WIFI problems on Dell xps 15 L521X

Hi,

I worked with Terry and got a replacement system with Win 8 and the Dell Wireless 1901 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz).

The problems I was experiencing with the prior Win 7 & Intel wifi card were:

1-horrible download speeds

2-general poor management of connection profiles (system got confused a lot and wouldn't connect in certain scenarios that should have been supported)

3-very slow wake-and-connect time ... so the pc would wake up quickly, but then you would wait 50 to 60 seconds to have the internet connection come, and this was regardless of the proximity to the router

Before getting the new system, I purchased a Black Knight dual-band wifi router and this had a big impact for one place (the home) but of course no place else.  I don't recall exactly the speed test results on the Win 7 system, but when it would connect and stabilize, it did pretty well in the 5 ghz range and I recall fairly well in the 2.4 ghz range.  

After getting the new system, problems # 2 and # 3 went away completely.  And, the Win 8 system with the Dell wireless card would connect at top speeds via 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz range to the ASUS Black Knight.  BUT, then when I plugged my old wifi router (Linksys WRT150N w/ DD-WRT fully up-to-date firmware, so no slouch), which only supports the 2.4 ghz range, the speeds went significantly down consistent with what I was seeing on the Win 7 machine.  

With my Linksys WRT150N, using DD-WRT firmware latest version, the 2.4 Mghz (only option) and the machines about 100 ft away (Note: 20 Mbps DSL internet service):

-4 yr old Toshiba Satellite was getting consistently 15 to 16 Mbps down and 0.75 up

-new XPS 15 w/ Win 8 and DW1901 card getting 0.45 to 0.65 Mbps down and 0.75 up ; in one of the 10 tests it got 2.4 Mbps down  

The strangest thing for me here is that the upload speed is consistently the same no matter what the router is or whether connecting over 2.4 or 5 Mhz or how far away, but when connecting with the XPS over standard 2.4 Mhz and getting some distance away, the download speed actually goes lower than the upload. I have never heard of that.

With my ASUS RT-N66U and the machines about 100 ft away and using the 5 Mhz side of the dual-mode router:

-both machines consistently get between 14.75 and 15.75 Mpbs down and 0.75 up

My takeaway from all this was that probably the new wifi router had better transmission in the 2.4 ghz range and so it wasn't a range issue but a transmission/reception issue [i.e.- back to finger pointing at the antenna].  

Then, something else interesting ...  I borrowed a friend's Cisco (refurbished $24) AE3000-RM Wireless-N 3x3 USB Adapter and connected that to the Win 8 machine with the old wifi router connected.  I got top speeds of 14 to 16 mbps ("top" as in top I have seen for any speedtest.net results on my network) while the USB was connected via its external stand and placed maybe 1 foot away from the XPS 15 system, but then when I took it out of this stand and connected directly to the USB inputs on the XPS, the speeds quickly went way down and averaged between 2 and 3 mpbs.  So, we have a weaker 2.4 ghz signal coming from the wifi router that gets picked up fine when the wireless-N Adapter is 1 foot away, but then when it is in direct contact and proximity with the XPS machine itself, there is some sort of interference or weakness introduced that knocks the reception ability way down.  It's like the reception is less allowed to reach out, which reminded me for some reason of the Death Star in Star Wars with its gravity pull that wouldn't let ships leave.  

That's what I got for you.  Great system and my wife is accepting the fallback position that on occasion she will need to plug in a wireless adapter when she is getting weak or non-existent connections out on the road, but with the purchase of a stronger wifi router at home (~$160), there are no issues while at this location.  Good luck everybody.  

Peter

i was thinking of buying Dell XPS L521x  but i am very concerned about WiFi issues !!! 

is the problem fixed ? should i buy this laptop ? 

i really like the specifications ...but slow WifI is a big issue for me !!! what do u think ?

I love the laptop but I can't live with the wifi.  They are trying to fix it but so far, no good.  They are going to try another wifi card.  We'll see what happens.

Do you know if they have fixed this issue yet?

No, they did not and I do not think they will ever will. I am 5 M away from router and instead 20Mbs I have just over 1Mbs. With XPS 15Z with the same Wi-Fi card and the same distance I get normal speed 20Mbs.

Dell has been telling us a "our engineers are aware of the problem and a fix is coming in a few weeks" since JULY folks. Needless to say I returned both of my XPS 15's last August when it was obvious that the issue was being ignored here and that the elusive "fix" was just a way to avoid mass returns for refunds.

There should absolutely no compromises on a $2000 computer. Ever.

Do the math folks - a forthcoming "fix" was announced almost 6 months ago. NOT HERE, but by Dell employees on a different forum and also by senior level XPS techs over the phone. (The issue was mostly avoided and ignored here on the Dell Community, and some posts were even deleted)

I had to fight tooth & nail for HOURS/DAYS to get my refund and system returns approved, because I fell for the "a fix is coming in a few weeks" and than I passed my 21 day return period as the fix that will "be available on Monday or Tuesday" never materialized. When I asked for a refund they offered to send me an exchange instead, stating that there should be no problem with the replacement system (starting to sound familiar?) and that if it did they would surely have a fix for the new one. So there I was, stuck with TWO brand new XPS 15's and wasting days/weeks of my time on the phone with Dell Support and being forced to try ridiculous solutions like "try installing Windows 7 from scratch, it could be a problem with the operating system image". Finally after calling Dell non-stop for weeks and constantly insisting to speak with managers, after being refused return authorization by the department that handles "Save the Sale" and returns, it took the constant pestering of two senior TECH support managers to get my returns / refund approved.

