Dell XPS 13 9350 AWFUL WiFi connection. Broadcom 1820A Adapter

Hello,

Sorry to hear about your problems with that wifi adapter.   What version of Windows are you running on the XPS 13 9350?  And which driver version is currently on the system (and which ones have you tried?)

You may want to try changing the compatibility mode on the Dell 1820A card per this article:

Resolving Connection Issues on Your Wi-Fi Network for Windows 10

You also want to take a look at your router.   Please remember that wireless communication is a two-way conversation so not only do you want to update the drivers for your wireless card (which you've tried) but you also want to make sure you update the firmware on your router to make it compatible with the newer protocols on cards that have recently been released.   If there is a communication conflict between the card and the router the lost packets would be exasperated by increasing the distance between the two devices.

You should have documentation on how to update the firmware on your router that came along with the purchase of it.  If not, you can simply google the router make and manufacturer along with "firmware update"to find information.  Usually it's simply a matter of clicking one button these days.

Updating drivers, checking that support article, and updating the firmware on the router are the first few things I would suggest as they are the most likely resolutions.   Please try those and let us know what you find out.

Todd

I have just purchased XPS13 with Broadcom 1820A. It came with Windows 10 Pre installed. 

I have the exact same problem. Wifi signal is zero to one bar.

Old laptop at the same position sees the same access points as medium to high reception.

This is mind blowing that Dell keep shipping one of their most expansive premium products with an ongoing defect.

Shameful.

Hey. I know this is a bit of a<ADMIN NOTE: Profanity removed as per TOU> joke to be honest. Same response from Dell everytime. 

You may have some luck with switching the WiFi card though. I have done this (to the Intel 8620) and the WiFi is now perfect, exactly like my other laptop. It does drop every day or so and I have to reconnect to the router, but much better than the 1820 piece of *** that Dell put into the machine.

One fatal flaw however is that my bluetooth no longer works, i've tried hundreds of different approaches and none of them are working. Some who replace manage to get theirs to work including bluetooth, some don't - take that as you will and I wish you the best of luck. To be honest though, if you can afford it I'd suggest returning the XPS and purchasing a Macbook Pro.

Thanks for the info.

I love everything else (besides the poor WiFi) about the XPS13 but I decided it doesn't make sense to me to go into a saga of changing cards and hoping for good.

Opened a DOA case with Dell and waiting for a replacement of the same model.

I guess we will know soon if we simply had bad luck with defected WiFi cards / Antennas or this model is a piece of *** Wifi-wise. That would be really strange though. There seem to have been so much though put into every little detail on this machine that I find it hard to believe that this is the case.

I'll keep this post updated.

Update:

I have just received a brand new XPS 13 i7 touch 3200x1800 as a replacement to the defective one.

It suffers the exact same problem. Poor WiFi for any Wireless Access Point that is not in the same room or very close to the XPS 13.

After all those posts about the previous version of XPS 13 suffering Wifi issues, the fact that the new version suffers the exact same problem, with a different WiFi card, is absolutely mind blowing.

I find it hard to understand how replacing the WiFi card resolved the problem in your case. If the previous version and this version have different WiFi card of different brands, and same problem, isn't it supposed to be the Antenna?

Anyhow, what a shame for Dell, Their "Perfect Laptop" which probably is amazing from all other aspects, has a WiFi reception of a broken iPhone 3. Shocking. Sad. Amazing.

Anyone who considers purchasing an XPS 13, as tempting as it may be - DON'T !

I am having the same problem with my XPS13 9350.

I downloaded the driver for this model of adapter - a Dell Wireless 1820A 802.11ac - from Dell's site (new driver version 1.555.0.0) but its ability to maintain a connection is very poor. 

I currently have 3 Dell laptops in front of me  - one of which is the otherwise excellent XPS13 9350 - all of them connected to a router in another room.

My E4200 is displaying 4 out of 5 bars, my 3 year old XPS 15Z displays 4 out of 5 bars, and the XPS13 9350 is displaying 1 out of 3 bars.  The XPS13 keeps on disconnecting;  the others keep a constant connection.

