Best Wireless Dongle I've Tried, But...

Mar 2, 2011

by Kort_Kramer
posted in Computers, Soft and Hardware

Rating:

...it still can't take the place of a decent Wi-Fi card. I built my son a custom Windows based computer and we have it set up in our house about as far away as you can get from my wireless router (AirPort Extreme Base Station). Rather than buy a Wi-Fi card,I thought I'd save a little money and use this Stick Adapter since I already own one. Installation was easy, the computer was able to create a connection before downloading and installing the device drivers. And when it works, it works well, and it is both Mac and Windows compatible.

However, there are times when the connection drops for no reason and then reappears, and times when it cannot be acquired at all. Sometimes removing the dongle, re-seating it and reacquiring the network fixes the issue for a while. My HP laptop can get a consistent, stable connection in the same location, so I know there should be enough signal for the MAXPower to pick up. My conclusion is that either it just doesn't have a powerful enough antenna to get consistently good reception, or the device is faulty somehow. To it's credit, I also have tried a Cisco-Linksys USB Adapter and a D-Link DWA-142 and neither of them will work in that location at all. So, I'm now biting the bullet and getting a Wi-Fi card after all.

If you are close to the source of a wireless signal and have no other options, then this Wireless USB adapter will do in a pinch. If you want more range and a reliable signal connection, you should probably invest in a wireless card.