20 Best Wifi For Laptop (2022 Updated)

I bought 2 of these. Both for old Dell Inspiron PCs. One with an Intel i5 8400 cpu running Windows 11, the other with an Intel i3 7100 cpu running Windows 10. The Windows 10 PC doesn’t meet the requirements for Windows 11.

Both PCs had old M2 2. 4Ghz Wifi cards without Bluetooth. On both, it was easy to pull out the internal antennas. Once installed and booted, the Windows 11 PC automatically downloaded the latest drivers and began working flawlessly.

The Windows 10 PC required me to go to the Intel website where I installed a utility that keeps Intel drivers up-to-date. For both PCs, the result is Wifi upload and download speeds on 5Ghz at the 300 Mbps I get from my ISP.

Bluetooth is also flawless with easy pairing. I used small cable ties to clean up the antenna wires. One close to the M2 card so the wires won’t get pulled. Another to keep the excess wire neatly coiled.

My only complaint is that I wish the kit came with a plastic clip to protect the connection of the antenna wires to the card. This clip comes with the Intel AX200 if you buy it without the kit.

Do not let the price fool you, This is a product that should be compared to much more expensive products, It can be used in newer PC’s and laptops that have a M. 2 slot. I removed a intel 3165 adapter from my $1100.

00 dell laptop that was giving me no more than 200Mbps down on a 1. 2 gig internet service and am getting anywhere from minimum of 790Mbps to 825 Mbps. For a wireless connection at that speed it is Phenomenal.

I bought this Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 Gig+ kit from Microcenter for 24. 95. I would have paid 3 times that for this WiFi speed, I am not even connecting at WiFi 6 so imagine if I was. My WiFi is Rock Solid, My speed is Phenomenal.

Where ever I am my WiFi is great. I highly recommend this product at any price. And for the record I am a technician with over 36 years experience in IT and was always the hardware guy on the team. This adapter is bringing smiles to me even after 2 months.

It is fabulous and again is Highly recommended, I added 16 GB of ram to my system at the time bringing it to 32GB so the 40. 00 spent to have Microcenter install both was more than worth it. Get it and do not look back.

Includes the rail with the antennas if you want to put it on a newer PC motherboard.

Want to upgrade your Lenovo Yoga laptops (260 and 730) to WIFI 6? This desktop kit has an ax200agn M. 2 module with some brackets, coax and external antennas. Just ditch the external desktop components if you want to use this in a laptop that supports m.

2 modules with the same form factor. I bought 2 of these, one for each laptop. This worked just fine right out of the box for me. I just slapped in the PCIE module in place of the existing modules and booted windows.

Driver installed automatically with the latest version of windows. Was able to turn on WPA 3 (802. 11ax) on my wifi 6 capable wireless router and both laptops work flawlessly. I was worried that the laptop bios would not accept the new module, but for my yoga laptops, no issues whatsoever.

A very inexpensive upgrade to increase the wireless security and speed of my Lenovo laptops. Thanks for carrying this product!.

I have been using this WiFi adaptor for a few weeks now on different Windows computers with different wireless networks and have had almost no issues. The adaptor comes itself is pretty small but comes in a box big enough for 20 of them.

The box is the same size as two Xbox game cases. There is nothing in the box but the USB dongle. The dongle is slightly bigger than the one for my mouse, but small enough to leave connected to my laptop all of the time even when I put it in my bag.

When I connected the dongle to any Windows computer it was detected immediately and was working in a moment without having to do anything on the computer. I was able to connect to different networks at my home and work.

I tested performing wireless tasks with the dongle versus built in wireless adaptors on different notebooks. I found that the USB dongle was slightly slower than built-in wireless adapters, but not very noticeable.

Signal strength was always very good and the speed data transferred was always very good as well. I did have an issue connecting to my WPA2-ENT network at work but could be due to some MAC address filtering on the RADIUS server rather than operation of the dongle itself (further troubleshooting was not performed on my part).

Other WPA2-Personal networks and non-radius authenticate WPA2-ENT networks worked without any issues. So far the WiFi adaptor works well and I will continue to use it for my devices without built-in wireless adaptors.

I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review.

I have been working in the IT industry for many years and it is nice to see good quality easy to use products. The AC600 is an easy to use USB WIFI adapter. It is small and streamlined so it does not get in the way when sticking out of the USB port.

I found the installation to be quite easy to easy with the supplied disk. I tested this unit with a 2010 MacBook pro with only “n” wifi and I was very impressed with the speed I could get from this unit considering it is a USB wifi.

Now I did find that if I removed the adapter and continued to work and I tried to put it back in I had to reboot my computer to get it to be visible on occasion. Not sure if this is a Mac thing or an adapter thing, but it did not affect the usefulness of the device.