I honestly believe this matter should be addressed by Dell.

Why does Dell keep silent?

Do they have any idea how bad this matter is for their reputation?

Knowing that they sell a defective laptop for thousands of dollars and keep selling it defected ignoring the issue?

What's going on?

Dear All,

I have been having exactly the same issue with my brand new (very expensive) XPS 13 9350. First time I called Dell they connected remotely to the laptop and installed rather old Bluetooth drivers (9350_Network_Driver_98WFD_WN32_1.400.31.0_A00). This had no effect whatsoever; I again got connection speeds of 5.5Mbps to the router from my living room when my old Samsung clocks 70-80Mbps.  

However, today I called again and they asked me to update the bios to the new version (BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 1.2.3, 08/01/2016). I had version 1.1.9 (December 2015) installed on the laptop. Since the installation the connection hasn't dropped below 39Mbps and most of the time is above 50Mbps. Most importantly, I haven't had a DNS so far. 

I am still not happy because my old Samsung still has better wifi speeds. However, I thought of posting here in case you want to check this out and see whether it works for you.  

hey I'm having the same issues since I bought mine 4 days ago. I updated driver on the wireless adapter and bios & now seem to have a slight improvement but still wifi signals go up and down but mostly stays at full bar. Hopefully this issue will fully get fixed on the next update.

I just got my XPS 13 9350 a few days ago, love it except for it's abysmal WiFi reception!  Like others, everything in my home (3 computers, 4 Kindles, 4 Android phones) gets better WiFi reception.  My old pitiful little netbook, Acer, now deceased, also got better reception.  My new XPS, even though I paid more for it than any computer before, is almost unusable, 20 feet from the wireless router!!!!  Will have nearly full bars, then drop to one or no bars, dropping connection.  If I take it to where my desktop is, the desktop will show 4-5 bars, the XPS one or two.

Like others, I cannot fathom Dell putting such a poor WiFi card in a really expensive "Ultra" book.  Well, maybe Ultra in every aspect other than WiFi reception.  My faith in the Dell name is shaken to the core.

I did note the possible Bios upgrade, but I sure would not try that with such a poor internet connection!  I am afraid it would quit right in the middle and brick my beautiful paperweight.  I have not checked my bios for version yet, have not found how to do that.

There is no risk updating the Bios that is related to bad internet connection, since the updating process begins only after the file was downloaded to your PC.

However updating or downgrading Bios  & drivers and even switching to an Intel WiFi card will do no good. 

The bad WiFi on XPS 13 is related to a poor Antennas design and has nothing to do with the Broadcom Wifi card. Switching to a different card may result in showing more bars on the WiFi strength, but it's false. Running a simple PING command to the router or a speed test will quickly show that there is zero improvement.

Bottom line is Dell created a masterpiece Laptop which is completely, absolutely useless. Dell refuses to admit the problem, refuses to take responsibility & refuses to refund (they told me they are "in no position" to refund my purchase and sent me to the point of purchase).

After being a loyal Dell reseller for many years I have to admit that the XPS 13 saga turned Dell in my eyes to a company of fraud that creates bad equipment and see profit above customers. It wouldn't be going too far to say that I see Dell as an evil company that I want nothing to do with any more.

My best advice to you is clear and simple - don't wait! You bought a useless laptop for thousands of dollars that can NOT be fixed in ANY way.

Go to where you purchased the laptop and demand a refund. Now.

And never buy another Dell laptop again.

Good luck.

Hey again,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. While I will agree that anyone experiencing this problem is probably better off returning the laptop and obtaining a full refund, I must point out that you are incorrect with regards to the Intel card not working. I have replaced the card with an Intel 8260 and the WiFi is now as good as on my other devices (it does however drop occasionally, very rarely - maybe once every 5-6 days, and I can fix it with just by attempting to reconnect). 

