Is it worth purchasing a Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 WiFi Bluetooth Half Mini Card?

[Jose_49]

Yo! I'll be short with this one. I have a crappy 2230. I have sudden drops and I'm about to kill myself. I have August's drivers and I haven't been able to fix those issues. I'm Currently using Windows 10 TP B; 9879

 

Now, I'm looking to replace the device. (Yes, I know about blacklisting...) What I'd like to know if Intel has managed to fix all the Wireless problems of it, and if I'll receive a much better experience.

 

Also, I'd like to know if Intel is going to release a newer model, and when (to see if it's worth the upgrade).

 

Thanks a lot people!!!

 

 

[Jose_49]

bump

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Please wait 24 hours before bumping..

 

Besides drops, what else is wrong? Have you run any wireless diagnostics? It could just be your location, I'm not sure.

[Jose_49]

Please wait 24 hours before bumping..

 

Besides drops, what else is wrong? Have you run any wireless diagnostics? It could just be your location, I'm not sure.

Sorry about the bump :/

 

And about my location... Well it could be. I know that I need to change this old Linksys WRT54G (g) for something newer. But when I go away from home I experience this with other g routers. I don't seem to have problems when I connect to .n wireless radios.

[remixedcat]

It's an excellent adapter. Go for it if it's supported on your system.

[Jose_49]

It's an excellent adapter. Go for it if it's supported on your system.

Thanks :)

[remixedcat]

No problem. Lots of people like it and have no issues. I want one myself but my laptop has a stupid bios whitelist (note:never get an HP laptop again those suck with bios whitelists)

[Raa]

Yes.

[pHuzi0n]

Sorry about the bump :/

 

And about my location... Well it could be. I know that I need to change this old Linksys WRT54G (g) for something newer. But when I go away from home I experience this with other g routers. I don't seem to have problems when I connect to .n wireless radios.

 

A new wireless card isn't going to do much at all if you're connecting to G spec AP's. MIMO in N and AC spec cards can slightly improve your signal to older spec AP's but not by much and going from N to AC isn't going to change that. You should only bother getting an AC card if you have an AC AP. If you are looking for better signal to G spec AP's then you need a stronger antenna which means getting an external adapter that will allow you to use your own antennas or that has a strong one already instead of using the ones built into your laptop.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,
 
If you do purchase an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth adapter, here are three things to make sure of:

1. Verify you have selected the correct form-factor for your computer, as they come in both MiniPCIe and in M.2 (NGFF) form-factors.
2. If your computer's UEFI firmware uses whitelisting, make sure you get the proper FRU/assembly/part number for your computer.
3. Make sure the seller is not selling an engineering prototype, but a production version of the card.

I have purchased three cards from different sellers on eBay.  The results are that one worked perfectly; one was sent with the wrong assembly (Dell part instead of Lenovo part, seller credited me for the mistake); and one was an engineering prototype that didn't work in any computer.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[Jose_49]

A new wireless card isn't going to do much at all if you're connecting to G spec AP's. MIMO in N and AC spec cards can slightly improve your signal to older spec AP's but not by much and going from N to AC isn't going to change that. You should only bother getting an AC card if you have an AC AP. If you are looking for better signal to G spec AP's then you need a stronger antenna which means getting an external adapter that will allow you to use your own antennas or that has a strong one already instead of using the ones built into your laptop.

Yosh! Then, I'll go with replacing my old router! I posted over sevenforums this: http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/354429-good-not-expensive-wireless-n-router.html#post2953132

 

I was thinking on grabbing one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L4HWY3E/ref=gno_cart_title_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1M0GZGHL8F7T8. What about it?

 

Hello,

 

If you do purchase an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth adapter, here are three things to make sure of:

1. Verify you have selected the correct form-factor for your computer, as they come in both MiniPCIe and in M.2 (NGFF) form-factors.
2. If your computer's UEFI firmware uses whitelisting, make sure you get the proper FRU/assembly/part number for your computer.
3. Make sure the seller is not selling an engineering prototype, but a production version of the card.

