Killer Wireless-AC 1550 Review

So after a long wait, I was so excited to finally receive my Killer Wireless-AC 1550 and was even more excited to test it with the new 60GHz band on my Nighthawk X10 router

Well, I first installed the driver and immediately noticed that the device also says at the end of the Killer AC 1550 >>> 9260NGW.... I didn't have good feelings about this because when I tested the Intel 9260 Wireless Card, it had the worst signal ever! When I say signal, I mean the range sucks.



I live in a 2 story house. My room is located only 8 feet away from my router but the router is in a little storage room which has a wooden door, then you have my room's wooden door so that makes 2 doors

but still, I have one of the best routers out there (Nighthawk X10) so 8 feet away should be a problem

I installed the latest driver which is Killer Wireless-AC 1550 Driver v20.30.1.2 (at the time of writing this) and the Killer AC 1550 Bluetooth Driver v20.30.0.3

I have turned on the SmartConnect feature on my router which automatically chooses the best band, with the Killer AC1535, even with SmartConnect, I would always be connected to the 5GHz band @866MBPS.

Now with the Killer AC1550, with SmartConnecct, this is what I got:




I then went into my router and disabled SmartConnect to get 3 separate bands, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 60 GHz

My Killer AC 1550 couldn't even see the 60GHz network, I know that it doesn't penetrate walls so that probably is the reason.

I manually connected to the 5 GHz network but it didn't connect with the full speed @866 MBPS like it did with the Killer AC1535, it keeps fluctuating between 173 MBPS, to 234 MBPS, to 390 MBPS back and forth.



Whatever happened to the awesome Killer Beam Forming and awesome range? It's gone! This card gentlemen is not a REAL Killer card, it's just a rebadged Intel 9260 with the Killer name on it as we saw in device Manager. Even the Bluetooth Driver is from Intel and the WLAN Driver is the same version as the latest one from Intel but who cares about all that, if your router is located behind doors, walls, different stories, it's best to stick with the Killer AC1535 for the best range,

To be fair though, my internet speeds remained unaffected, probably because my download speed is 100MBPS and upload is 20MBPS so any theoretical speed that I was complaining about won't affect me. Still, if I want to transfer files or stream over the network then it would matter

 

Oh and before anyone asks, I did also try setting the roaming aggressiveness to low and the transmit power to High and Optimized Throughput = Enabled, Made 0 difference with the range / connection speed.

 

Despite the lower range and lower connection speed to my router, I am experiencing snappier web browsing with 0 lag and my VPN is actually working faster with this Intel card.

 

Give this mess A BIG Thanks to.... Rivet Networks’ new partnership with Intel.

 

The only things I can suggest is trying different channels and turning off Bluetooth if you don't need it.

I have 100 Mbps Internet service from Spectrum and get download speeds between 105 Mbps and 118 Mbps at various times.

The 3 1/2 year old MSI GS60 is in line of sight and 15' from the R7800 router

My Desktop PC with Killer 1550 is 30' from the R7800 and one wall between it and the R7800.It gets similar download speeds as the GS60 but shows an average of 702 Mbps Data Rate in inSSIDer.

 

I tried different channels, didn't change a thing. Also, I am not complaining about my internet speed, my internet speed is only 100MBPS so whatever speed my Wireless card I am connecting to is fine and is not limiting my internet speed, what I am not happy about is the max theoretical speed that it's connecting at where the Killer AC 1535 used to connect at the full 866 MBPSs speed and this one doesn't even reach quarter of that speed. So if I were to transfer large files over the network, the performance would be horrid.

I knew this card was made with collaboration with Intel which gave me some doubts but what I didn't know is that it's the exact same Intel 9260 Card just rebranded to say Killer I already had bought the Intel 9260 last month and quickly uninstalled it within 30 minutes of testing it due to how bad the range was, only to realize that I just bought the same card again

@Killer_Networking Very disappointed!

 

I have a question for @Killer_Networking... Why would / wanted Rivet Networks have a partnership with Intel in first place? Due money, afraid being left behind by Intel or you had problems fix a new wireless networking adapter on your own? Thanks

 

So I was just surfing the net and I suddenly noticed my internet speed was super slow, websites were loading in slow motion. All of 'em.........so I quickly checked my connection speed and look what I found:



I am removing this piece of crap card and going back to my trusty Killer AC 1535 FTW

 

Is there only one driver for this card? None older you can test?

 

What was the pings like as it stands now it would seem that the issues with the killer 1550 is the same i had with 7260AC from Intel guess I will be sticking to my 1535.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

 

one for now. I don't think any driver will magically increase its range. It's not surprising, all my previous Intel cards had the same issue like the Intel 8265, their range is exactly the same, horrible!

 

Well now the connection speed went back up to 235MBPS on the Wireless Card so I can't tell you what the ping rate was when it dropped to 35MBPS. Right now the ping rate is 4ms and everything is snappy. Until it suddenly decides to drop down in speed to 65 MBPS then lower to 35 MBPS is when the internet becomes like a 56K dial up modem connection.

 

Maybe test the one for Dellbooks? Probably the same. Up to j00

 

Just run a normal ping if the issue with the connection speed is the same then a simple ping to your router will have bursts of high ping rates.


