Dell :: Unusual Connectivity With Inspiron 660s

I just got a new Inspiron 660s last week and have been having some unusual connectivity issues with it. After suffering for a day or so with a painfully slow wireless connection (the status showed the signal was "excellent" but the speed of downloads or loading web pages was dreadful; meanwhile my older Inspiron Mini in roughly the same location blazes along and has for years with no problems), I decided to try just going with a wired connection. This fixed the speed issue to say the least, but now the connection drops for a few seconds every five minutes or so, then immediately reconnects. If I were just web-surfing, it wouldn't impact me all that much, but the activities I enjoy, like playing games online and streaming music, require a signal that doesn't keep cutting out. I've tried updating the drivers, but I'm told I have the most up-to-date drivers. I've tried unchecking the power-saving options and I've tried unchecking IPv6 and just about every other solution I've come across in my web searches, but nothing works. When I get home from work this evening I may try uninstalling and reinstalling the device drivers. Barring that, I may just go pick up a USB wireless adapter-- I used a cheap Belkin one in the same location on an old Dimension desktop years ago and it worked great-- and see if that works.