laptop - all wifi nic built in bluetooth?

[high_revs]

i have a laptop that is notoriously known for a very, very slow wifi ability. it's a qualcomm killer networking whatchamagig.

i bought an intel 7260 802.11ac with built-in bluetooth. i'm wondering if all bluetooth capable machines are built in the nic and not a separate hardware? just wondering if i'll see h/w conflicts or something.

i think it's built-in the wifi but not sure completely. i'll have to download the wifi and bluetooth drivers (bluetooth 4.0). hope this at least gets me 25mpbs since today, it's only a ridiculous 2mbps and that's almost next to the router! a machine 2 yrs older than this (dell xps15 L521X) goes 25mbps on 802.11n!

p.s. my router is 802.11n asus rt-n56u. my tablets get much faster speed than this laptop's nic.

pps.. i hope this is not one of those things like RAM where sometimes and even with same spec, are manufacturer specific. i had that happn to me when i bought ram for a HP machine but ram was not HP specific but same specs. i thought that was kinda stupid on how that thing was designed.

[yellowsulphur]

From my experience with these micro pcie network cards wifi and Bluetooth have always been on the same card. I've had good luck with intel branded cards. Did you correctly install the antenna and intel drivers.

[high_revs]

yellowsulphur,

i just ordered it. slow shipping though so won't get it for another 2 weeks or so. will report back here. oddly, i don't see many threads for the L521X for wifi nic replacement except for maybe 1 or 2. i figure people will be jumping on this upgrade because the oem killa network was really, really horrible. i think it was the #1 complaint, plus that the newest bios doesn't allow you sata3 speeds but 4 versions below that, it does. wtf dell??? but those lower bios were so unstable and kept on bluescreening.

[stix213]

The Intel WCS8270 chip used in the 7260 802.11ac has integrated Wifi and Bluetooth in the same chip. Not all wifi adapters have integrated Bluetooth, but it has become common. Probably because Bluetooth and 802.11n can operate in the same 2.4ghz range (n can be 2.4 or 5ghz). The older g and b standards also use 2.4ghz same as Bluetooth.

I would guess if you were to find an 802.11ac adapter that doesn't have backwards compatibility with many of the older wifi standards that you wouldn't get Bluetooth, since ac is a 5ghz only standard, but I don't know if they exist.

[high_revs]

i think I"m ok on the nic I got (7260.HMWWB.R). says it's backward compatible to 802.11n.

i've been thinking of uprading to an AC model anyway so i can turn the asus rt-n56u into like a guest router i can just unplug/re-plug for guests. the rt-n56u didn't come with guest account and a tp-link mini-router to do that guest thing... was a pita and unstable. waste of $20.

[yellowsulphur]

yellowsulphur,

i just ordered it. slow shipping though so won't get it for another 2 weeks or so. will report back here. oddly, i don't see many threads for the L521X for wifi nic replacement except for maybe 1 or 2. i figure people will be jumping on this upgrade because the oem killa network was really, really horrible. i think it was the #1 complaint, plus that the newest bios doesn't allow you sata3 speeds but 4 versions below that, it does. wtf dell??? but those lower bios were so unstable and kept on bluescreening.

I have the Intel Network 7260.HMWG. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o03_s01) and it works great. My university upgraded their network to 802.11ac and on occasion I have hit 350/350 Mbps. I use a cheap 802.11n at home so I don't know its max speed, but assume with overhead to be around 550 Mbps at 2x2. The Intel nic will be much better than the Qualcomm Atheros cards that are common in laptops.

[high_revs]

well i just installed the intel AC7260. better speeds at 802.11N but nothing to brag about. can't really say it was a waste of $25 or so but at least it's not a piddly 1mpbs or 2mpbs.


yes my upload is faster than my download!

I don't really need an AC router yet for home since I put a long ethernet cable where I normally sit.

[high_revs]

spoke too soon. now the darn thing won't connect to the router after reboot. sigh...

[yellowsulphur]

What speeds do you get with the ethernet cable? My cheap in N router will do about 50/50, but my Internet is 100/10. What Internet service do you have? Have you tried to see what your speeds are locally?

[C.G.]

well i just installed the intel AC7260. better speeds at 802.11N but nothing to brag about. can't really say it was a waste of $25 or so but at least it's not a piddly 1mpbs or 2mpbs.


yes my upload is faster than my download!

I don't really need an AC router yet for home since I put a long ethernet cable where I normally sit.

If you haven't done it, download the latest Intel drivers.

[high_revs]

If you haven't done it, download the latest Intel drivers.

got that already. the nic was just in static free bag and nothing else so i had to go to intel, download and install.

i had to figure out which ones also because the intel update utility wasn't accurate and wouldn't download even the 2nd most recent versions (compared to website). it kept on failing. . i even installed the full software pack that includes the utilities and app for managing wifi.. i uninstalled it since to me, it was just bloat and wasn't buying me anything new over win7's wifi management/mobility center. and it wasn't improving anything.

so i downloaded drivers only and installed. i think there were some issues in the full software package because my bluetooth kept on disconnecting (for my bluetooth mouse).

i moved to my office and the speeds are a little better. but it's not a true test where I normally would be though (other end of home). i'm hardwired on both places and i normally hardwire when i do more stuff in my office.

http://results.speedtest.comcast.net/result/975055124.png