Just as a note; *buntu is very much improved in the area of wifi drivers specifically.
Let's not turn this into a penguin vs pane issue. What we are talking about are engines: some engines fit into some cars better than others. Some will not fit into a certain chassis no matter what you do to it.
Now, if you want to put an engine of a certain power, utility, and economy into your car, then you might shop around and decide which one will work for you. If you don't like shifting, then you will likely get an engine that has an automatic transmission. Regardless, unless the engine was preinstalled, there will be some work to install it correctly. Unless the engine was specifically designed for that car, there may some bugs to work out or work around.
Even if the engine was designed for that car, there may be 'features' that do not work the way you want them to, and you will have to change them or work around the features. Welcome to computers.
There are people who regard computers as tools, and there are those who see them as appliances. The tools group often reside in online help forums as the 'answer people' whereas the appliance gang are the customers, showing up to ask one or two questions and never come back once they see the answer(s) they want or fear.
The OP seems to be having browser or internet problems. Couple with that the lack of certain specific programs he was used to having in his old OS which may or may not have analogs in the new one (no one mentioned trying Thinderbird as an Outlook express replacement, for example).
I mentioned the learning curve, because I had one myself when transitioning away from XP to Vista and then Win 7 (both the latter OS' are geared to appliance people, more-or-less shutting out us tool users). I have a learning curve moving from Ubuntu 10.04 to 12.04-- it's the same as moving from a 1996 Camry to a 2006 Prius or from an electric stovetop to a gas one-- and it is to expected: progress requires learning. Life requires learning.