I have purchased three cards from different seller on eBaby.  The results are that one worked perfectly; one was sent with the wrong assembly (Dell part instead of Lenovo part, seller credited me for the mistake); and one was an engineering prototype that didn't work in any computer.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

#1: Thanks!!!! I need to check that thing very well.

#2: I need to install a modified version of the BIOS (already know how to do that and where to look that)

#3. Thanks again. I remember reading a comment on Amazon telling me that from "cheaper sellers" there were many counterfeits.

[Jose_49]

No problem. Lots of people like it and have no issues. I want one myself but my laptop has a stupid bios whitelist (note:never get an HP laptop again those suck with bios whitelists)

have you ever looked for a modified BIOS over the web?

[Aergan]

Yo! I'll be short with this one. I have a crappy 2230. I have sudden drops and I'm about to kill myself. I have August's drivers and I haven't been able to fix those issues. I'm Currently using Windows 10 TP B; 9879

 

Now, I'm looking to replace the device. (Yes, I know about blacklisting...) What I'd like to know if Intel has managed to fix all the Wireless problems of it, and if I'll receive a much better experience.

 

Also, I'd like to know if Intel is going to release a newer model, and when (to see if it's worth the upgrade).

 

Thanks a lot people!!!

 

I've just removed one (Intel AC-7260) from my Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5 board two weeks ago and replaced it with an Azurewave AW-CE123H (Broadcom 4352 / 20702 based AC & BT 4.0).

 

The Intel card gave me nothing but grief with Bluetooth devices and anything to do with WiFi direct / MyWiFi etc doesn't work / not supported under Windows 8.1 x64. If you are unfortunate to install their control software, it might soft kill the antenna on start up until both the software and driver are un-installed (hence why they don't support it I guess). Ironically, Bluetooth still works in this broken state but not any better than normal.

It also quite frequently goes ape-###### under Ubuntu / OpenSUSE when coming back from a low power state. It likes to drop 5.2GHz connections when trying to pair Bluetooth 4.0 devices and can take an exceeding amount of time to reconnect to an access point (~5 mins) when resuming Windows from sleep or hibernate.

 

I was also unfortunate enough to buy another one before I bought my system to go in the Mrs' Dell laptop. It behaves with Bluetooth the same as mine but resumes ok from Sleep (likely to do with the lack of power management on Dell's firmware side of things as that thing sucks power like a Dyson does dust). If I hear any complaints about it further, it's coming out though.

 

I may not have O.O.B. driver support under Windows with the Azurewave / Broadcom, but once drivers are installed - it actually works (reliably) and very well outside of Windows too. It will happily pull a set of working drivers from Windows update if you're feeling lazy.

[Jose_49]

I've just removed one (Intel AC-7260) from my Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5 board two weeks ago and replaced it with an Azurewave AW-CE123H (Broadcom 4352 / 20702 based AC & BT 4.0).

 

The Intel card gave me nothing but grief with Bluetooth devices and anything to do with WiFi direct / MyWiFi etc doesn't work / not supported under Windows 8.1 x64. If you are unfortunate to install their control software, it might soft kill the antenna on start up until both the software and driver are un-installed (hence why they don't support it I guess). Ironically, Bluetooth still works in this broken state but not any better than normal.

It also quite frequently goes ape-###### under Ubuntu / OpenSUSE when coming back from a low power state. It likes to drop 5.2GHz connections when trying to pair Bluetooth 4.0 devices and can take an exceeding amount of time to reconnect to an access point (~5 mins) when resuming Windows from sleep or hibernate.

 

I was also unfortunate enough to buy another one before I bought my system to go in the Mrs' Dell laptop. It behaves with Bluetooth the same as mine but resumes ok from Sleep (likely to do with the lack of power management on Dell's firmware side of things as that thing sucks power like a Dyson does dust). If I hear any complaints about it further, it's coming out though.

 

I may not have O.O.B. driver support under Windows with the Azurewave / Broadcom, but once drivers are installed - it actually works (reliably) and very well outside of Windows too. It will happily pull a set of working drivers from Windows update if you're feeling lazy.