Again, however, I would like to reiterate my point about anyone experiencing the same issue to seek a refund, this is an incredibly expensive machine and it should not be up to the user to attempt to service their own system. I would again suggest the Macbook Pro as an alternative, whilst it is slightly more expensive it is within the same price range and even though their customer service leaves a lot to be desired, it's second to none within the computer industry. I decided to go through the hassle of switching the WiFi card etc, as my system is a refurbished model, as a result I got quite a significant discount £945 instead of the £1400 RRP, plus the new card, brings it to about £995 - still £400 off. Further in update to my last post, I did manage to get the bluetooth working, the problem is however that when I have the bluetooth device enabled on the intel card, the WiFi drops to unusable speeds, the same speeds I was experiencing with the Broadcom adapter. With regards to this I would suggest to anyone experiencing this problem, please disable your Bluetooth device and see if that makes any change to the speed (Search for device manager, right click the broadcom bluetooth device, and click disable), please report back as I would like to know of your findings.

Einshem my advice to you would be to seek legal proceedings. I don't know where you live but here in the UK we have an agency known as Trading Standards and under legislation here if the laptop is deemed not "fit for purpose" you have every right to return it, and given the circumstances, I really think it would be considered not fit for purpose.

I would like to finish off by saying that if you have a faulty system and have paid full price, don't sit around looking for fixes, order another system and if that doesn't work either demand a refund from Dell. Unfortunately the computer industry loves to prey on individuals that aren't tech savvy and who don't understand how these machines work - remember that you're the one with purchasing power. 

I am an IT person, a computer technician for more than 15 years and a Dell reseller. I purchased the Dell XPS 13 Quad HD screen version for a customer. I wasted days & nights trying to resolve the issue. The first thing I've done was updating to the latest BIOS and drivers. After that I tried different versions of drivers & even installing Windows 7 instead of Windows 10. The XPS 13-9350 has a different WiFi card than the previous versions of XPS 13 yet you can find dozens of complaints from both previous and current version. Replacing the WiFi card makes you see more bars indeed, but it changes nothing in actual WiFi performance. While very old, 6 years old laptops at the same location connected to the same router(s) get pings of 2ms and test speed of 40MBit , the XPS13 gets pings of 70ms and test speeds of 1 Mbit. This problem has obviously nothing to do with the WiFi card, bios, drivers or anything else but with a very poor design of the antennas. I know it is mind blowing that Dell which makes excellent laptops sells a totally defective & useless laptop as it's flagship, for thousands of dollars. But it's just the actual, simple truth. I tried 2 different laptops, my WiFi card was replaced, I followed every tip possible. Absolutely nothing solves this problem. The XPS 13 is a laptop that is only good for surfing while being in the same room and very close to the router.
If you are a potential customer considering buying the XPS 13 - STAY AWAY from this laptop. Chose another model of Dell or buy a Lenovo. By the way, the service I received from Dell about the issue was horrible. They refused to admit there was a problem, told me to wait for replacement parts while they were not in stock and with no expected availability time, I was forced to demand a refund from my point of purchase and since I'm a reseller I had no problems. I advice again - Stay Away from XPS 13. Period. 

Similar issues from  my side on my new XPS 13-9350 laptop, with the WiFi connection with built-in 1820A adapter. I received the latest WiFi driver update (1.555.0.0) and BIOS update (1.1.9). Having lots of problems connecting to my wireless router (Asus RT-N66U). Constant disconnects from this router, which is only 4m away from the laptop when sitting in my living room. I cannot even get it connected to the 5GHz band, only poor reception on the 2.4GHz. My second access point (Linksys E1700) at 2nd floor (same SSID, but on a different channel) works, but also only when laptop close to the router same desk 1-2m away)

All my other devices (iPads, Iphones, old laptop, wife's laptop) have no issues at all and full stability, so this must be related to the XPS 13 laptop. The laptop itself is brilliant, but without a proper working WiFi becomes quite useless in this wireless-connected world.......

Anyone having other suggestions on what I could do? Or is this really related to the suggested poor antennas?