I would say one are that I found an issue was if you had a defective WIFI card and went to use this on an ultrabook with no optical drive. It would be difficult to get the software without using another computer and copying the data to a usb stick to install.

The end result is a very reasonably priced USB AC Wifi adapter with good signal strength and easy installation. “I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review. ”.

I purchased a reconditioned HP computer as a second system from Home Essentials Direct with no internal WIFI card, but there is no room on the desk for a second computer which means installing a USB with wireless capability since there was no direct access to the modem/router.

The USB came with installation software, and within a few seconds found not only my own system but my neighbors as well. All I had to do was enter the personal ID of the router, and I was off and running within minutes.

The speed of this wireless connection rivals that of my new Dell with an SSD C: drive that is wired directly to the cable modem. Happy. happy.

Perfect for those older laptops still connecting with Wireless N technology which don’t support the faster speeds & signals of AC and AX. Nano-sized adapter has good performance for being a tiny USB dongle, and a low price to match.

Mildly bright green activity/WiFi LED light is not too bright. Buy one of these and connect it to your USB port on your laptop if the built-in WiFi has stopped working or is too slow for you. Please note: after connecting the new WiFi adapter, it will create a new network profile list from scratch.

Your network adapter profile name will be indicated as “myWiFi (2)” in the corner system tray of your Windows desktop where myWiFi is your adapter profile name currently. You will have to rejoin your WiFi SSID e.

g. , wireless network, with the password.

I’m going to start this review with some facts about myself, I have a bachelors degree with honours for Computer Networking and I use my PC as my gaming platform, so having a fast and reliable WiFi solution is essential for me, especially if a wired connection is not possible, especially for machines with motherboards that don’t have an in-built wifi adapter, like my gaming PC.

I bought this product and initially I seen it as a temporary solution for my gaming PC as wired connections were not possible as I was undergoing network maintenance(upgrading ethernet cables), and I decided to use this wireless solution in the meantime.

I decided one night to play a game and just relax until the maintenance was finished, and to my surprise, the connection was that good, that it was comparable to my wired connections, low latency, great range and decent speeds(admittedly the USB adapter did get hot when there was lots of network traffic and downloading multiple files.

) So this product impressed me, for £15 this little USB adapter can compete against other players on a wired connection? Wow, it’s not advertised for this purpose but it sure can do the job. But this prompted an idea in my head.

and I got somewhat cocky with it, I decided to use it for my server. And AGAIN, to my surprise, kept up with the network traffic, sure under large loads you will get fluctuating speeds, however this supported a server and didn’t underperform that much which is amazing.

On Windows 10, this is perfect. My only issue with this product is that there is no official Linux driver, so I can’t just plug this into my Debian system and use it, I needed to find alternative drivers from other sources, so it does require a wired connection to install the driver, but after this, it works a charm, no complaints other than that, the heat generated by the USB isn’t really fixable on a factor scale this small, so I’m going to call it a gimmick of the product because it doesn’t effect this product’s performance.

I purchased this product in October 2018, and I still use it to this day, I highly recommend this product, but as I said it gets very warm if you’re doing intensive networking tasks and it lacks official drivers for some operating systems due to it’s proprietary nature(which I hope TPLink provides an offical open source version for.

) Other than these two small drawbacks, it’s a fantastic product.

I had an unfortunate computer incident involving a large glass of iced tea. After disassembling and reassembling my computer, my wifi card connection broke. I bought this adapter as a temporary fix until I could order a new card.

It works perfectly. I don’t notice any difference in my computer performance compared to my old internal card. The only reason I’ll probably buy a new card is so I can free up a USB port. Otherwise, I’d just use this.

It’s much smaller than other wireless network adapters available. Very unobtrusive. INSTALLATION – I was connected to my network and internet via a wired cable when I first installed this. My computer recognized the new device and I didn’t have to do ANYTHING to get set up.

Even though this model is not supposed to work with Linux (the L model does), there are drivers for most Linux distros, including openSuse leap – which is what I’m using. So it was easy to have it up and running pretty fast.

On the website, they want you to prove you bought the adapter in order to download the Linux driver. A weird decision, since the Windows and Mac drivers are free to download. For the most part it is built well.

The only “issue” I have is the adapter USB slot at the base. It is a little flimsy – there is some play, but since I don’t move it, it is fine. If you connect it directly to your computer without the extension cable, it will be just as fine.

It is USB 3, which means faster data transfers. So far I have played online games with no issues, downloads are fast and without interruptions. Because of the double antennas, it’s profile is bigger, but it gives you the option to sort of “hide” it, locate it behind the monitor without losing signal.

My desktop was connected to the internet using a mains link. Because of mains noise (Devon!), the connection dropped many times each day. I experimented with a cheap USB WiFi adaptor to see if this would work through a floor and a wall – it did function, but sometimes didn’t start successfully and still occasionally dropped the connection.

