I have an ASUS X552L i3 with Windows 7 64 bit and I want to upgrade my 2.4 GHz WiFi card (Ralink 802.11n) with one that lets me to also connect to the 5 GHz band (so a dual band). I know that external USB WiFi adapters exist but I am trying to see if I can replace the on-board one.
After researching for some time online, I came to the conclusion that there are no (stock) on-board WiFi cards with the 5 GHz standard for my particular laptop. All the (stock) WiFI cards have the B/G/N standard.
I pose the question: To get 5 GHz functionality on my laptop, can I find a WiFi card from one of the same OEM suppliers that also manufacture the stock 2.4 GHz cards (Realtek, Ralink, Qualcomm or maybe also from Intel (as I've seen various older threads online regarding the Intel 7260, but on other ASUS laptop models) ) by, perhaps, checking other ASUS laptops that use a dual-band card and purchase that part from somewhere online (original spare parts websites, resellers etc) and hope that it fits in my laptop and hope that the drivers from that particular ASUS model match for my ASUS model? Is this the way? Will my BIOS even recognize it?
On the same note, I've written an e-mail to the Technical dept. at asus.com regarding this issue and they informed me that there is no BIOS compatibility or drivers for the Intel cards and that maybe one of the Qualcomm Atheros devices can work, but they were unable to tell me about which part no because they do not have access to the list of compatible models (if any exists). On the Qualcomm Atheros site there are at least 20 dual-band cards ... and I still remain confused about which one can work.
If this is not the way, what is an acceptable way? Is there even a way?
