Inspiron 3542 Laptop with DW 1705 + BT 4.0 network card; intermittent dropping of wifi connection; no Bluetooth functionality

The laptop loses wifi connection with the router; after a few seconds, it reconnects. Happens multiple times during each use. I have spend over six hours in the last three days this week with Dell tech support. Lots of uninstalling and reinstalling device drivers. A replacement 1705 card was installed yesterday, but the on-site tech is not allowed to work with software. So back to over two hours on phone support with Dell. Multiple driver installs, including the same version multiple times, ("some to show the supervisor"). Currently, a DW 1704 card is being shipped with ETA of Monday.

Some driver attempts would not install at all; others would install the wifi portion, but would hang during the Bluetooth portion.

Versions currently installed on the PC are:

Dell 1705 Driver 10.0.0.298, dated 8/11/2014

Bluetooth driver 8.01.330, dated 8/20/2014

Reading the comments on line, folks are having the same issues with DW 1904 cards. One post said the manufacturer of the 1704 card is less diligent in updating drivers than the manufacturer of the DW 1705 card. Other comments say the DW 1705 has better drivers for Windows 10. As a result, I am hesitant to install the inferior DW 1704, in case I decide to upgrade to Win 10 by the cut off this summer.

If anyone has suggestions on how to fix the issues while retaining the DW 1705 card, I am all ears.

If anyone has an opinion on whether I should allow Dell to switch to the DW 1704 card, I would also be interested in their thoughts. 

Two asides: 1. the first two days I worked with a person in Alienware tech support even though the laptop is an Inspiron. 2. Yesterday, I was transferred from regular Dell tech support to "extended Premium Phone Support" because I have had the PC over I year. Watching the screen during yesterday's tech work created the impression that he was much less knowledgeable.