Please Help, I am Looking for a upgrade for a faulty Realtek RTL8188EE wifi card.

[tmjk]

 I have a HP Pavilion 17-e118dx Notebook. Over the past 6 months my wifi speed has dropped down to 2-3mbps. The other laptops are hitting 40mbps. I have tried several fixes, tried several driver versions, and I even reinstalled Windows 10 64bit. I am thinking my Realtek RTL8188EE WiFi card is giving up the ghost. I am hoping that someone might have a few suggestions for a upgraded wifi card with Bluetooth (if possible). My laptop  has a AMD processor. I have enclosed a pic of my faulty card. Any advice is  greatly appreciated. Thanks for helping.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You can install either one of these Broadcom cards with Bluetooth...

Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 combo   HP Part # 724935-001

Broadcom BCM943228HMB 802.11abgn 2×2 Wi-Fi Adapter, Broadcom Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
HP part # 730668-001

You should be able to find either card on Amazon or eBay.

Search by the HP part number, not the model of the wifi card.

Naturally, the AC card will cost a bit more than the N card.

[tmjk]

Thanks so much for your recommendations. I will look into these two wifi chips. I'll let you know how it turns out. Again thanks for your help.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

[tmjk]

I hope this isn't too dumb a question? I picked up a wifi card on eBay... it was from a HP ProBook 640 G1 the Wireless WiFi Card  hp# 730668-001.... But did not mention Broadcom BCM943228HMB. Bluetooth etc.  I assumed (which is never a good thing) that since it has the same # HP 730668-001 that this is the card I needed... But maybe not???  Thanks again for taking the time to help my ignorance.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Not a dumb question at all.

The card is used in multiple HP notebooks, and as long as it has that part number it should work just fine for you.

You got this one...Broadcom BCM943228HMB 802.11abgn 2×2 Wi-Fi Adapter, Broadcom Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
HP part # 730668-001.

I had the same card in my HP 350 G1 notebook.

You will get 144 MBPS max throughput on the 2.4 GHz wifi band, and 300 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band.

That will be better than what you were getting out of the Realtek RTL 8188EE card.

Even if that card was working perfectly, the best it can do is a max throughput of 72 MBPS on the 2.4 GHz wifi band.

Here are the latest wifi and bluetooth drivers HP has for that card.

You can download them now, so you can install them after you swap out the card.

I think after you install the wifi driver, W10 will update it to a slightly newer version.

Wifi:     7.35.351.0      Oct 25, 2016

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp78001-78500/sp78044.exe

Bluetooth:   12.0.1.921    Mar 21, 2016

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp75001-75500/sp75330.exe

[tmjk]

Thanks again for the great advice. I have some knowledge of computers... But it usually enough to be dangerous... Then I spent hours fixing or repair my mistakes. 

Just a side note. I was reading through some of your response posts to people with HP computer needs... You have a great wealth of knowledge  And I wanted to say thanks for helping us all out. Unfortunately in our society too many people do not want to take the time to be helpful.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance and thanks for the compliment.

I truly enjoy helping others out with their PC questions where I have the experience to be of help.