I bought this devise as a more viable long term solution. It was straightforward to install and set up, and it has worked reliably thereafter. I understand the Realtek chipset is industry standard, so I updated the Realtek firmware successfully.

I now have a reliable, fast and secure internet connection to my desktop, at a reasonable price. Excellent.

Not reliable. 1. Can’t get the AC 5GHz to work on linux, so had to keep dropping to 2.4GHz mode. 2. Keeps dropping connections. No go.

I purchased this device as a gift for my wife to enable her Windows 8 laptop to work with our recently acquired Asus wifi6 network. The manufacturers description, displayed by Scan indicated support for W7 – W10.

This is not currently true. In my attempts to get the device functioning I had to download a W10 driver (for my recent W10 laptop), and the only drivers available are W10 varieties. Grand purchase and delivery from Scan, well built product that works very well on W10 once you have installed the driver as a download – but not what I had hoped for, hence the rating.

Works great, provides excellent connection as I need it when I sit outside on my laptop and performs exactly like it should. When starting up I had some delays and pauses at first, but then after in solidly connected, I was in great shape.

The investment I made for the Alfa AC1900 Wifi Adapter is worth every dime. I have found it to be my essential work partner, as a Grad student it meets my internet connection need. I get to download audio, video and text files with ease and I upload my work without hassles.

To get the optimal use of this device, I suggest that it should be used on a high performance computer. Once I used it on a 4Gg RAM laptop I saw it affected the performance. It has served me excellently well on my 8Gg laptop, I will gladly recommend it to anyone.

Great product

Arrived early, will test it out.

I bought this at the beginning of January in 2022. It worked well enough until roughly March/April. That’s when it started dropping the connection more frequently. Now, in May of 2022, it’s basically unusable.

Once inserted, I usually get a message that the device has malfunctioned. After removing and inserting 1 to 5 times, it will work. for ten whole minutes if I’m lucky. Usually I get five minutes or less.

Then I get the message that it malfunctioned and the computer can’t recognize it again. I got it working long enough to click “write a review,” give my rating, add a title, and write one sentence of the review.

The netgear I bought in 2014/2015 lasted more than five years, and it would have lasted longer if it hadn’t gotten so banged up. This one couldn’t even make it a whole five months while being treated 100x better.

Not happy.

This was a lifesaver for me! I’m a school teacher who was preparing for final exams week when the WiFi connecter in my laptop computer became disabled. When I was told it might take up to three to four days to repair, if it could be repaired, I was in a panic.

My laptop had all of my school-related work on it, and I’d only purchased it six months ago. While I was at Best Buy, Vince, the service technician at the Geek Squad service desk suggested this product, the NETGEAR – AC600 Dual-Band WiFi Mini Adapter, and even helped me install it on my laptop.

It worked like a charm! It enabled my computer to connect to every WiFi system I used. It worked well everywhere without fail – 100 percent dependable. I was able to get everything done during finals week without stressing about whether or not my laptop would connect to WiFi servers.

Thank you NETGEAR!.

Once you get this configured properly, it works perfectly. The problem is actually getting it configured properly though. A few points: 1) You don’t need to install the full Netgear suite or whatever.

It’s a standard WiFi adaptor and will work as such once you install the driver 2) It took me a very long time to find out why this wouldn’t find my 5 GHz 802. 11ac network, even though all my other devices could.

This left me with very low speeds for ages. It turned out that for some reason this adapter is incompatible with any wireless channel above 48. Once I manually set my router’s 5 GHz radio to channel 48 specifically, it suddenly popped up in the available networks list and I got full speed.

Netgear should really fix that. Silly limitation. But as I said, works fine once you adjust your settings for this.

I received this adapter and installed it on my laptop which has an older wireless N card. I used the included software. I had issues installing it as my laptop would not allow the installation of the driver.

I then installed it on my desktop and it installed immediately and worked great so I went back to troubleshooting the laptop. It seems there was an issue on my laptop still unresolved that is asking for admin permission but I am the admin.

Long story short, I decided to restart the laptop in safe mode and the driver and USB adapter installed flawlessly. I restarted and it works fine now. This seems to be an issue with my laptop, not the USB adapter.

After installing, I went to the far side of the house, the farthest away from my router and was getting consistent 180 Mbps after several tests. I then went outside even farther away, probably 100 feet and I was still getting 170+ Mbps.

My router is an AC1900. With the internal wireless N, the most speed I could achieve was around 50 Mbps. Since installation, I have had no issues with this adapter. It has increased my network speed greatly and has given new life to my laptop.

I am very happy with the performance and speed. This adapter works with all types of routers and is especially fast if you use a USB 3. 0 port. I also like the fact this is a dual band adapter since I like using the 5 ghz band.