(y)

Thanks for the feedback. What about the one you listed? Will it do ok in "g" protocol? (I'm still flooded with that kind of protocols)

 

Does it support wireless display (or some sort of it? I know WiDi is Intel's)? It's not that it is indispensable (running SLI disables this possibility)

[Aergan]

(Y)

Thanks for the feedback. What about the one you listed? Will it do ok in "g" protocol? (I'm still flooded with that kind of protocols)

 

Does it support wireless display (or some sort of it? I know WiDi is Intel's)? It's not that it is indispensable (running SLI disables this possibility)

 

Seems fine but I only have a single AP @ 2.4GHz / G to test against for the wonderful HP all-in-con printer that we have the displeasure of owning.

 

I don't have any WiDi compliant devices to test against I'm afraid (didn't take off that well in the UK). As far as I know it needs to have an Intel MIMO / Centrino class PCI-e device to work via the Intel software, but Broadcom can be supported on the receiving end (e.g. TV device).

 

Initially I was pretty critical of the range that I was getting with 5.2GHz on my Netgear / Belkin access points with the Intel card(s) but I've since discovered that's mostly an Intel issue.

Previously, I had:

• an AP @ 5.2GHz / N 450 in the Study (around -33dBm to -46dBm)
• an AP @ 5.2GHz / AC 1200 in the Living room (around -76dBm to -92dBm)

And the thing would occasionally drop the connection / have a moment of 'inspiration'. It could not connect to the Living room AP at all.

 

With the Azurewave / Broadcom, I have since moved the N 450 AP two rooms over to the  Living room (one false wall, one double brick) and the AC 1200 to the attic (one brick wall, two floors and a shower unit). I can see both AP's and it will even let me connect to the AC 1200 AP in the attic with a very weak -71 to -81dB/a signal. This is quite impressive really seeing as I'm still using the OEM supplied  craptastic plastic Gigabyte branded antenna versus a proper OEM antenna array (and I'm sat in-front of it). Currently, it's connected to the N 450 in the Living room currently @ -53 dBm if I move or @ -72dBm if sit in front of it (damn homosapien water & metal meat sack of a body). The previous Living room AP values on the Intel card were me being out of the way.

 

I mostly moved the N 450 AP to the Living room for the other Intel AC-7260 as the Mrs sits in there with her laptop for doing her essay writing.

[remixedcat]

Jose_49, on 12 Dec 2014 - 09:52, said:

have you ever looked for a modified BIOS over the web?

Don't wanna mess with that

[John.D]

I've read that most of Intel's wireless drivers for their adapters are buggy as. And cause nothing but crashes / probs

 

Myself I wouldnt use them. I was going to get one for widi for my new build. Since the G3240 supports it. But then decided not to, when I read that their drivers are pretty buggy.

 

But I may still one but get a Gigabyte adapter that supports widi. At the mo, I'm using TP-link dual band USB adapters. And so far so good. 3 of them havent caused any probs or crashes

[Jose_49]

Seems fine but I only have a single AP @ 2.4GHz / G to test against for the wonderful HP all-in-con printer that we have the displeasure of owning.

 

I don't have any WiDi compliant devices to test against I'm afraid (didn't take off that well in the UK). As far as I know it needs to have an Intel MIMO / Centrino class PCI-e device to work via the Intel software, but Broadcom can be supported on the receiving end (e.g. TV device).

 

Initially I was pretty critical of the range that I was getting with 5.2GHz on my Netgear / Belkin access points with the Intel card(s) but I've since discovered that's mostly an Intel issue.

Previously, I had:

• an AP @ 5.2GHz / N 450 in the Study (around -33dBm to -46dBm)
• an AP @ 5.2GHz / AC 1200 in the Living room (around -76dBm to -92dBm)

And the thing would occasionally drop the connection / have a moment of 'inspiration'. It could not connect to the Living room AP at all.

