Wireless intel AC 3160 card adaptor issues

Question

I am having an issue now with connecting to wifi once I leave a room. It is perfectly fine in the room with the router in and has always been good using it in other rooms and garage up until now. It is not the router as I have changed it and I can also use other laptops and tablets with no problem anywhere in the house. Does the card need replacing or should I (or can I) upgrade it. My laptop is an inspiron 5558.

Thank you

jphughan · Accepted Answer

The new card would use the same antennas.  Antenna design is based on frequency that it will be working with, and all WiFi cards use 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and even those two are close enough in terms of harmonics that they can use the same antennas -- so this will be a very easy (and fairly common) upgrade. :)

jphughan · Answer

Whether replacement is necessary isn't clear, but it would very likely bring an improvement. The Intel 3160 is a dual antenna 1x1 card, which means it can only use one antenna each for transmit and receive. Higher-end WiFi cards use a dual antenna 2x2 design, which means that both antennas can be used for both transmit and receive based on the needs at the time. There are even cards that use 3x3, but that's quite rare for 802.11ac cards and you'd need an actual third antenna in the system, which you very likely don't have. The Specifications page for the Inspiron 5558 says it uses an M.2/NGFF slot for the WiFi card, in which case look into the Intel 8265 or even the newer 9260 card if you can find the latter from a reputable source rather than random third-party sellers. If you can't, then the 8265 is still an excellent choice and will likely be just as good unless you're doing massive file transfers on your internal network. But both of those are 2x2 cards and should deliver significantly better performance than what you have today, and they should cost about $35. The 8265 is easy to find from various online retailers. Do NOT get the Intel 9560, however, since that's essentially a 9260 with some components offloaded from the card on the assumption that your CPU will have them, which yours wouldn't.

Replacing the card is very easy. Grab the owner's manual for your system from support.dell.com if you need it, but the only thing to make sure about is firmly attaching the antennas to the card, since a poor connection can kill your WiFi performance. I find it easiest to attach the antennas to the card before I insert the card into the motherboard slot, because that way I can place a finger on the underside of the card directly beneath the antenna connector and "pinch" the antennas into place. Good luck!

hippy996 · Answer

Thank you for the info, will the antennae be the same on the ac8265 so it is just a straight card swap. I have taken the old one out and refitted it earlier to check they were connected ok.

hippy996 · Answer

Card changed as detailed now perfect....Thank you :)

Inspiron

Wireless intel AC 3160 card adaptor issues

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