Dell Inspiron 15 7000(7537) WiFi issue

ok. i hope you don't have wifi issues because it's to bad that such a good laptop has this stupid issues which makes it unusable for me and many others

i ordered mine on nov 18 and got it dec 12 2013.

Are u sure you get a decent download speed when you go let's say 15m of the router? Sometimes i only get 0.5 mbps download speed with the speedtest.net. 

If i am lucky i get 15mbps but only for a couple of minutes.

Well, my laptop sits mainly in the living room, which is one floor below the router. The distance isn't quite 15 meters. I would say it's about 8 meters or so away. The floor/ceiling is the only physical barrier between them. When I get home (living in Canada), I can try to move it further away to see what happens.

On Saturday, I'm switching to a 50 Mbps connection, so I'll better be able to assess the limits of this connection.

Yes i read that a couple of days ago. But the tech had 3 different types of wifi cards with him and no one improved the download speed. 

I could take the risk to buy a new card myself but for the moment i cant use the antenna anymore because of the loosen cables after the technicians intervention. 

Maybe i should ask for a new laptop with a new period of at home support. Just to be sure that i'll get help when the new laptop has the same issues. I hope to get an anwser tomorrow to get my money back or a new laptop with new support at home guarantee.

I have been going Tweet to Tweet with Dell. Explaining in detail all steps taken so far.

The best they could is suggest I update to the latest drivers.

When I explained that this was one of the first steps done followed by a replacement of the wifi card they came back with this useful piece of information:-

DellCares @DellCares

At this point we have no further updates. ^HM

So my conclusion is that there are lots of machines with this problem. Dell will take control of your machine, determine there is a problem even with latest drivers, arrange for a replacement card which does not fix the problem and then say that's all they can do.

Just got mail: The only solution for you is to replace the lcd/ antenna kit again. They also said that this is what they are doing now with the xps version with the same issues. But on forums xps owners say that a new lcd antenna doesn't fix their problem :p i already had mine replaced so why would another replacement fix the issue:p

really strange here. on the phone with the tech they told us that there should be a decent solution for me and when i contact them by myself they only say: "the only solution is to replace the lcd again". 

Update!

Called Dell today to ask how it works to sends my laptop back and get a new one with new guarantee or getting my money back.

Dell is a very smart company: they told me well sir it is not possible to return your laptop because if parts are already replaced we cannot take the laptop back. I really got angry because a month ago i asked for a replacement laptop or getting my money back but they told me then that the first step normally is to arrange a meeting with a tech which i had to do because otherwise they couldn't help me any further. 

When i told this to the person on the phone and i reffered to the fact that it is the fault of the tech that i do not have any wifi at all on my laptop right now he talked to somebody at dell.

Came back to me asked me some new question and wasn't really respectful to me. But in the end he told me that they would make sure i get my new lcd screen asap and if the wifi doesn't work after the replacement i have to take further steps. I asked what steps and if he meant that i could get my money back he just anwsered: "you should take further steps i can't say anything more that could help"

This gives me the feeling that i have no rights as customer and that it will be damn dificult to get my money back or a good working replacement laptop without isues.

Anybody who want's to buy this model: just don't do it, if he's ok that fine but if you have issues they just ignore the problem if it cannot be solved. 

This is my first expierience with such an unprofessional CRM of a company.

Dells tactic under the guise of offering good customer service is to keep you hanging on to the machine long enough so that you go beyond your return window. If you return the machine this costs them money and they run the risk of losing you as a customer.

Good luck, I certainly hope you manage to get this resolved.

Hi

Could please write me/us witch Inspiron Model you have, and wich wifi drive you have installed that seem to work?

Thank you.

guys...

if anyone finds a solution for this wifi issue please let me know....

my 2nd replacement was approved on 24th December.. They told i will be getting the replacement laptop within 24-27 days. But today i got  call from dell and i was told it would taken another 4 weeks since there has been some delay with all the orders... 

It doesn't look like i will be getting a working laptop anytime now...

In my 7537 I tried every driver version from Intel, Dell and Microsoft in both Windows 8 and 8.1 with the same poor results. This was with the 7260 card that came with the machine as well as the same one it was replaced with by Dell.

If returning the machine is no longer an option then what I would do is use a USB wifi device for the time being and hope that Dell will comes up with a solution.

Hopefully the delays from Dell mean that this problem is being addressed at the factory level. One can only hope.

Replacing the stock "Intel Wireless-N 7260" card with the "Intel Wireless-AC Dual-Band 7260" has resolved the issue for me. Where I used to get 10Mbit's with the stock card, I'm able to reach 40Mbit's now, even when I connect on 5ghz dual-band, I'm able to reach the full speed of my connection which is 60Mbit's.

Dell technicians tend to replace the wifi cards with other cards that do not solve the problems either, try asking them to replace it with the Wireless-AC 7260 Dual-Band card, if not order it yourself like I did (paid around $20 for it), if you don't know howto install it, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube, or ask someone who can do it for you. Don't let them replace your LCD/antenna's or even your entire laptop as this is just routine for repairs and will not solve the issue.

On a sidenote, if your wifi router supports it, check if you can change the "TX-power" parameter (mostly under advanced wireless settings), this sets the capability for wifi transmission power on your router and is usually by default lower than the maximum it can transmit, this gave me another +5Mbits boost on Wireless-N 2.4ghz, even on the stock 7260 card. For anyone interested, I use the Asus RT-N66U router, it is very good and able to provide high speeds at great distances. 

There is no guarantee that this will for work you, but it seems to work for most people including me. Goodluck!

That was me, and yes the Wireless AC card did improve the results greatly.  I also want to say that they are definitely illegally misrepresenting the laptop stating we are getting a dual band card, I can assure you that the card that I pulled says its a wireless n 7260, not dual band. Even though all my paperwork says differently. We need to start a class action suit.  I'm glad I did Dell's homework for them.  I should get some kind of compensation.

I that see that Dell has a released a new driver for Windows 8 but not for 81. as follows:-

16.6.0.8, A02

Has anyone given this a try yet before doing the 8.1 update?