This adapter is a great network upgrade for older PC’s. I also tested it’s streaming performance and again, it worked flawlessly (for a 90 minute movie). Great product.

Last year I bought a competitor’s PCI Express Wifi card to get 5Ghz on my desktop. The speeds I’ve consistently received were in the 50Mbps area, sometimes peaking around 75Mbps under ideal conditions.

I should note that my router is on the main floor and my computer is upstairs on the opposite end of the house. The distance, if I was to draw a straight line through the walls, is somewhere around 40-50 feet.

Last week I received this WiFi adapter free in exchange for honest feedback. Installation couldn’t have been easier as I simply plugged it into my USB 3. 0 slot and Windows 10 installed the device drivers for me.

The speeds I’m consistently obtaining are around 160Mbps, more than 3x what I was receiving! “It’s not the size of the dog. ” There’s not much else to point out because my experience was so simple. I haven’t used any Linksys software with the adapter so I can’t speak directly to that.

The adapter is black, about 2 inches long and maybe 1/3 of an inch thick? Definitely not too big, but larger than a typical USB storage drive. Also, it literally was plug and play and I disabled my other WiFi devices to ensure this was the default.

I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a simple and powerful USB WiFi adapter for a laptop or desktop.

Bought this to upgrade from a much slower internal connection on my Toshiba Satellite laptop. This does the trick. I tried a Dlink nano Wi-Fi adapter first because I didn’t want the form factor of a larger adapter but I found it unreliable through all sections of my house.

I have a Nighthawk gaming router and a Nighthawk extender. This works like a champ. Only thing keeping it from 5 stars is the size. I tried it plugged directly into a laptop usb because I didn’t want to use the long usb corded adapter, but felt the moment arm for length of the unit would put too much lateral pressure on the usb connection.

It sticks out pretty far and does not rest on the table. So now I have extra cabling and magnetic mount cluttering up the work surface that I didn’t desire. That also makes it a bit of a hassle to move around from place to place.

The mount looks cool, but I’d still rather have the desk space.

Not so long ago, right in my own house, there was a need for the WiFi to run through my computer. This mystical force was something I desperately needed to fight the evil assignment due dates that were attacking, but without the power of the WiFi, I had no hope.

Then, this sacred relic, the Nighthawk AC1900, was supposed to gift me the power I needed, so I bought it, hooked it up, and indeed, it did as the legends foretold. I was filled with glee as I saw the evil forces of assignments faltering to the power of the newfound WiFi.

However, three weeks into using the power, the sacred relic decided that I was no longer worthy. On a more serious note, the device out of the blue started having trouble connecting to my network. It kept connecting to the 2.

4g every time I tried to connect to 5g, and every three minutes it would try to connect to 5g, but fail and go back to 2. 4g. I couldn’t stop the three minute internet disruption, and overall, it was just performing poorly since then.

I spent 5 days troubleshooting, contacting tech support, trying to see if it’s something with windows or with netgear, but I think I finally figured it out. I tested the device on my friend’s computer, and it was doing the same thing.

I believe that there was a recent windows update that messed up the netgear program. For five days the program didn’t update, and I found that ridiculous. So, I returned the device and got something else that actually works.

Netgear makes good hardware, but their software is atrocious. I hope soon netgear pays more attention to their software and makes their stuff more user-friendly, but I highly doubt that will happen anytime soon.

Now I must go back to fighting the evil assignment forces from overwhelming the resistance. May the WiFi be with you.

About 180 Mega bits/ 23 Megabytes per second is what I get. That might not be earthshattering but my Nighthawk adapter is working through a hotel guest WiFi router & is limited by the capabilities of the router.

It is installed on an 8 year old Dell XPS tower computer. Taking the test results figures with a grain of salt, the Real World results have been Very Good & I am satisfied. I no longer have issues with weak connections or dropped signals and my download/ upload speeds have increased significantly.

It is rather pricey for a wireless adapter. It has been installed about 2 weeks. I moved from an adapter which was 15-20 years old but for which it’s forte was that while it was not the fastest, it would connect to anything & never stopped working ,even though the plastic housing was splitting at the seams & I was using a plastic wire bundle tie to help hold it together.

The directions for the Nighthawk are somewhat confusing about installing stand alone vs whatever the other option was. (It never explains what the options mean or why chose one over the other. ) I chose the stand alone option, mostly because that is what I have used on other devices.

Using the adapter cradle with the USB cable, I did nothing special except run the CD, plug the device in, follow the menu guide & let the system update drivers. I did Not have to reposition the adapter cradle for a best signal.

After that I was ready to go & never looked back. It is working off the USB 3. 0 port. I have seen a couple of reviews about overheating. My computer never turns off & I have had no overheating issues with the adapter.

It has so many holes in it, for ventilation is suppose, I don’t see how it could overheat. I was about to write that I like indicator lights but there are none; however, facing the device in the cradle there is a blue light on one side.

