PCI-E laptop wifi upgrade.

Colbaker · 10 Dec 2014 at 21:16

Pretty sure I know the answer his but not worked on notebooks for 8 years now so thought I would ask the people in the know.

Quick background, im on 150meg broadband with VM but my 802.11n qualcomme PCI-E adapter in my Sony Vaio just isnt up to the job at maximising download speeds to around 32Mbps, I have tried all sortz of things to boost this speed but no luck, I was thinking that if I get a new PCI-E 802.11ac adapter would I just be able to replace the current one and obviously install drivers? Will it actually improve anything? I may get an 802.11ac router in the future too.

My lappie is my main computer now so I really want to be able to use as much of the 150meg download that im paying for without messing around with cat 5e.

My current laptop is Sony Vaio SVE1713C5E.

OhEsEcks · 10 Dec 2014 at 21:57

If you get an AC card, you will need an AC router to maximise rates. I have an Intel 7260 AC card in my laptop, but it's throttled as my router is only N capable.

Colbaker · 10 Dec 2014 at 22:01

OhEsEcks said:
If you get an AC card, you will need an AC router to maximise rates. I have an Intel 7260 AC card in my laptop, but it's throttled as my router is only N capable.

This is what I thought, do you think it will improve my current setup until I can buy a ac router?

OhEsEcks · 10 Dec 2014 at 22:17

Colbaker said:
This is what I thought, do you think it will improve my current setup until I can buy a ac router?

If your card is N capable and the router is N capable already then no. You're already at the most the card and router are capable of.

Even if you put the AC card in, you're limited by the routers capabilites (like I am as it B/G and N). I won't be able to make full use of my AC card until I upgrade to an AC router.

Colbaker · 11 Dec 2014 at 00:41

Ah I see, so do you think if I got an ac adapter and router I could match or get very close to my routers 150meg download speed or is that a pipe dream?

MagicBoy · 11 Dec 2014 at 00:56

Wireless speeds - throughput is typically half that of the negotiated data rate. To get 150MBit/sec over WiFi you'll need around a 300MBit/sec connection, which means a good WiFi card and you being close to the AP/Router.

A potential ssue with upgrading an internal card is the number of streams and antennas. N and AC can use 1, 2 or 3. The only laptops I've seen that come with 3x3 pre-installed and will therefore get the fastest N or AC speeds are MacBooks. Even the top-end ThinkPads that we've had through work were only 2x2.

Short answer - if you need the full 150Mbit for downloads etc then use a network cable. For surfing and steaming video etc then an N card should be just fine.