Dell Studio 1525 Wireless Issues

Hi all,

I'm currently using a Dell Studio 15n and am having some issues in regards to my wireless connection slowing down.

I'm about 2m away from my router and when I start up my laptop I have a full strength signal and speed of 54.0Mbps. However, the signal speed randomly degrades to 1.0Mbps but still with a full strength signal.

First I thought it was my router so I tested it with 4 other routers (different brands) and I had the same issue occur with all the other routers (I'm currently using a Billion 7401).

Secondly, my girlfriend uses a Dell Inspiron and has no problems with her wireless and has never had an issue with the speed dropping or the signal strength.

So I can only point the finger at my wireless card in the laptop. After trying many things (even changing OS's Ubuntu, XP, Vista) I still seem to get the issue.

I did read some where that maybe the WLAN card antennas were not connected but I have no idea if what I'm looking at is not faulty or faulty.

Here is a screenshot of what is under the hood:



Can anyone shed some light on what might the cause of the problem?

Thank You!

 

Have you ever tried bringing your notebook somewhere else to connect to wireless router other than yours, or for instance a hotspot?

How about trying to connect your girlfriend's Inspiron to your wireless router?

Looking at your photo, the antenna leads are connected. But don't know if there is broken wire on its way.

My guess is that there is too much radio interference near your wireless router, i.e. 2.4 GHz cordless phone, Microwave oven, etc. That is why I ask first whether you have tried to connect wirelessly in other place. Moving your wireless router placement is the best answer for this.

Second, it could be the wireless channel assignment. There might be other wireless routers/access points nearby using the same channel as yours. Especially that nowadays wireless N router can have a wideband channel in 2.4GHz which takes a lot of spectrum.

Use Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility to scan for the unused channel, less used channel, or channel with less strength signal if the neighborhood is too crowded with wireless routers/access points, and use it as your wireless router channel.