Should be on the front–as the way that I have it positioned I have to get up & look around to the other side to see it the blue light. I do have a couple of quibbles about the Nighthawk. I have seen it’s size described as a Chunky Monkey; a more apt description would be a Chunky Gorilla.

If I had chosen to plug the adapter in directly without the adapter cable there are a couple of ports which, because of the configuration of the computer I don’t think I could have installed the Nighthawk in those ports & installing it anywhere else would cover over several adjacent USB ports.

The base of the adapter itself is about 1/2 inch thick by about 1-1/2 inch wide. Put the USB connector in the middle of that block & you will know how many ports will be covered partially or wholly. In addition it is about 4 inches long folded & about 8 inches long unfolded.

It uses a lot of real estate. Then there is the very strong magnet on the cradle base with the warning not to get it TOO close to cellphones, credit cards, etc or they could be ruined. How far is too close? They never explain.

I have it sitting over a portable radio, near a cellphone, iPad, LED clock, kitchen timer, computer monitor, USB speakers & a hand calculator–none closer than 6 inches but not all that far away either & I have had no issues so far The other quibble is that the length of the USB cable at 3 feet is too short for me.

I need about 6 feet to put the cradle & adapter where I want it. The cable is thicker than normal; whether that extra thickness is wire or insulation I don’t know. The manual cautions about not using any other cable or the performance might be affected.

If I added length it would have to be a patch cable since the cable is molded into the cradle. Netgear apparently does not offer a longer cable or recommend where one can be found or give the specs on the cable so you can look on your own.

Over all I like the product, think it is a very good product and would recommend it to others as long and they realize the limitations shown above. Build quality: I don’t see anything wrong with it; it is plastic & all plastic products have limitations if dropped or if something is dropped on it.

I’ve owned several of these adapters and they all seemed to work great. For some reason, this one? The PC couldn’t connect with this device. Well let me back up. The laptop I bought this for was a friends.

It didn’t have internet capability. I own a Dell desktop that also didn’t have internet capability but I put one of these devices on it and works GREAT. Actually on it typing this review. I kept getting “No Connection” error on the laptop and I really do believe it’s the laptop but since it’s not mine, there’s not much more I can do about it.

I’m not returning this adapter, just left it with the laptop maybe sometime it will work after some tweaking with the laptop. This device was a great buy, received it on time and was packaged very well so for that it gets 3 stars.

Again I would still recommend it. It wouldn’t be fair to give this review 5 stars however it feel it’s still a great product.

I bought this little adapter when it was on sale and it cost me only $7. 26. It came with a mini cd with software on it. I plugged the thing into my ancient e-machine desktop computer put the cd in the drive and I was in business immediately.

Or maybe it was the other way around I can’t remember. It was really easy. I am amazed at how fast it is as well. This adapter is the size of a thumbnail on a person’s thumb but works really well. I have 75 mbps internet with Comcast and the adapter runs at 72 mbps per second.

That is not bad at all. It does not slow down either. The only time it does slow down is when I am using my bandwidth to run other computers or devices. Or when Comcast slows down which we all know about right? And when the slow down occurs it has only been to 58 mbps with a strong signal.

One thing I did notice though is I plugged it into the front usb port of my computer and it picked up the Comcast free wi-fi signals but when I plugged it into the back of my tower it did not. I can’t explain that one.

But I use my own secure account so I do not really care. I think I read somewhere where it said this adapter uses a direct line of sight signal and works best that way. My modem is in my office and the computer an ancient e-machine desktop is in my dining room and the signal reaches all the way over there just fine.

No problems. My home is modest though. I recommend this product. I may look into tweaking the software a little but frankly I am just too lazy and I just don’t care. I am also a cheapskate and I am glad I did not spend $30.

00 or more on a more expensive item instead of this one. I think I saw another adapter with antennas on it for around $15. 00 from Walmart. com but this one was the cheapest one from Walmart. com at the time so that is why I bought it.

I saw that other sellers had ones for less on Walmart’s website but I wanted to be able to return it to the store if there were any problems. I had it shipped site to store so I did not have to pay for any shipping fees.

Once again me being a cheapskate. So this is worth it but if the one with the antennas on it is still on here it may be better I don’t know. Before I forget I am running Windows Xp Home edition on the ancient desktop tower that the adapter is plugged into and if it will run on this it will run on anything.

I guess I will sum up my rating by saying this adapter is plug and play and just great.

The price was reasonable so I purchased this wifi network adapter. It came with a mini dvd so I figured it just might work. I’ll mention first that I’m running Windows 10 on my PC and I have an Android tablet.

Since my main goal was to get better internet on my tablet, I plugged the adapter directly into my tablet. This did absolutely nothing. I was still getting a slow, weak signal on my tablet. So I removed the adapter and plugged it directly into my PC USB port.

