Laptop Wifi Upload speed much slower than download speed

I have a Dell Inspiron N5040 running 1809 17763.135. It has a Dell Wireless 1502 802.11 b/g/n WiFi card which is made by Atheros. Prior to upgrading to 1803 WiFi worked normally and Download was faster than Upload, 35Mb vs 10Mb. Since 1803 and now 1809 as well, Download is around 4Mb while Upload is still around 10Mb.

I've tried different drivers but that has made no difference. I've looked at the AT&T Modem but there is no QoS settings to mess with so I can't do anything in that area.

The Dell 1502 is a single band device, 2.4Ghz only.

The driver I currently have is Qualcom Atheros 10.0.0.341 5/20/2016. It worked just as poorly with the driver Windows 10 installed for it.

Any ideas on how to fix this greatly appreciated as it makes the laptop useless. I may have to go back to 1709 which was the last version that worked right then use WuMGR to block future updates, at least until MS fixes this problem.

Drivers for the Wifi card are not working the best. You can go with a Wireless-ac card. As for the second antenna, it can be placed inside the case vs, having to tear apart the display side of the case to place the second antenna up there.

It's not a physical problem. Also note the Dell Inspiron N5040 is a laptop. Reception is very good, full bars. It worked great, with 30+Mbs download prior to the 1803 update.

I'm going to do a Macrium image of the current 250GB SSD then clean install 1709 and see if that still works as it did before.

Microsoft broke something in WiFi support (oh what a surprise!) and there are no drivers I can find more recent than 5/20/2016.

Microsoft broke more than WiFi with continued Beta testing of Windows 10. The NVIDIA drivers are wonky also with the 1800 series updates.

Amen to that. Looks like they broke my memory too (wet ware memory ). I clean installed 1709 and get the same crappy download speed as I had with 1809. Going back to Windows 7 as a final test. Looks like may have never had a good download speed with this laptop and WiFi card. I'll pick up a new WiFi card for the laptop and see if that helps. It should.

You could try this if you want to. Grab a copy of:

SG TCP Optimizer

Set powershell execution policy to unrestricted.

Change PowerShell Script Execution Policy in Windows 10 | Tutorials

Run the program as administrator and disable any security software that could block changes.

Make a settings backup.

Get your connection speed. Double click network adapter.

Select that speed using the slider. Apply Optimal settings.

Reboot both router and computer.

Check findings here:

Connection Diagnostics

Retest upload/ download speed and see if there is any difference.

If unhappy run the program again and restore backup.

=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:38 **Launched WmiPrvSE.exe[2292] « svchost.exe[968] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]powershell.exe[6284] « TCPOptimizer.exe[2072] « explorer.exe[1608] « svchost.exe[968] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]conhost.exe[3124] « powershell.exe[6284] « TCPOptimizer.exe[2072] « explorer.exe[1608] « svchost.exe[968] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\ControlSet001\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from15000to65535Value TcpTimedWaitDelay (N) will be a new value with data30Value DefaultTTL (N) will be a new value with data64=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:40 **Change Accepted=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:40 **Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\CurrentControlSet\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from15000to65535Value TcpTimedWaitDelay (N) will be a new value with data30Value DefaultTTL (N) will be a new value with data64=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:41 **Change Accepted=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:47 **Launched powershell.exe[7328] « TCPOptimizer.exe[2072] « explorer.exe[1608] « svchost.exe[968] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]conhost.exe[7460] « powershell.exe[7328] « TCPOptimizer.exe[2072] « explorer.exe[1608] « svchost.exe[968] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\ControlSet001\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from65535to65536=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:49 **Change Accepted=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:49 **Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\CurrentControlSet\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from65535to65536=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:07:50 **Change Accepted=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:11:49 **Launched dllhost.exe[8092] « svchost.exe[968] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]Additional SecurityFiles Added :-c:\windows\system32\tasks\elevated_TCPOptimizer_1~TPOPCT1~BATROPC - Size=2,786 Date=Mon Nov 26 23:11:36 2018 Attributes=---A-=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:14:02 **Launched powershell.exe[4560] « TCPOptimizer.exe[7360] « svchost.exe[1312] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]conhost.exe[1496] « powershell.exe[4560] « TCPOptimizer.exe[7360] « svchost.exe[1312] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\ControlSet001\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from65536to65535=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:14:02 **Change Auto-Accepted=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:14:02 **Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\CurrentControlSet\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from65536to65535=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:14:02 **Change Auto-Accepted=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:20:42 **Launched powershell.exe[7140] « TCPOptimizer.exe[1464] « svchost.exe[1312] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]conhost.exe[6848] « powershell.exe[7140] « TCPOptimizer.exe[1464] « svchost.exe[1312] « services.exe[816] « wininit.exe[664]Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\ControlSet001\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from65535to65534=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:20:42 **Change Auto-Accepted=======================================================** Monday 26/11/2018 23:20:42 **Low-level Drivers and ServicesRegistry Key hkey_local_machine\system\CurrentControlSet\services\tcpip\parametersValue MaxUserPort (N) wants to change from65535to65534=======================================================

I had hopes that it would work better under Windows 7 with all the right driver installed but it doesn't, same as with Windows 10.
I tried SG TCP Optimizer but it made no difference, same upload/download speeds. Looks like I need a new WiFi card for this Dell Inspiron 15 N5040 laptop.

The one it currently has is a Qualcom Atheros Dell 1502 802.11 b/g/n which should run much better than it's running. I'm going to see what I can find to replace it and see what happens. As it is now, the laptop is painfully usable.

Replaced the Dell 1502 with a Intel Dual Band AC 7260. Like magic. Works great now. I can see and use the 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands and I get 35GB download and 4.2Ghz upload. Very usable now, finally. Not bad for $13.99, free shipping.

Good for you, Rich (@Ztruker)! The right network interface can make a huge amount of difference. How much trouble was it to swap out the wireless adapter? Keep up the good work (and great posts).
--Ed--

Easy to swap. Pull battery. Pop out the keyboard (4 tabs at top of keyboard) and lay it over, disconnect the antenna, swap out the WiFi card, reconnect the antenna, put the keyboard and battery back. Took about 3 minutes start to finish.

I looked up the procedure before buying the replacement card so I knew what I was getting into. I've done a lot of them at the shop over the years, some easy, some a real bear.

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