[Ipg-smz] My three year old Dell Inspiron 13 5000 laptop runs great - but is it too old?

[Tom Henderson]

Tara's suggestion is good, and so is Swap's.

There are two versions of 802.11n, one for 2.4GHz, and the other for 
5GHz. That your machine wouldn't support "n-5GHz" is mysterious. It 
might be turned off in the BIOS. And the 5GHz has less penetration in 
some circumstances. This has nothing to do with "5G" which can barely be 
found in its most primitive form, anywhere on the planet. The tech you 
describe seems unskilled, unless I'm missing something.

Like they suggest down thread-- get a cheap dongle.

And to answer your question, no, your machine is just fine. An 802.11ac 
dongle is cheap and will work on your machine. Make sure it has drivers 
for Windows (most all do). If you have a USB-C port on your machine, use 
that, as under some circumstances, it will be faster than a slower USB 
port.

Tom (early liaison to the IEEE 802.11 committee)


On 5/29/19 7:53 PM, David Needle wrote:
> Yes, "only" supports 802.11n
>
> On Wed, May 29, 2019 at 4:51 PM Swapnil “Swap” Bhartiya 
> <arnieswap at gmail.com <mailto:arnieswap at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     They should support 2.4Ghz too. 5Ghz won’t be detected by older
>     chips. I am sure you are NOT confusing 5G network with 5Ghz wifi…
>
>     Also if you can, check which network your wifi chip detects :  If
>     it says that the adapter supports 802.11a and 802.11g and
>     802.11n network modes, it means that the computer has 2.4 GHz and
>     5GHz network capability.   If it says 802.11n 802.11g and 802.11b
>     network modes, it means the computer has 2.4GHz network capability
>     only.
>
>     https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/computer-not-see-5ghz-wifi-sees-2-4ghz-windows/
>
>     Swap
>
>>     On May 29, 2019, at 7:44 PM, Todd R. Weiss <toddrweiss at gmail.com
>>     <mailto:toddrweiss at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     That's  ridiculous.
>>     If it isn't backward compatible then that is ridiculous system
>>     configuration.
>>     There will be plenty of non 5G equipment around for a long time.
>>     I don't buy that excuse.
>>
>>     :)
>>
>>     Todd R. Weiss
>>     Technology Journalist
>>     TechManTalking
>>     toddrweiss at gmail.com <mailto:toddrweiss at gmail.com>
>>     O 717-806-5932
>>     M 717-413-9630
>>
>>     Publicist
>>     Harmonious Wail
>>     Gypsy Jazz with Style
>>     www.wail.com <http://www.wail.com/>
>>     717-413-9630
>>     toddrweiss at gmail.com <mailto:toddrweiss at gmail.com>
>>
>>     On Wed, May 29, 2019, 7:33 PM Swapnil “Swap” Bhartiya
>>     <arnieswap at gmail.com <mailto:arnieswap at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         Yes. If your wifi chip doesn’t support 5Ghz, it won’t work.
>>         We have some older lappies and they can only detect 2.4GHz.
>>
>>         > On May 29, 2019, at 7:30 PM, David Needle
>>         <davidneedle at gmail.com <mailto:davidneedle at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>         >
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > I ask this because of an incident in the press room at
>>         Salesforce's TrailheaDX conference today. They had a special
>>         WiFi password for the room, but it didn't work for me. A tech
>>         came over, but couldn't get it to work, even after also
>>         trying several other "secret" WiFi logins.
>>         >
>>         > His explanation was that they had probably set it up for 5G
>>         and my notebook didn't support that.
>>         >
>>         > No idea if that's a plausible explanation. No one else
>>         seemed to have a problem connecting. As it turned out, there
>>         was another WiFi code available to all attendees that worked
>>         perfectly fine throughout the Moscone Center so it turned out
>>         not to be an issue.
>>         >
>>         > Is there another explanation? Is this issue likely to come
>>         again anytime soon?
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > --
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Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc

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