Question Limited WiFi connectivity on Dell lappy

[Charlie98]

I bought my daughter a Dell laptop a few years ago... 2017'ish or so. She brought it home last week for me to update and I realized it wouldn't connect to our 5G WiFi... I had to turn the radio on for the 2.4G, and then it picked up the 2.4G signal, and was able to connect. It has a Qualcomm QCA9565 wireless adapter, it says it has the latest driver... but I'm not real savvy on network adapters and getting them to cooperate. Is this thing stuck with 2.4G WiFi, or is there a way to update the adapter, or... I guess... replace it to pick up 5G?

 

[Tech Junky]

If you're going to replace it put an AX210 in for the future proofing and ability to access 6Ghz when it becomes more prevalent.

AX210NGW
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Intel-Wi...11ac-802-11ax-Wi-Fi-6-Bluetooth-5-2/475068242 $28.50 This is probably the best price right now. I picked up a couple of them awhile back for ~$20/ea on Amazon but, they've gone up with the shipping crisis.

 

[SamMaster]

Yep, that chip is 2.4 GHz only:

QCA9565 | CMOS combo-chip for 2.4 GHz 802.11n & Bluetooth | Qualcomm

The Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 WLAN function integrates a multi-protocol MAC, baseband processor, analog-todigital/digital-to-analog converters (ADC/DAC), 1x1 radio transceivers, and PCI Express interface.

www.qualcomm.com

Since it's a Dell, you shouldn't find any problems upgrading to the AX201NGW, as long as the antennas are available and you pick the same size format. If there's only one antenna, it should still work, but the signal won't be as good as it could be. What model is it exactly?

 

[Charlie98]

It's an Inspiron 5566 x64 w/W10

 

[JackMDS]

The original WIFI cards of old Dell 5566 seems to be deliberately chosen to be ""BAD"".

You can find compatible ac cards on eBay for less than #10 and get around 400/400 (or more).

 

[SamMaster]

Ah yes, I know that chassis. I used to be a Dell service tech. Shouldn't be too hard to change the WiFi card, just be careful with those antennas.

Looking at the service manual, it only refers to two antennas, not one, so I think you're good to go on that department. The best wifi card listed officially is the
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC3165, but probably a modern WiFi card would work also (Dell doesn't do like HP and lock the WiFi card in BIOS as much). Just do proper research first in case there are compatibility shenanigans.

 

[Charlie98]

I'm not so worried about 6G... I think a dual band card should be OK, unless a tri-band is cheaper.

Thanks!

Hopefully I won't be back with a 'WTF did I just do...?' post in a week or so...