 

hi im having the same problem.

when i first got my m1530 the speed was good cause when i play a game it tells me my latency

the nrecently it stayed at around 300 and sometimes going up to 800!!

i checked my wireless settings and most of the time it stays at 11 mbps and goes from that to 36 mbps and back down

anyone know why?

my router is dlink wbr-1310

 

I have dealt with 5 or so Dell 133Os with the Dell 1505 adapters, and all have been consistent headaches, whereas my Intel 4965 is consistently rock-solid.

 

i guess theres a reason why Intel processor + Intel chipset + Intel wireless card = branded as Centrino

 

I too had several head headaches with Dell branded wireless cards. I finally dropped the coin on a 4965 and have not had a single issue since.

N speeds are excellent and compatibility with several different AP's has not been a issue.

-Funk