Inspiron 11 3137 3000 does not connect to WiFI >10 feet from access point

Hi all,

Pulling my hair out at the Inspiron 11 machine type 3137.  We've had it for about two years and it has never connected to our home router at a range greater than about ten feet from the access point.

The problem started when we first took it out of the box, then running Windows 8, later 8.1, now Windows 10.  All the OS upgrades have neither made the problem better nor worse.

Router is a Linksys E2500, in other words, name-brand stuff.  4 other machines in the house work all over the house and can connect to the router from anywhere in the house.

The driver is the latest version, and we have ruled out problems with firewall settings.  We can ping any network service, but no luck on HTTP, POP3/SMTP, etc. protocols.

For the past two years my wife has solved the problem by sitting within 10 feet from the access point, but that's not what we paid for and not what we expect from Dell.  Any ideas?  Anyone had a similar issue?

Thanks,

Kevin B