 

With the Azurewave / Broadcom, I have since moved the N 450 AP two rooms over to the  Living room (one false wall, one double brick) and the AC 1200 to the attic (one brick wall, two floors and a shower unit). I can see both AP's and it will even let me connect to the AC 1200 AP in the attic with a very weak -71 to -81dB/a signal. This is quite impressive really seeing as I'm still using the OEM supplied  craptastic plastic Gigabyte branded antenna versus a proper OEM antenna array (and I'm sat in-front of it). Currently, it's connected to the N 450 in the Living room currently @ -53 dBm if I move or @ -72dBm if sit in front of it (damn homosapien water & metal meat sack of a body). The previous Living room AP values on the Intel card were me being out of the way.

 

I mostly moved the N 450 AP to the Living room for the other Intel AC-7260 as the Mrs sits in there with her laptop for doing her essay writing.

Well then. If that's been the case, I'd rather go with the broadcom one. I just need to fix these issues. I can't stand this crappy card anymore -_-. All my devices work perfectly except this garbage.

[Jose_49]

So, I haven't done any purchase to be sure that I'm going to buy the right thing. I'll be going this time with the Azurewave, as Aergan suggested. I just wanted to confirm if the one provided, will indeed work. 

 

I'm also trying to see if it's possible to have Dual Band (or my laptop does not support it? (I think I need 3 antenna cables, instead of 2)). Not that it's mandatory, but it would be good just in case. 

 

I'm attaching a picture of my card. 

 

Thanks  a lot and Happy New Year

[Aergan]

So, I haven't done any purchase to be sure that I'm going to buy the right thing. I'll be going this time with the Azurewave, as Aergan suggested. I just wanted to confirm if the one provided, will indeed work. 

 

I'm also trying to see if it's possible to have Dual Band (or my laptop does not support it? (I think I need 3 antenna cables, instead of 2)). Not that it's mandatory, but it would be good just in case. 

 

I'm attaching a picture of my card. 

 

Thanks  a lot and Happy New Year

 

It's a 2x2 configuration and will require just the two antennas. Dual band relates to supporting 2.4GHz and 5GHz, the antennas are used for Multiple In / Multiple Out (MIMO) to get dual data streams (e.g. 300Mbps rather than 150Mbps over N).

 

Either the Azurewave or the Intel will fit your antenna configuration.

[Jose_49]

It's a 2x2 configuration and will require just the two antennas. Dual band relates to supporting 2.4GHz and 5GHz, the antennas are used for Multiple In / Multiple Out (MIMO) to get dual data streams (e.g. 300Mbps rather than 150Mbps over N).

 

Either the Azurewave or the Intel will fit your antenna configuration.

Thanks man! :D 

 

One more thing, does Azurewave have a Dual Band AC? 

[Aergan]

Thanks man! :D

 

One more thing, does Azurewave have a Dual Band AC? 

 

Yes, mine connects to my AC access point at 5GHz.

[Jose_49]

Yes, mine connects to my AC access point at 5GHz.

Music for my ears! Already ordered it! Shall be arriving next week (Around 8th Jan)

 

I hope this sorts out the connectivity issues I'm sick of experiencing. Even my phone gets better download and connection speeds than my laptop -_-. 

 

Thanks a million!!!!  

[dvb2000]

Thanks man! :D

 

One more thing, does Azurewave have a Dual Band AC? 

 

I also confirm the above. I have 2x Intel AC 7260 cards, one in an IBM laptop (with updated bios to remove the whitelist), and it works perfectly after disabling the AC7260 BIOS extensions.

 

After my success with this card, I bought another Intel AC7260 for my desktop and had nothing but problems with it, not the least was that the intel bluetooth drivers are nobbled in this scenario, and almost nothing bluetooth works . Same as the others here I bought an (Azurewave) Broadcom BCM94352HMB and this works brilliantly in the desktop.

 

 

 

Would never by another Intel card!

[dvb2000]

I've just removed one (Intel AC-7260) from my Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5 board two weeks ago and replaced it with an Azurewave AW-CE123H (Broadcom 4352 / 20702 based AC & BT 4.0).

 

The Intel card gave me nothing but grief with Bluetooth devices and anything to do with WiFi

 

I had exactly the same issue with a Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I card, and exactly the same solution (replacing the intel AC card with the Broadcom AC card).

 

Gigabyte (and Intel) should be ashamed releasing such crappy hardware/software!