Make sure its ping (routers IP) -t let it ping for two minutes


Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

 

Neither 9260 nor 1550 support 60GHz band. They simply don't have the necessary circuity; you should have gotten a 18260/18265 or QCA9008-TBD1 with corresponding 60GHz antenna if you care about 802.11ad - and it's line of sight regardless, doubt you'll ever need it in a router.

 

Killer 1535 is probably the best notebook WiFi card available. I've had excellent results with 4 Killer 1535 cards.

Intel 8260 kind of sucks as well, but probably not as bad as the 9260. My P870DM-G came with the Intel 8260. I'll probably replace it with a 1535 one of these days.

 

I have 3 9260s now if you want me to send you one.

One is the actual Intel branded one, and 2 are Killer (same garbage)

I highly urge you to get a 1535 though if you want awesome range and stable connection

 

No, but I do appreciate the offer. I will just use the 8260 until I get around to replacing it with another Killer 1535.

 

@Phoenix Could you give a screenshot of Advanced Settings for 1550 driver before you return it and use 1535?
Try changing the orientation of side antennas from 90 degree to 135/150 degrees and maybe you will see a difference.
Awesome review nonetheless!

That sucks. Another ac card is a waste when current ones perfectly ticks all boxes.

 

Thanks for the review @Phoenix
This is not looking very promising.

 

@Papusan

I reinstalled my Killer AC 1535, from the same location, the connection is established @ 866 MBPS and never drops and here is my speed test as well.

 

I haven’t had time to dive deeper into it yet but so far the 1550 is dogsh%t for me as well. I had to put my 1535 back into my main laptop to get work done. Will install it in a spare laptop for further testing later this week.

 

Where's the advanced settings tab of 1550 in devmgmt.msc?

 

hum... looks like ill be changing the 9260 on my wishlist to a 1535 or just stick with my current intel 7265

something im confused about: doesnt the 9260 spec include 1733 mbps max bandwidth? upgraded from previous 866 mbps wifi cards?

Sent from my Xiaomi Mi Max 2 (Oxygen) using Tapatalk

 

forget the white paper specs, the darn thing has very weak signal power!! It's like you have to have the router in the same room otherwise you get crappy signal. So might as well just go wired then. Heh.

Even though the signal bar would show like 4 or even 5 bars, but it connects at very low speeds between 35MBPS and 390MBPS fluctuating and mind you I have tested the previous 9260 I have with not only my Nighthawk X 10, but also with an ASUS RT-AC88U, same crap.

The Intel 8265 is no different in signal power, it's weak as heck.

with the Killer 1535, my signal bars fluctuate between 3 or even go as low as 2 bars but the connection speed remains stable at a solid 866MBPS.

 

Hi Phoenix - I am with Rivet Networks - we make Killer Networking products. Would you be willing to work with our tech support? There are a few things that don't make sense about what you are seeing, and we would like to better understand why.

Here are a few notes:

1. Glad you like the 1535
2. Neither the 1535 or the 1550 (nor the Intel products you mentioned) will connect to a 60GHz channel - that is 11ad technology and these are 11ac products.
3. It seems strange that it connects at 32.5 Mbps to 224 Mbps. Very weird. We don't see that in our testing, and we test the crap out of it. In fact, its range is extremely strong in general.

If you are willing, I will put our lead tech support engineer in touch with you. At this point we are wondering if you got a defective module but we can't know for certain at this point.

Thanks - and so sorry you had a bad experience.

 

If you look at post #5 in this thread you can see in the inSSIDer screenshot it does report that The Maximum Data Rate(theoretical) is 1,733.30 Mbps.

In the Advanced tab of the 1550 adapter settings I'm disappointed in the 5 ghz channel width option of Auto and not 160 or 80+80

The only improvement I've encountered over previous Wi-Fi cards is in transferring files from USB attached storage on the USB 3.0 router ports to other devices on the home network.Playing videos on the USB storage is without issue.

Streaming video off Amazon Prime works very well.

I'm not having the bad theoretical Data Rate speeds as Phoenix.

The notebook in the same room as the router 15' away is a steady 866.7(28-32dBm connection strength) while a Desktop with a 1550 in a PCI-E x1 adapter(48-52dBm connection strength) that's in another room 30' from the router and one sheet rock wall is fairly steady at 650 Mbps-780 Mbps.

Achieving these speeds requires me to choose Channel 149 in the R7800 setup.Channels 153,157 and 161 get lower speeds and fluctuations evenings and weekends when several neighbors are on 5ghz.Link Score will drop from 100 to 80

I have the Bluetooth radio off on connected PCs.

EDIT:I'm now trying channel 48 that inSSIDer suggests I use.A new neighbor has decided to park on channel 149.

 

Thank you for looking out for your customers.

I have both the actual Intel 9260 card which I bought last month and now the Killer AC 1550 they are both the exact same when it comes to their range and how the connection speed keeps fluctuating. As you saw from the tests the Killer AC 1535 connects stable @ 866MBPS all day long. Now I know that it has a stronger signal vs Intel's products in the past so I was not surprised by these results.

