Can I replace old Wi-Fi adapter to a new that supports Wi-Fi 5GHz

[tarest]

I have HP ProBook 450 G2 J4S16EA notebook with Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11 bgn Wi-Fi adapter and Windows 7 64-bit. Unfortunately,  I have to connect it to router by Wi-Fi 5GHz since 2.4GHz band is too noisy in my building.  Only one Wi-Fi antenna is connected to current Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11 bgn Wi-Fi adapter. Is there Wi-Fi adapter card that supports 5GHz and works with my notebook?

Original   After disconnecting antenna

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Unfortunately, with having only one antenna cable, upgrading to a dual band wifi card would not be possible, as the dual band N or AC cards need two antenna cables in order to work properly.

[tarest]

Maybe Intel 3160 HMC will work since it is 1x1 adapter?
https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/wireless-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-3160-bluetooth-bri...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Even that card needs two antenna cables connected.

If you want to experiment, then get either the 7260 or 3160 listed in chapter 3 of the service manual for your notebook.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04763183

Do your search by the the HP part number, not the model of the wifi card.

Here is what I believe you can expect with only one antenna...

1.  The card will work very poorly due to poor signal strength.

2. The wifi will work just fine, but the bluetooth won't work at all.

3.  The bluetooth will work just fine, but the wifi won't work at all.

[tarest · Accepted solution]

I inserted Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 card (HMW version with mini PCIe slot), connected the antenna to the MAIN connector and installed drivers from Intel website. Replacement instructions: Service guide > 5. Removal and replacement procedures for Customer Self-Repair parts > WLAN/Bluetooth combo card.

Wi-Fi works great. I measured speeds using speedtest.net:
 - 5GHz: download: 240 Mbps, upload: 195 Mbps
 - 2.4GHz: download: 48 Mbps, upload: 42 Mbps
No ping packets lost, HTTP works, large files (> 1GB) are downloaded without errors - SHA are correct. With a 2x2 Wi-Fi card we could get twice as high speeds in 5GHz, but these speeds ​​are enough for me:)

Intel 3160 card uses only one antenna for Wi-Fi - the one connected to the MAIN socket. AUX socket is used only for Bluetooth transmission. Laptop doesn't have 2 antennas thus Bluetooth doesn't work (see https://forums.intel.com/s/question/0D50P0000490POTSA2/ac3160-bluetooth-cant-discover-some-devices). This can be solved by installing the second antenna, but I didn't do it because I don't need Bluetooth.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Thanks for the report.

Therefore, my #2 theory was correct...The wifi will work just fine, but the bluetooth won't work at all.