NIC card is WiFi card?

[OneRedLT4]

OK, quick story on why I'm chasing this down. My laptop may be old by computer standards (4 years old) but it was a powerhouse in it's day. I haven't asked really anything more of it than I ever have. Lately at random times I'll get a awful sound and videos freezes. Only for about .5-1 second but it's pretty annoying. So far the best I can tell it's only when I'm watching something through the internet (like now I have Plex running out through the HDMI to the TV and playing here on the monitor.

Combine those clues with the fact that I was working on someone's new Windows 10 laptop, a low price nothing special unit, and it was downloading driver files at around 740kb/s and mine the same file at 7-10 kb/s. Pretty annoying. So I starting looking at parts and what was a good candidate for upgrade. So...

In the ol' desktop the NIC card (ok, I guess it should be NI card or just NIC...like "hot water heater", it's just a water heater) receives the Ethernet cable from the network/gateway. No such thing on the laptop. Searches come up with the WiFi card as the NIC. True?

The one that came with my laptop is an Intel Centrino N-1030 which to the best of my researching, tells me it's pretty much a bottom line unit. Can I upgrade it? I want speed that at least if is being restricted, isn't my computer. At home it's almost always hardwired and I don't have an AC wifi router so I'm not looking for that.

Note, I know there's only so much you can take seriously with this speed test sites, but wired Speedtest.net and Comcast's speed test always come up with approximately the same numbers:
Comcast wired - http://results.speedtest.xfinity.com/result/1327473664.png
Comcast on wireless - http://results.speedtest.xfinity.com/result/1327475324.png

Usually the wireless is around 20 down and 10 up and I've spent hours trying suggestions on router settings to speed that up and nothing worked while still letting all devices connect. And I don't really know anything about IPv6 to know if that's a tool to focus on.

So there it is. Do I have a chance for saving my hair by swapping in a better wifi card/NIC and getting frustrated when watching movies or downloading huge 714 kb files?

 

[OneRedLT4]

Oh I forgot, as I'm sure someone will ask, system is a Dell XPS l702x, 16 GB ram, i7-2760QM 2.4GHz, Windows 7 Home Premium and I just did a factory reset and reinstall of programs that I actually use.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

yes, the Wifi is the NIC.


Connect your slow laptop to a wire-ethernet and do another test.

 

[PushHands]

yes, the Wifi is the NIC.


Connect your slow laptop to a wire-ethernet and do another test.

^^^ what he said.

1. plug in to wired ethernet
2. turn off wifi
3. report back results

 

[OneRedLT4]

I was trying to be very clear, but I seemed to have tried hard enough to be confusing.
The above posted speeds are of the computer in question, I did the test wired and again on wifi. I actually did them right before submitting the thread.

The two slower results (one on Comcast speed test and the other on Speedtest.net) are on wifi and the two faster are wired.

BUT, I tend to not hold much stock in the speed, because 150+ down but when downloading something useful, it's crap.

 

[Aware]

Network interface card ... generally is the card you plug your ethernet cable into.

When you plug your ethernet cable into your internet router, you get a direct line to the Internet at the speed it enters your house. When you use wifi, it will be slower. Hence the differences you see.

You know on the wifi router, or in specs, it will say something like 802.11a/b/d/n ...? (Yeah i probably remembered the number wrong, don't shoot me). Well these letters are important. Each one represents a later revision and faster speed of the wifi protocol. Depending on your router and on your wifi card, you might be limited to a slow spec - maybe 802.11b - and thus see the slow speed you reported.


Maybe you can get a faster speed by setting your wifi card to auto, instead of (say) 802.11.b or maybe there is zero option to do that.

Maybe there is a setting on your router to give you faster speeds. Also depends on the router.

Maybe you just need a faster wifi card.

Maybe a new machine of any type will give you faster wifi lerformance. In fact I'd say almost definitely. Just look out for 802.11n or later, but you also need to know your router supports similar.

Realistically for 99.9% of your usage, 20Mbit should be fast enough.

This is a very complex subject and i have simplified remorselessly for brevity and to avoid getting bogged down in excruciating detail.

 

[rodr]

Lately at random times I'll get a awful sound and videos freezes.

