Something I learned first-hand from empirical testing is that Intel cards are quantifiably better at receiving frames than cards with Realtek/Mediatek/Ralink ch

Something I learned first-hand from empirical testing is that Intel cards are quantifiably better at receiving frames than cards with Realtek/Mediatek/Ralink chipsets, specifically in congested environments. In the presence of a collision, the Intel cards are able to successfully receive the stronger signal of the two as long as there's enough of a difference in signal strength. The cards with Realtek chipsets on the other hand, are only able to receive the stronger of the two frames if the stronger frame started being transmitted first. It's as if Intel's receiver is always looking for frame preambles even when a valid preamble has been heard and the radio is in the middle of receiving a frame. The other receivers stop looking for preambles while in the middle of receiving a frame. If you live in an urban environment and have wifi problems, you'll likely have an observable improvement if you upgrade. I don't know how well Qualcomm and Broadcom chipsets perform, but I wouldn't be surprised if at least Qualcomm works as well as Intel.