Will My Internal WIFI Card Upgrade Be Noticeable?

Quinn O'Brien

Quinn O'Brien

New Member
I have an ASUS laptop, the model isn't important, but the internal wireless card that I have is the Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 with it's specifications being found here - http://www.cnet.com/products/athero...ifi-adapter-1x1-network-adapter-series/specs/. It dawned on me the other day at my college (which has mediocre internet) that perhaps I could squeeze a bit more internet speed out if i had a better internal wireless card. I know that no wonders will be worked or anything, and I am aware that there are other factors such as distance from wireless receivers, physical obstructions, as well as many other factors that affect wireless strength, but theoretically, would this wireless card give me a better opportunity at receiving a stronger connection or would this upgrade pretty much be the same exact speeds? This is the new wireless adapter I bought: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MY9EVHI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Thanks in advance!
 
Unless your university is running AC access points you will not see a difference.
 
I can foresee you having problems with this for one main reason. Your existing card is 2.4GHz only, and the one you bought is a dual band 2.4GHz/5GHz radio, meaning it requires an antenna(s) that are tuned for both frequencies.

If the internal antennas of your laptop do work (perhaps they use the same ones for different models, some of which are dual band), any performance gained would depend on the network your college uses. If they have dual band wireless infrastructure, then yes you will likely see a significant improvement since the 5GHz band is much cleaner, and you will associate at a faster speed if you have a strong signal to noise ratio. If they have 802.11ac, even better. However, the perceived poor performance may or may not be because of wireless. If you are in a weak area in relation to the placement of the AP, a new wireless card won't help, or if the AP is oversubscribed for the number of users.
 
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