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Wireless slow on Inspiron 15 - 3521 Windows 8
New to the Dell Community Forum. Saw 3 other posts, but no solutions. My problem is not with WIFI disconnecting, but merely being slow as molasses. It's like watching paint dry!
In desperation, I hooked up via an Ethernet cable to my Netgear router and wow, I got the speed that I would expect out of a computer. I realize speed will probably be faster on the Ethernet, but wireless speed should still be somewhere close! The other day I tried to reinstall a software program and the company finally asked me to call back when my computer could communicate faster. Now, I could probably make that call as long as the Ethernet cable is hooked up! I should not have to do that!
If anyone out there has had the problem with slow wireless connection and has found a solution, please let me know. I would appreciate any feedback you may have! Thanks - Rick
RicksLT
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July 18th, 2015 08:00
Todd - Just to follow-up on my slow wireless on my Dell Inspiron 15 3521, I have been on the laptop for a couple hours this morning and the speeds did seem improved, but not all that satisfying. I had found an older thread with some suggested wireless card settings by I assume a Dell representative, SAHARSH K? The thread that he responded to was an issue of the wireless disconnecting. Although my issue was for just slow response speeds on wireless, I decided to make the changes he suggested to see if it might help my case! It did work and I am pleased with the wireless speed I am now getting.
WIFI problem with Inspiron 15 3521 by Saty on 03/16/13. Again, SAHARSH K offered his recommended settings to this thread on 10/19/13. Anyone having slow wireless speeds on their Inspiron 15 laptop might benefit from making these changes to the network card settings. I have replied to that thread at the end letting all know what exceptions I found when making my changes!
http://commweb-ps3.us.dell.com/support-forums/network-internet-wireless/f/3324/t/19497222
Thanks again Todd!
Rick
DELL-Todd S
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July 16th, 2015 11:00
Hi Rick,
There are a few different reasons that wireless could be slow, unfortunately. First thing I would recommend is checking out some of the articles in our Dell Networking & Wireless Support Center.
Do you use that system at multiple wireless network spots, such as home, at a coffee shop, or work? Do you see that slow connection speed at every wireless network you try to connect to? That would help define whether the issue is particular to your home network, and Netgear router, or whether it's happening to the system at all times.
Next, update your drives to the most current available. You can go to the Dell Support Pages, input your service tag, and the system will refresh to take you to the pages for your system. Click on the Drivers & Downloads link, and look for network / wireless drivers.
You don't mention which model of wireless card you have in that system. The 3521 had options for two dell cards (1703 & 1704) or the Intel 2230 card. If you have the Intel card you may want to go directly to Intel's N2230 Download page and download their newest driver. Intel recently released some newer versions of their drivers (the 17.XX versions) that greatly improve performance and I'm not sure those are yet up on our support pages.
The last thing I'll recommend for now is to go into your Netgear admin screens and see if you can update the firmware for that router. As the newer N-band cards come out the router manufacturers are constantly updating their router's firmware to accommodate them and you may find that updating it will help.
Let me know if any of this resolves the slow connection speed or not. If not, please let us know what model of wireless card you have and whether you've tested that system on multiple wireless networks or not and we'll see what else we can suggest to help.
Todd
RicksLT
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July 17th, 2015 17:00
Todd - Thanks for replying to my concern with slow wireless on my laptop. After I posted the thread, I did go in on Dell's site and they had a BIOS upgrade from 10 to 12 which I downloaded. Also, another upgrade download for the Dell wireless 1704 which I also downloaded. I disconnected the laptop from the Ethernet connection yesterday evening. Had a chance to use it a little bit last night and it does seem like it has improved! Certainly not the fast communication the Ethernet connection provides, but improved over what it was before the upgrade. I am going to use it some more before I will reach out to you again! Thanks again for getting back to me! - Rick
RicksLT
10 Posts
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September 8th, 2016 15:00
Todd - My fix I thought I had all went to waste, as I upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1. I tried to use the same settings as I used in my previous posts, and now I have lost all my wireless! I am in the process of doing a system restore, the clock now tells me it is 3 + hours and the bar is still moving and the C drive light is still blinking! I am hoping this will complete sometime soon, get my computer back, but would like to know if there is any recommended settings for the Windows 8.1 environment when it comes to wireless? Thanks in advance - Rick
-ZED-
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November 24th, 2020 13:00
I fixed mine. It might help.
Go to Device Manager > Network Adapters > Dell Wireless > Open Properties > Advanced > Bandwidth > Set value to AUTO > press OK.