I followed the instructions on the software to the letter. But, the adapter actually slowed down internet performance on my PC and again did absolutely nothing for the tablet. PLUS, I kept getting pop-up messages saying all of my devices couldn’t be synched.

This product was an absolute fail and I’m so thankful I didn’t lose more money on it than I did!.

I bought these because I wanted to eliminate the lan cables. I ran a speed test before the install and was getting 89 MBS. I Ran a speed test after install of the ourlink and my speed was 8. 6 MBS. After spending 2 days trying to improve the speed of my system I had no luck so went back to my lan cables.

These are advertised to use 5 gig system but would not on mine even though my modem is only 15 feet from my computer with nothing blocking the signal. Overall I would say these are about useless but gave them 2 stars because they do work some what.

Very displeased with this product. Will be returning it next time I go to Walmart.

This is a great unit for the price it’s generally under $20 USD has a small profile and fits well with older laptops especially. It worked best with Windows 8. 1 installing drivers right away and not conflicting with previous installs.

Speeds jumped up to 60+ mb/s so the adapter itself is compatible. Unfortunately with Windows 10 there were some compatibility issues with my previously installed net-gear device that was 2. 4Ghz only.

I had to remove the old device and install this one and ran tests, it does not do well with interference and I switched the Windows 10 computer back to the 2. 4 band with 60+ mb/s speed. This card is great for the price but do keep in mind you may have to mess around with driver updating and determining if there is any confusion in the system from previous devices.

First, I’m disappointed that my new $500-laptop does not recognize 5GHz WiFi. Now I have a permanently occupied USB port dedicated for this dongle. Enough about my frustrations with my laptop. After a month, this WiFi dongle has been working flawlessly since the first day.

Although I’m not getting the max speed of 100 Mbps like Comcast advertised, it’s pretty close, thanks to this dongle. Highly recommended, especially for the price!.

This thing is a complete and total waste of money. It was really my only choice for a wifi adapter for the pc I just built for gaming. I had to do some crazy gymnastics to get the drivers onto my pc because it doesn’t have a cd drive.

The program is terrible and somehow takes a long time to load up (keep that in mind). Every time I turned on my pc it would not connect at first and I would have to connect and reconnect over and over again to get it to finally have a stable connection.

It would boot me off of my wifi every time after I connected until eventually it would decide to stay. However it didn’t just do this when I turned on my pc. It would randomly cut me off from internet connection, and I would have to do more reconnecting.

Now this is why I have been talking in past tense. I use my pc mainly for gaming. I spent over a thousand on it and I thought I would be getting something quality for $50 in terms of wifi (I was at Best Buy).

Since I built my pc for gaming, I play games on it. But having an internet connection is vital to the playing of most of my games. When you are in the middle of an match and you lose contact with you’re friends as well as being kicked out of the game it isn’t fun.

There was no way of predicting when I would lose connection. Then one day I had enough. I was in the middle of a game of Enlisted and I lost connection. I had been away from home for a while so I was eager to play some games.

I murdered the wifi adapter. I tore it in half, stomped on it, snuffed it’s miserable existence. I have no regrets for what I did to the net gear wifi adapter. Now I have to spend more money and I’m not happy about it.

I’ve had this adapter for a couple years now and it’s “suited” my old router, download speed clocking in on average 1. 5 mb/s which is extremely slow and annoying to deal with. Fast forward and I get a new router/internet, the download speed kicks down to 200 KB/S and I’m consistently getting booted out of games, all the while it disconnects randomly and at bad times especially when I’m doing homework.

It was so bad I thought it might have been my router’s fault. I end up getting the tplink ac600 and that completely demolished the netgear a6210, so it had nothing to do with my internet but the adapter itself.

Don’t bother with this if you have fairly new wifi, this adapter can’t and won’t support it.

So, I’ve had this for a few weeks now and it does a good job for adding Wifi to my desktop computer. I like really that the kit includes a long USB cord and dock making it easy to access it for easy pairing with my router.

I did do a benchmark test on this to compare speeds etc compared with my wired ethernet connection. The Netgear adapter topped out at approximately 79. 5 mbps versus the wired connection of 192. 6 mbps.

Very good performance for a wireless connector. Quite acceptable and robust for this type of connection. So, while it won’t be my first choice (faster speeds with ethernet) I think this is a great adapter for older desktops.

Also included is a Setup CD and there is a link provided for the software if you don’t have DVD/CD drive.

M bom

5*****

5*****

ANOTHER UPDATE — Being a relentless troubleshooter, I continued to dig into this problem (while waiting for the Monday return). What I did. logged into my Asus Router; clicked Wireless>>General tab>>5 GHz band>>Control Channel; I UN-checked “Auto select channel including DFS channels” and applied this changed setting.