I don't think I could have gotten 2 defective cards and I even have a brand new unopened one which I bought from Killer through Amazon.

I will PM you my email now so your lead engineer can contact me.

 

something interesting guys:

In the past, the black cable with a red sticker around it was connected to the black spot on the Killer card Main and the second cable which has no sticker on it was connected to the white spot (AUX)

So obviously I would remove the card, install the Intel card, and connect the cable which was in the black spot on the Killer card to the black spot on the Intel card and the same for the white spot.

Today while installing the Killer AC 1550 again, I thought of looking and what do you know, Intel has them switched around, now the black spot is Aux and the white spot is Main!!

So I thought ohhh myyy maybe that's the reason behind all my issues



So I connected them to the correct places now and was so excited to boot up Windows only to discover that the connection speed is exactly the same. it's low and fluctuating between 130 to 390 MBPS max although the first moment when it connects, it connects @ 780 MBPS for 2 seconds then drops the speed down

Now my question is, if I had them connect to the wrong spots before, how did the card even work?

By the way, this is a fresh brand new (the 3rd card I have) Killer AC 1550 which I got from Amazon so all 3 cannot be faulty

 

Will still work. The cables are antennas.

 

I just scanned to see if other neighbors are using the same channel which I'm on (channel 44) and my router is the only one on channel 44 for 5Ghz and the only router on channel 4 for 2.4 GHz

 

J00 don’t trust your old tech friend?

 

makes you wonder if the shown throughput or the signal bars are more important for high bandwidth... have u actually tested transfer rates over wifi? would be interesting to see real life transfer speeds betweens the cards! only if ure up to it, of course just practical that u have lots of different adapters at hand...

Sent from my Xiaomi Mi Max 2 (Oxygen) using Tapatalk

 

I haven't because I don't have another computer on the network but I do have a USB drive connected to my router so I tried copying files to that but when I right click, there is no PASTE command so I need to tinker around with the settings more.

I got an email from Killer Networking today telling me that I shouldn't worry too much about the connection speed established but rather the actual performance because Intel Cards display the actual speed but Killer cards display the max theoretical speeds. So I reinstalled the Killer 1550 to test it one last time. Internet was fine for a while and fast. The connection speed was fluctuating between 230 MBPS and 390MBPS

I then connected to a member here to tweak his laptop and suddenly after about 15 minutes of being on his laptop, I notice that everything is laggy then I got disconnected. I tried surfing to different sites on my laptop but they would load in slow motion, really slow. I then checked my adapter established speed and what do you know? it went down to 35 mbps!! That's horrid!

I got so mad and quickly uninstalled it and reinstalled the Killer 1535 and continued working. Theoretical or not, the Killer just works. Period

 

So Killer 1550 is hereby renamed to Intel? INTEL Wireless-AC 1550

 

basically yes! as you said yourself before: call it what you want it is, what it is, and not what u call it

 

Reminds me of my very ancient intel 3945ABG card that had 54Mbps of wifi speed on b/g.
Why didn't you use Killer Control center to see those graphs? Did switching the 5G channel to 141/148/158/161 work for you? Those numbers will be different since Dubai and India use different rules for Indoor signal rates and channel nos. according to wiki.

 

I’m quite sure enough is enough now

 

@Phoenix Make sure that you have MIMO Power Save Mode option (Spatial Multiplexing Power Save mode) disabled on Intel in Killer's clothing. It's entirely possible that the card does not sustain high connection speed link when it's not transmitting.

 

By default Killer driver and windows 10 disables that feature.
Phoenix: Don't be mad, just put back 1535 and enjoy your life.

 

The Aux and Main markings on the wireless cards mean nothing.There's no difference which antenna wire you connect to Aux or Main.

The antennas inside the notebook shell should be placed as far apart as possible for the best wireless signal.I've found that the ones that ship inside MSI notebooks are a better quality than ones I ordered on ebay that shipped from China.

I have an MSI MS-B905C PCI-E x1 adapter in my newly built desktop that a 1550 now resides in.It came with an Intel 8265ac in it.

EDIT:BTW,I live in a 1 level 1500 sq ft townhouse.I have an Arris SB8200 cable modem with the Netgear R7800 attached to it with a 3' Cat 6 network cable.I'm presently using the newest stock Netgear firmware.I've occasionally used Voxel's firmware when Netgear's has issues.

I own the cable modem and router so no monthly rental fee.

 

That wasn't disabled when I checked but I am not going to waste any more time and reinstall that Intel card.

 

I'm still waiting for my Intel 9260 to arrive so I will check that out and report back.

 

Just got an email from Killer Networking saying that they have identified an issue that they are working with with Intel closely on which is an issue that sounds like the one I am having (and would affect the Intel 9260 also).

 

thanks for sharing your information with us. looking forward for an solution because i want to buy it as well.

 

Keep me posted because I need the fix for the 9260 too Thank you.

 

Or switch over to the last pure Killer card in history... Killer Wireless-AC 1535 It just work.

 

will do

 

I have it but I removed it for the intel 8260, then 8265, then 9260. So the 1535 works fine without the Killer drivers? Do you just use the basic windows drivers?