It's important to chase this down ASAP. What kind of awful sound? You likely have a failing hard drive or cooling fan, or dust clogging things up and causing overheating. You may need a pro to diagnose/fix this.

Combine those clues with the fact that I was working on someone's new Windows 10 laptop, a low price nothing special unit, and it was downloading driver files at around 740kb/s and mine the same file at 7-10 kb/s.

At the same location using the same wi-fi? If not, could be you are too far from the router or something is misconfigured.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

OK , so how close are you to the WiFi transmitter when you perform the test? Is your wifi router new?
what does the OS on the laptop say for "connected with speed" etc to the WiFi?

Have you done speed test on your smartphone?

The WiFi card may be swappable, easy--or not. It may be under one flap only on the bottom. Find the diagram on the Dell website.

 

[OneRedLT4]

Thanks everyone...

Network interface card ... generally is the card you plug your ethernet cable into.

When you plug your ethernet cable into your internet router, you get a direct line to the Internet at the speed it enters your house. When you use wifi, it will be slower. Hence the differences you see.

You know on the wifi router, or in specs, it will say something like 802.11a/b/d/n ...? (Yeah i probably remembered the number wrong, don't shoot me). Well these letters are important. Each one represents a later revision and faster speed of the wifi protocol. Depending on your router and on your wifi card, you might be limited to a slow spec - maybe 802.11b - and thus see the slow speed you reported.


Maybe you can get a faster speed by setting your wifi card to auto, instead of (say) 802.11.b or maybe there is zero option to do that.

Maybe there is a setting on your router to give you faster speeds. Also depends on the router.

Maybe you just need a faster wifi card.

Maybe a new machine of any type will give you faster wifi lerformance. In fact I'd say almost definitely. Just look out for 802.11n or later, but you also need to know your router supports similar.

Realistically for 99.9% of your usage, 20Mbit should be fast enough.

This is a very complex subject and i have simplified remorselessly for brevity and to avoid getting bogged down in excruciating detail.

Understand (yes set to auto) but I'm not interested in faster Wifi as in the OP I said it's almost always wired. I included the wireless stats because the huge difference and thinking it might be connected to the issue I'm chasing, which is significantly slower download speeds wired than a new standard entry level laptop under the same conditions. It's that I think I want to upgrade.

It's important to chase this down ASAP. What kind of awful sound? You likely have a failing hard drive or cooling fan, or dust clogging things up and causing overheating. You may need a pro to diagnose/fix this.
#1


At the same location using the same wi-fi? If not, could be you are too far from the router or something is misconfigured.
#2

#1 Not mechanical, I know what you're getting at. Imagine watching a movie where the good guy doesn't know he's talking with a hologram and for a second the hologram stops and the audio sorta "carries" whatever note it was one when it froze, then continues on. Like that. Sound is audio.

#2 Yes, and I can pretty much see the router from my location. Now I just tried to remote in and look at the settings to refresh my memory and I realized I recently set it to bridge mode so I could better access different devices on the network and at my knowledge level of networking, one subnet is needed. I'm guessing that may be why the slower speeds, but still it was around 20 before.

OK , so how close are you to the WiFi transmitter when you perform the test? Is your wifi router new?
what does the OS on the laptop say for "connected with speed" etc to the WiFi?

Have you done speed test on your smartphone?

The WiFi card may be swappable, easy--or not. It may be under one flap only on the bottom. Find the diagram on the Dell website.

It's a Linksys and something like E3000. It's a dual frequency N router (not AC) and I can see it from laptop.

Again, looking to increase the NIC in real world usage. Mine is a huge pain to get to (by laptop standards) but I've already been there a few times between cleaning it out, screen replacement and power port replacement. That part I'm not worried about, but whether I even have swap out options.

 

[Not Sure]

There can be tons of things causing your issues, but first more questions:

Who is your provider and what speeds are you paying for (180Mb/ps is super fast).

Are you using any anti-virus or anti-malware programs?

Popup blockers?

Any browser add-ons?

Where are you streaming videos from (youtube... etc)?

Repeated questions:

How far from your wifi router, how many walls are you going through point a to b, and how many bars showing? (A saturated or latent connection can show full bars but download like crapola due to physical interference.)

