My 5GHz Wi-Fi is broken (how to add an internal 5GHz 802.11 n/ac adapter)?

I can't answer you from experience with Dell, but I CAN tell that finding the right replacement for an Acer Aspire laptop can be a venture into frustration and rage. The original was a Qualcomm Atheros AR5BWB222 that worked intermittently at best. Tried a couple of different cards, but they weren't recognized by the laptop at all. Finally settled on a Broadcom that works just fine (got it last August):

Whether or not it will work with a Dell is anybody's guess, but if Dell is like Acer (and a number of other manufacturers), certain cards seem to be "white-listed" by them, and it will be real fun finding one that will work as it should, if it's even recognized by the laptop.

Yep. I do it all the time. Oddly, most of the requirements are to replace crappy internal cards with something better. I don't really have a favorite replacement except that I now try to avoid Intel.

There are two problems you are going to have unless you buy an approved Dell wireless card.

1. The FCC demands that the manufacturers only allow card and laptop combinations that have been FCC certified. Plug in a non-approved card and you are likely to get a BIOS boot message that proclaims that you have installed an incompatible card. There are ways around this, but I prefer to avoid the problem. If you do get the approved card, it is likely that you'll also find drivers on the Dell web pile that will work.
2. Many of the RF cables and connectors are cut for the exact length needed to connect to the original card. I've had to wiggle them around in order to accomodate cards with slightly different layout.
3. Non-MIMO cards have two RF connectors for diversity reception. 2x2 and up MIMO cards have at least 1 antenna per radio. The higher end cards may have 3 antenna connectors. If you're going to use one of these 3x3 cards, you'll need to add a 3rd antenna internally, somewhere. I've had fairly good luck with just a connector and stripping back a few cm of coax shield to form a crude antenna.

"Good USB" is an oxymoron. Unless you need an external (directional) antenna, I would avoid this option.

Hmmm... no wi-fi card listed in the specs. Yet, you seem to have one.

How to replace the wi-fi card:

Video of how to replace the wi-fi card:

Typical card vendor:

OK, I'm out of time... send me the Dell service tag number on the bottom of the laptop so I determine exactly what you have. More later.

The only thing needed is the 5GHz, since the router will be in the same apartment away at school.

The review of the Netgear 802.11ac A6200 WiFi Adapter concluded what you said, which is that speeds are terrible.

The problem is that it has to work in the first shot, since it's a laptop for my kid away at school. She is a government major, so, she knows absolutely nothing about technical stuff (they don't even need math, which is why she picked that major).

Sigh.

As a datapoint, my Latitude D630 came with an a/b/g card,

Also you might try

they specialize in dell laptop parts.

Thanks for all the advice.

In the short term, I decided to buy a WiFi USB card, since it has to work this weekend, and I don't have time to get the Dell WiFi card until the next visit after school starts.

I opted for the same brand as the router, assuming they'd work better together that way, a TP-Link 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

1200 device (if it works).

Here's a picture of the Archer T4U for about $25 at Frys.

Curt,

Please post back with comments on how the USB WiFi worked out.

I hooked up that Archer T4u today, and I'm not too happy with it (as Jeff Liebermann had correctly predicted).

The thing worked, even though the bands were crowded:

But, the bad is that it's HUGE (way larger than a USB stick) and as a result, it's a pain to plug in the USB adapter, and, if *directly* plugged in, it kept getting bumped, causing the operating system to beep and to lose connectivity momentarily.

Luckily, the manufacturer saw fit to include a usb-extension cable, which is really the *only* way you'd want the TP-Link Archer T4U (as you can see in the photo).

However, the good is that while Comcast nominal 45Mbps speeds were about 30 to 38Mbps down on 2.4GHz (whether I used the internal 2.4GHz NIC or the external Archer T4U 2.4GHz NIC), the

5GHz speeds were *phenomenally* better at 90Mbps down, which you can see in the picture below:

Notice that the *wired* speed coming out the modem was about

90Mbps; and that the wired speed coming out of the back of the router was similar; so the 5GHz speeds from the external USB NIC were as good as wired.

The funny thing was that, at this college-friendly atmosphere, the 5Ghz band was pretty crowded, as compared to the 2.4GHz band; but I'm not exactly sure how to read this side-by-side output from my Android WiFi-Analyzer app in the 5GHz bands.

We had a few of those at my job a number of years back. When using the extension cord, we'd use Velcro to stick the receiver to a top corner of the laptop lid. Worked OK like that, and it was out of the way. (Plus my engineers were less likely to lose it if it was attached to something LOL!)

I knew it was big, but not that big. If you want speed, you'll need MIMO (802.11n) spatial diversity support, which means more than one antenna. 2x2 requires 2 antennas, 3x3 requires 3 antennas. If it only has one antenna, you don't get spatial diversity, but still get beam forming, assuming it's supported by your access point, and that one of the two conflicting standards actually work. In order to get decent separation of multiple streams, the antennas need to be some distance apart. I don't know the magic minimum, but my guess(tm) is about 2cm or so. That means a 3 antenna affair is going to be mostly antennas, with maybe some electronics stuck into a corner.

Might as well look it up. The Archer T4u is rated at AC1200: n600 = Simultaneous dual band, both 300Mbps n900 = Simultaneous dual band, both 450Mbps ac1750 = Simultaneous dual band, 2.4GHz n450 and 5GHz ac1300 ac1900 = Simultaneous dual band, 2.4GHz n450 +QAM and 5GHz ac1300 I'm having problems remembering and finding the others. Duz anyone have a good chart?

We're not done yet... With 802.11ac, which can use both the 2.4 and

5GHz bands simultaneously, using one antenna for both bands simultaneous antenna is problematic because it might transmit one band, while trying to receive on the other. Some claim that it works, but I'm not a believer. So, you might get separate antennas for 2.4 and 5GHz, times the number of streams, which could easily mean 6 antennas. Dig out the FCCID number and see if there are any photos.

Incidentally, with antennas, bigger usually is better. The rule of thumb is: Small size, gain, bandwidth... pick any two.

Atmosphere? In the local colleges, that's the smell of beer accented with marijuana. During finals week, add the smell of sweat.

That is probably due to a whole pile of Apple devices. Don't they like 5G by default?

To quote Yogi Berra, "No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."