I went back to my laptop (with the USB-AC68 wi-fi adapter), selected the “Connect” option and miraculously the 5 GHz band on my router became available. I’m not sure why this worked, only that it did (so far).

I’ve adjusted my Eggs accordingly. UPDATE 2/27/21– This replacement USB-AC68 “dual-band” wi-fi adapter does not see the 5GHz band on my Asus RT-AC86U (AC-2900) router. (It only communicates on the 2.

4 GHz band. ) I worked the issue with Asus Tech Support. They said to send it back to the Seller, which I will do on Monday. This is very disappointing. I use many Asus products. All my PC builds start with an Asus motherboard.

My replacement for this USB-AC68 will NOT be the Asus brand. This replacement adapter worked right out of the box (the first one I received had a power problem and was exchanged for this one). I got better performance connecting the adapter directly to my laptop, versus using the extension cradle (don’t know why.

I’d prefer to use the cradle. I’ll do some testing later to see if I can turn that performance around). All-in-all, so far, I’m happy with this Asus AC1900 Adapter.

Initially I connected the ASUS USB-AC68 AC1900 Dual-Band USB 3. 0 WiFi Adapter to a USB 3. 0 port on my desktop using a somewhat long but very good high quality USB extender cable. The USB-AC68 worked great, except when it didn’t.

I kept getting periodic disconnect issues as others have reported. So, debugging. I decided to remove the USB 3. 0 Extension cable completely and plugged the WiFi unit directly into a free USB 3. 0 port on my desktop.

Result: I have not gotten a single disconnect issue since and it has been many, many months now. Evidently there must be a noise or signal quality issue that develops going through the USB cable from the device.

If you are having disconnect trouble I recommend you find a free USB port close to the motherboard (or make one) and let the AC-68 live there for your wireless connection. As an FYI I use a Gigabyte motherboard.

But, my WiFi AC-68 unit is plugged into an ANKER USB 3. 0 extension board which provides me access to a few more USB 3. 0 ports. Hope this helps. This is a good unit when it works. I should mention that this USB WiFi dongle connects to my “ASUS Whole Home Dual-Band AiMesh Router (AC1900) for Mesh Wifi System (Up to 1900 Mbps) – AiProtection Network Security by Trend Micro, Adaptive QoS & Parental Control (RT-AC68U)” as the household WiFi router.

This is unit is located 1 floor below where I connect with this USB WiFi dongle.

This product helped me solve wifi blind spots i had for years, due to the only place for the NBN router in the living room it couldn’t reach through concrete walls to the next bedroom. I was reluctant to try powerline adapters for a while.

I’ve tried wifi range extenders because of the issue mentioned it was repeating a weak signal or working intermittently. The power line range extender was a better solution for my needs, although it’s not a huge place, it works a charm from the get go.

I took it out of the box and followed the simple steps on the manual and it worked straight away. The only thing i think netgear could improve on is making ergonomic plugs, or adding a female power socket on the front.

I have a double socket on the wall, and its almost impossible to plug a powerboard next to it. You do have to plug the adapter straight into the wall, which is where my computer & accessories is drawing power from.

Having said that if you know your way around editing netgear router settings, then you’ll have no problem customizing and securing your network.

I am still working from home after all these months and throughout the pandemic I’ve been upgrading things here and there. (Chair, monitor, keyboard, router, etc). I bought a Wi-Fi 6 router a few months ago and has been an improvement for everyone thankfully.

My PC had an old wifi adapter that was ok but slow and was causing lagging through zoom calls. This adapter was super easy and took literally 2 minutes. Click setup and done. I am now able to get almost the full speed from my provider and zoom is perfect now.

Have had nothing but problems with this since I got it – the wi-fi router is literally in the next room about 15′ away and it has a hard time connecting. Once it established a connection, it was usually fine until I was done using the computer, but every time I would wake the computer from sleep, I would have to keep trying to reconnect for 2 minutes with the door open before it could connect to my wi-fi again.

I ended up popping up some ceiling tiles and running an ethernet cable, and won’t be using this junk adaptor again.

At the startup it takes about 5 minutes to connect to wifi and then afterwards works fine. sometimes cuts out for whatever reason. ive tried everything to fix the startup but nothing ever works. just bought a ethernet cable.

never buying something like this piece of junk again.

I made a target account just to complain about this overpriced pile of steaming garbage. It’s absolutely plagued with disconnection issues (google it, i’m not the minority). Losing your internet every 2-3 minutes for about a minute straight because of poor driver design is unnacceptable for such a large corporation.

It drives you insane especially when you’re working from home. Sure you can sort of stablize it by downloading certain drivers, disabling certain services and switching off some other stuff in the back end, but if you don’t have any decent backend os knowledge DON’T BUY THIS.