Go to the same spot and attempt on your phone, that can rule out anything to do with your wireless network or signal.

Most likely, you have something on your machine that is slowing down your cpu or your memory buffering capabilites (which watching vids depends on). You may be able to download the data just fine, but your machine may be having issues processing everything in a timely manner due to other processes.

FWIW, I have a 6yr old win7 machine with 4 gig of ram and a 2.4mhz cpu that streams perfectly over 15Mb wireless connection.... the hardware is fully capable and then some!

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

hahaha he's called not sure..and has the avatar too!!!
Wrong character tho !

 

[Not Sure]

hahaha he's called not sure..and has the avatar too!!!
wrong character tho !

 

[Aware]

Sorry, I didn't really understand the issue from your original post. Centrino is the processor, not the NIC.

Maybe your card is somehow 10Mbit, not 100Mbit? You can definitely swap that card in most desktop machines. They are not expensive. Every Dell I've owned has been easily upgradeable.

 

[OneRedLT4]

Before coming up with the results below, I took the Linksys router out. It was only feeding a "smart" DVD player and Wifi, so I made a Ethernet cable to run from the Comcast modem to the player and using the Comcast wifi. Turned off AV

Edit: Started this response last night before things got, well how do you say, eventful at home ;-) Some results have last nights and today's numbers

There can be tons of things causing your issues, but first more questions:

Who is your provider and what speeds are you paying for (180Mb/ps is super fast). Comcast, paying for "Blast": I think it's 120Mbs

Are you using any anti-virus or anti-malware programs? Norton 360 from Comcast and the free malwarebytes (I have to manually scan, no real-time. Before responding to this, I ran the speed test again on Speedtest.net and landed a whopping 1.8 Mbs with AV disabled. Don't know if this makes sense, but I thought when I first added the linksys, wired to the modem, it's wifi was faster than the Comcast wifi. So many settings and configurations changed over time...

Popup blockers? Of coarse, but disabled with Norton

Any browser add-ons? Disabled for test

Where are you streaming videos from (youtube... etc)? Netflix, Plex, YouTube (all video out via HDMI and audio through optical), usually while surfing or playing around on PS, AI, or Lr

Repeated questions:

How far from your wifi router, how many walls are you going through point a to b, and how many bars showing? (A saturated or latent connection can show full bars but download like crapola due to physical interference.) Repeated answer (with more detail): 30-35 feet with line of sight from laptop to about 3' from modem. Slight kink in hallway from living room to kitchen area. Pantry wall just blocks view, so straight shot goes through standard wall and some seasonings.

Go to the same spot and attempt on your phone, that can rule out anything to do with your wireless network or signal. Last night, using Speedtest.net app, 15.61 download (against Comcast Wifi at 1.8 at same time. Just now, phone - 26.14 down, PC - page won't completely load.

Most likely, you have something on your machine that is slowing down your cpu or your memory buffering capabilites (which watching vids depends on). You may be able to download the data just fine, but your machine may be having issues processing everything in a timely manner due to other processes. Makes sense, wouldn't begin to know where to start diagnosing that (really fighting the urge to spend money I should hold on to and get a new MSI gaming laptop, though I don't game.

FWIW, I have a 6yr old win7 machine with 4 gig of ram and a 2.4mhz cpu that streams perfectly over 15Mb wireless connection.... the hardware is fully capable and then some!

 

[PushHands]

Possible you're using a contested wireless channel/frequency.

 

[GPToyz]

Which Comcast modem are you using? And where do you live? the 2.4 ghz spectrum, which your Intel Centrino N 1030, uses, is very saturated, especially in dense urban environments like SF.

Power User Tip:
Since you are using an Intel Centrino card I'm assuming you are using windows. What you want to do is turn off power saving modem in your wifi card's settings. This throttles your wifi cards performance for power savings (but it's negligible battery life vs significant performance degradation).
Go to your DEVICE MANAGER page:

Go to your network devices list:

Right click on your wifi card and go PROPERTIES

Increase transmit power to maximum
and Disable Power Management
Note: I just googled these images, it's a guide and chances are your configuration will look slightly different.