I wasted at least 30 hours of my life over the summer being instructed to try to fix something that could not be fixed, and being strung-along during the process.

Bottom line - a fix was announced by Dell employees at a different web site back in JULY. Then on that other forum, two Dell employees were assigned to assist L521X owners with this problem. It wasn't long before they actually posted to contact them directly via personal message on that other forum to arrange for a return/refund if you were one of us who were pushed over the 21-day return window by being told that "a fix was coming". (I wish I could give you all the direct link to those posts and forum, but apparently we're not allowed to share that valuable important information here or our posts will be deleted).

It is now December and what has changed? Consumers are still being told to troubleshoot these brand new systems and excuses are still being made, and compromises have been made on a system that should be a *no compromises* system. If you want this kind of trouble you can certainly do it for less than half the price.

I'll leave at that, because the last time I spoke the whole truth (that I got directly from senior XPS technician) on this forum my post was deleted.

I'm sorry, but I had to speak up. I've been watching these discussions about this infamous system/problem since July (because I had hope at one point that Dell would actually resolve the issue and that I could re-order an L521X), and I see so many other customers still going through the same struggles that so many of us went through many months, and still considering buying this system or believing that it will ever be able to achieve proper WiFi speeds/signals, that it's just painful to watch anymore...

Best of luck to all of you,

A twice-over former XPS L521X owner

hi, i bought an xps15 l521x laptop with windows 8 about 7 days ago. i fill i have an issue in wifi connectivity.not in speed of download but the wifi frequently disconnects! and when i go to the device manager, the wifi card name is dell wireless 1901 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz).(and the last update version is 10.0.0.67)  but i read in the last pages in this discassion that you spoke about a driver that named  Intel Centrino Advanced 6235! is this right?! the wifi card of my laptop is different with yours?! I am thankful to everyone answer. and excuse me for my english, im german.

Hi I tried to post this, but I'll copy it below.  Have your people checked into Sendori?  Thanks!

"Hi, I just fixed my new XPS 15.  I can't be certain that it's the same issue, but the internet on the computer was so slow that it was unusable.  I did some research and found that Dell included something called Sendori on the computer which is basically a giant advertiser that reroutes all your internet traffic through their system.  Besides being a huge security threat in my opinion, I figured maybe it was messing with my ability to send and receive data.  I guess it was slowing things down, because when I removed it, my speeds jumped dramatically.  Streaming video was at least 20x faster and other, less bandwidth intensive sites jumped to a lesser degree.  Try it and let me know if it helps.  Thanks, Josh"

Hi, I just fixed my new XPS 15.  I can't be certain that it's the same issue, but the internet on the computer was so slow that it was unusable.  I did some research and found that Dell included something called Sendori on the computer which is basically a giant advertiser that reroutes all your internet traffic through their system.  Besides being a huge security threat in my opinion, I figured maybe it was messing with my ability to send and receive data.  I guess it was slowing things down, because when I removed it, my speeds jumped dramatically.  Streaming video was at least 20x faster and other, less bandwidth intensive sites jumped to a lesser degree.  Try it and let me know if it helps.  Thanks, Josh

Hi, I just fixed my new XPS 15.  I can't be certain that it's the same issue, but the internet on the computer was so slow that it was unusable.  I did some research and found that Dell included something called Sendori on the computer which is basically a giant advertiser that reroutes all your internet traffic through their system.  Besides being a huge security threat in my opinion, I figured maybe it was messing with my ability to send and receive data.  I guess it was slowing things down, because when I removed it, my speeds jumped dramatically.  Streaming video was at least 20x faster and other, less bandwidth intensive sites jumped to a lesser degree.  Try it and let me know if it helps.  Thanks, Josh

I'm having a terrible problem with Internet access dropping as I move away from the router.  What card is in your machine?  I have an Intel Centrino Advanced - N 6235 and they are going to replace it wih Dell Wireless 1901 to see if that helps.  I can't find Sendori... Is it in Program Files?  How did you remove it?

I have the 1901 wireless card.  Sendori was available to uninstall from the Add/Remove programs list.  Hope that helps.

oh wow, Dell installs Sendori on its laptops. That seems sooo wrong... For what it's worth I have the same laptop and cut and pasted my configuration maybe a month ago in this thread. My WIFI has always worked great to this day >100Mbps at least 30 feet away through 3 walls. My router is an apple airport extreme fully patched (dual band). I've never experienced the WIFI slowness.

Now, I just checked and it don't see Sendori anywhere on my machine. Not in the control panel's "programs and features", not in c:\windows\Program Files nor Program Files (x86).

So maybe that's a big difference (I dont have sendori). I bought it through Dell canada, Maybe there's some software that is not bundled on the Canadian version that IS bundled in the USA version. That's weird given my laptop was shipped from the USA. But maybe they do configure them differently for Canada? I also haven't installed local backup or the other junk that keeps asking me to install. Our of the box, wifi worked great.

Just wanted to add this to the list of differences from my working XPS15 and what people who have non-working versions.

Can someone confirm that they:

1) have sendori installed on their computer

2) they see it in the list of program files in the control panel and are able to uninstall it

3) see sendori in c:\program files (x86)

????

Sendori is border spyware, what is Dell thinking. Did they install that junk for real!?!?! That's plain communication hijacking if you ask me.

Pierre

I have US version with slowness issue but can NOT find any evidence that Sendori is installed.  AK