Don’t buy it either way, it’s a slap in the face of the consumer. Drivers haven’t been updated since 2018 – netgear knows about the disconnection issues but doesnt care. They’ve abandoned this product and so should you.

Now that I got it working, I cannot imagine going back. Here are some tips: Windows 10 wouldn’t allow the software to be loaded on my late model laptop. It may have more to do with a certain “squad’s” utter incompetence in repairing my unit.

However, even if the software DID load, it wasn’t necessary. The instructions say in big red letters not to load the adapter until the software is installed. After hours of failure, I just decided to try plugging it in anyway.

VOILA! I instantly had access points to choose from. I believe the reason for this is because Windows 10 probably has the drivers already installed. If you’re trying to plug and play this Netgear device on a Windows 7 or 8, that might be a problem.

However, I easily installed the software on my Windows 8 laptop.

I have a seven-year-old Dell Inspiron 660 that sits on the furthest side of the house but within 50 feet of a router. The embedded wireless card barely pulled 9 mps over an 18 month period. I have a 10-year-old Netgear dual-band USB adapter that quadrupled this, but I hoped to better this by getting the AC1200.

At first, it did FAR worse. Reading up on the Netgear troubleshooting blogs and YouTubers’ experiences, I followed the tweaking tips they advised. After six hours, it worked. The adapter pulls over 11 times the mps rate compared to Dell’s wireless card.

If you’re not conversant with making general PC config/modification changes, this may be difficult. If you are, following a quick list will yield VERY satisfactory results. I ran the before/after tests once per three hours for five days, and I’m convinced.

I wanted to return this, as did many other users, but am very pleased with its performance. It is unusual that these issues haven’t been corrected since the product’s rollout (several years?), and that one has to dig deep to yield optimum results.

For this product, it is worth it.

This works very well. It is a little fussy to set up. I had to push the connect button on the router a couple of times. I get speeds 160/200. I bought a top rated brand at a much higher price and had to return it.

Although it was easier to set up, it died in less than 24 hours. I cannot speak about longevity but so far so go. I would buy again for sure.

I have been in the technology business for over 35 years and for the past 20+ years I have been asked to provide unbiased reviews of various products from both the AV and IT world. In review of this product I have found that this USB Wi-Fi adapter adds dual-band wireless connectivity to my laptop and features a compact nano-sized form factor.

This nano design made it easy to replace my laptop’s existing wireless capability with access to both 2. 4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. This dual-band Wi-Fi adapter supports very fast data rates of up to 433 Mbps on the 5GHz band, and up to 150Mbps on the 2.

4GHz band. My only ask for this device would be that it not have a driver CD, but integrate the driver into the device itself. In the box: -USB Wireless Adapter -Driver CD -Quick Start Guide In summation, solid product, easy to use, I would have preferred it not to have a driver CD, but integrate the driver into the device.

I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review.

This very small device only takes up 1 usb 2. 0 slot on your computer. It allows it to connect to your Wi-Fi either through 2. 4ghz or 5ghz connection. Setup is easy: insert the included cd to install the drivers for the item (or optionally download the drivers from the product website), then plug the item into your computer/laptop usb 2.

0 port. From there, your ready to connect to Wi-Fi. Speeds will vary depending on your internet connection.

I love this device. My new router has the AC protocol but my laptop doesn’t. This was a great addition for my needs. It works flawlessly, very easy to setup, and I love having the 5Gz connection from my router.

It is very small and requires very little space when attached to my USB port. Very happy with this product.

I loaded the driver, which is provided on the included Cd-Rom, onto my IBM T42 Laptop. I plugged this Wireless Network adapter into a USB port on my Laptop. My laptop recognized the adapter, and utilized the recently loaded driver.

It works very well. I connected to the internet, via this wireless adapter, using my NETGEAR D6200 WiFi DSL Modem Router, ( AC1200 Dual Band Gigabit).

When I had a new 5G modem installed my computer would not connect to WiFi. After countless telephone calls with my internet provider a technician discovered my laptop’s wireless card was becoming outdated.

He told me the only solution was to buy a new computer or try a USB adapter. I got the Netgear adapter and plugged it into my laptop port. It was very easily set up. Instant fix! No more problems and my speed on my laptop is unbelievable.

The device works as advertised and that is the problem. All of the speed rates stated in the literature are transfer rates from the AC600 to the router of 433 Mbps for AC mode. However, the receive rate for the AC600 which is not listed in the literature is limited to 54 Mbps in AC mode.

Thus, receiving data on my laptop is much slower than my imbedded chip which can receive and transmit at 300 Mbps in N mode. Neatgear should publish the fact that the link speeds are asynchronous receive/transmit at 54/433 Mbps in AC mode.

I am currently looking for an AC adapter that is either synchronous or close to synchronous, especially one that publishes those specifications and does not try to mislead the customer by omission.