Testing your wifi:
Test your wifi performance in 2 samples, cleanest maximum performance and daily usage.
For clean performance, plug your laptop into the power supply and make sure you have line of sight to your wireless router (this is just a guide to best reception but it should work). Run a speed test and then test the performance where you plan to have your router installed and where you are most likely to use laptop (real world performance).

Things that will attenuate wifi performance:
Lead based painted walls
steel beams, steel staircases - basically and steal between you and the router <- Faraday cage
fresnel zone shape
saturated 2.4 ghz APs and other devices
802.11b and g devices that are also present on your network

The golden rule of speed:
As with anything in the computer world, you are governed by the slowest device. Make sure your 2.4 ghz network doesn't have any antiquated 802.11b or 802.11g devices this will reduce your performance. It would be the equivalent of having a prius in your way on a 1 lane road.

Fresnel zone:
Without getting too scientific, most people think that wireless signal emanated from a wireless router is like a perfect sphere, in reality it's more like a bean shaped or an amoeba that is constantly shifting, if you happen to be in the fringe areas that can also attenuate performance. This is where monitoring dBms allows you to determine how your signal strength is, if it is wildly oscillating, move to a different area.

Faraday cage:
Metal ferrous structures in between you and the router act like a barrier in the RF spectrum, dry wall might as well be air. So if you have a lot of ferrous metal in the way, that will attenuate and lower your wifi speed. Your router and modem will lower their speeds in order to get good transmission and receive.

The big hammer method to fix your problem.
What you really need to do is to upgrade the wifi card in your laptop and add a dedicated Dual Band 2.4 and 5ghz wireless router.
Here are the specs of your card:
http://ark.intel.com/products/59481/Intel-Centrino-Wireless-N-1030-Single-Band
And here's what it looks like:
http://www.waresphere.com/store/med...-wireless-n-1030-11230bnhmw-adapter-7kgx9.jpg

Since your card is a mini pcie half height card, you can easily upgrade it for the cost of a cheap dinner:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-3160-...050198?hash=item464d53d456:g:3ysAAOSwubRXJaeB

Then add a dual band wireless router to control your home network, like this one (shameless plug):
http://bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=499666

This will setup should solve all your problems without having to go through any trouble shooting methods. If 2.4 ghz is like driving on a 1 lane bidirectional small county road, 5ghz N would be like driving on a toll road in the middle of the day with no traffic.

 

[OneRedLT4]

Update:
First, thanks for that, the images always help. I did a lot of Googling and had made some changes in the card's properties and will revisit again.
From the start I figured the issue was something with my computer especially since speeds on phone are better, but then that's why the original question i had revolved around changing out the NIC for something better.

Since it is free and right down the street, yesterday I stopped in at Comcast and said my gateway had terrible wifi speed and wanted to swapped it out. He did and it's a different model. This one is the dual band even though the laptop doesn't see the 5GHz band, the mobile devices do and significantly faster than the 2.4 band.

So last night I did another speed test on the old gateway and if the page loaded, and if the test would commence, it hit a whopping 1.4 download. After getting the new up today, same test yielded 45 down, so I'm happy that if things stay as they are, looks like it was something with the Comcast wifi unit.

I'll still look into making sure my laptop is optimized the best I can, and still interested in whether another wifi card will help. Wonder if one that will connect to 5 GHz band is possible or even worth it.

 

[rodr]

There are some tiny USB dongles that will give you wireless AC. Try searching for something like "usb wifi ac" on Amazon.

Or run an ethernet cable.

 

[OneRedLT4]

Well, like I said in the beginning, it was never about the wifi and it is wired to the modem 99% of the time. It's the fact that wired, it downloaded the same file as a new POS laptop sitting next to it on the wifi, but at about a tenth of the speed.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

Well, like I said in the beginning, it was never about the wifi and it is wired to the modem 99% of the time. It's the fact that wired, it downloaded the same file as a new POS laptop sitting next to it on the wifi, but at about a tenth of the speed.

Wow..this is tough. Actually the reading of the writing of the problem always screamed Wi-Fi WiFi Wi-Fi!

Anyway I wonder if you have any tunnel/proxy installed by default which will make your wired speed smaller