PCI Card signal very weak, fluncuates greatly, drops connection

[DoctorM]

I've been using TP-LINKS "TL-WN781ND" PCI card for about a month now, and it performs very badly. It sometimes does not connect to the internet, and when it does, I get very slow speeds of about 2.5 KB/s, While if I use my laptop right next to my PC, I get speeds of 250 KB/s.
The strange thing is that at random, without warning, I'll get speeds of 250 KB/s, for no reason at all.
Would switching to a USB dongle or different card solve this problem? I can give more information about my setup if needed.

 

[bill001g]

The key issue with PCI cards is the antenna is very close to the metal case. A laptop has the antenna behind the screen in most cases. It could be as simple as turning your machine so the antenna faces the router. Of course make sure the antenna is not loose or broken.

A USB dongle especially those tiny little ones would likely work worse if you plug it in the back of the machine. The antenna on these is even smaller and those ones that almost disappear into the USB slot are now almost surrounded by metal. A USB adapter that is on a cable though or if you buy a usb extension, will let you place the nic on top of the machine or other places in the room.

It tends to be a trade off the USB generally don't have as good antenna but PCI fancy antenna are located next to the case.

The best options are USB with external antenna on a long cable or the PCI cards that have the antenna on short cables that let you place the antenna on top of the machine.

 

[DoctorM]

Thank you for your help. I'm about 45~ feet and a wall or two away from my router, so I was thinking that if I bought a dongle with good reception range it would do better. I've repositioned my antenna, although this card still drops connections on windows 8 every once in a while, and it still fluncuates greatly for no reason at all.

 

[bill001g]

It would be nice to be able to even predict how well things will work with wireless but everyone house is so different it ends up being try things until you get them to work. This is why you see massively different reviews of equipment since the house makes much more difference than the wireless device.

All you can do is try something else and if it works you are lucky to have picked correctly. The only other realistic option for most people is to use powerline network devices instead of wireless when they can't run ethernet cables. Powerline tends to be more stable but there are a tiny number of houses they refuse to work in at all.