Poor wireless range with wireless n 2230 adapter

[SKenn3]

I am having major issues with the internet connection on my U310 touch. My warranty expired in December of 2014, but I was not aware of the issue until the February of 2015. Prior to February, I used the hotspot feature on my phone for internet. The phone was always within 5 to 10 feet of my laptop. I just had home internet installed in my house and now I have found out how awful this laptop is. My internet is not that great to begin with. I pay for 10 mbps but get only get 5 to 8 mbps. The laptop has the Intel Centrino Wireless N 2230 adapter.

Here is the problem: If I stand right next to my router, I can pull 7-8 mbps download speeds. If I am literally 36 feet from my router where I normally do my computer work, I only get 0.20 mbps to 1.10 mbps download speeds. I use Google Play Music. I cannot play one song without constant buffering. I just tried to stream some music before writing this post and I just get the spinning wheel of death. My wife has an Asus U50F sitting right next to me. I logged onto her laptop and could stream music with absolutely no issue. I have searched for hours and tried a few fixes, but still nothing has worked. I had read about a possible manufacturing issue for laptops made prior to April of 2012, but found that my laptop was made in October of 2013. I called lenovo support and their ridiculous suggestion was for me to pay $20/month for them to optimize my computer. They did a remote in to my laptop, ran a "diagnostics" test and said that there was an issue because I had two extensions enabled. I had disabled all extensions before and had no wifi improvement.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Is it software or hardware related? Am I better off buying a usb wifi adapter? If so, any recommendations?

Am I just doomed to a laptop with a p*ss poor wifi connection?

[jbenavides]

Hello snkennelly,

The range of your Wireless connection can be affected by different factors. Here are some actions that can improve the connectivity:

- Update to the most recent Wireless Adapter driver version available fromhttp://downloadcenter.intel.com/ Intel® Download Center.

- Go to Control Panel, in Device Manager, under Network Adapters, select the Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230, go to the Advanced properties, and make sure Transmit Power is set to "Highest".

- In Windows* Power Options, Change Plan Settings, identify the Power plan you use, Change advanced power settings, in the Power Option dialog box, expand Wireless Adapter Settings and Power Saving Mode, make sure that Plugged In and On battery are set for "Maximum Performance".

* You may do this for other Power plans as well.

If the issue persists, let us know the Operating System, Wireless driver version shown in Device Manager, Router model and Firmware, and any other information you consider relevant.

[SKenn3]

The issue was fixed with the installation of the correct driver. However, the link provided above was not very useful. I ended up downloading some third party software (Driver Booster 2). The free version of the software worked just fine. It was able to locate the correct, most updated driver, and downloaded and installed it. Thank you for responding.