USB 3.0 RJ45 Ethernet Adapter

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alisam

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Topic # 143985 4-May-2014 09:20

On a MacBook Air (2013) I have been using a USB 2.0 RJ45 Ethernet Adapter to a powerline box.
It is a cheap adapter I purchased from dx.com.
I am on Vodafone VDSL
If I run speedtest.net I get approximately 8.5 down and up.

If I put a Windows 8 Laptop (with its own RJ45 connector) directly into the powerline box I get about 35 down and say just over 9 up. This is what I get when I have the Windows 8 laptop in another location, but connected to an access point, which in turn connects to a powerline box.

If I purchased (say from a NZ Retailer) a USB 3.0 RJ45 Ethernet Adapter, would you expect me to get much a much better download speed?

PC: HP ProBook 470G1 (Windows 10 Pro), Intel NUC7I5BNH (Windows 10 Home), Macbook Air (Mid 2013)
Net: Draytek Vigor 130 Modem (VDSL) in bridge mode to Ubiquiti Edgerouter Lite-3, 2 x Grandstream GWN7610
Storage: Synology DS216play NAS, 2 x 6TB
Media: HDHomeRun Connect, 4 x Amazon FireTV, TiVo, Echo, Dot, Spot, Broadlink RM Pro+
TV: 2 x Samsung H6400 55" LED TV, Panasonic TH-P50G10Z 50" Plasma TV (Great picture, no smarts, just old), DMR-PWT530GZ Blu-ray Recorder (Rubbish!)
Mobile: Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Huawei P10 Lite
Wearable: Gear S3 Frontier

Coil

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Reply # 1036308 4-May-2014 09:52

Only get a better speed if you have a usb3 port. By the way it could be the software at fault.

Steam: Coil (Same photos as profile here)
Origin: Scranax
Currently playing on PC: Rust, Subnautica, CS:GO, AOE2 HD, BeamNG Drive, BF1.

trig42

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Reply # 1036324 4-May-2014 10:22

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Why don't you use Wireless? It would be faster than that.

Coil

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Reply # 1036332 4-May-2014 10:34

What about 5Ghz WiFi if you have issues with 2.4..

Steam: Coil (Same photos as profile here)
Origin: Scranax
Currently playing on PC: Rust, Subnautica, CS:GO, AOE2 HD, BeamNG Drive, BF1.

alisam

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Reply # 1036619 4-May-2014 21:09

Not sure I should use speedtest.net over wireless.
Nevertheless, I did.

Using the MacBook Air,

Access Point: -48db, Ping: 26, Down: 13.31, Up: 9.50, Channel: 11
HG659 2.4 -62db Ping: 23, Down: 14.90, Up: 9.69, Channel: 6

HG659 5.0 -71db, Ping: 24, Down: 28.51, Up: 9.56: Channel: 36 (Auto)

All have separate SSID's. PS Don't know whether I should use all the same or not.

I didn't expect the 5.0 to have the fastest download speed.
Based upon the results I could possibly disable the wifi on the access point. Would you agree?

Any comments?

richms

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Reply # 1036635 4-May-2014 21:35

Some of the cheap USB to ethernet devices are terrible and slow. I had one that was a mission to get drivers installed for, and then it was maxing out at about 20 megabit onto my lan and slowing the machine down massivly. It was only about $4 so I didnt expect too much.

At least you know if they are bothering with USB3 and gigabit ports that it should achieve more than 100 meg.

Richard rich.ms

eXDee

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Reply # 1036651 4-May-2014 22:05

Grab yourself one of these devices. We've ordered 5 in total and all have been excellent. Very cheap, fast and the extra ports come in hand too. One good use of it is if you have a desktop keyboard and mouse, as well as ethernet to plug in, its one plug to "dock" the laptop and another plug to an external display.

It is slightly larger than your average ethernet adapter, but its made up for by the extra ports. Main criteria of getting this was being OSX compatible, USB3 and gigabit ethernet. The USB3 hub portion works out of the box, the ethernet port just requires a driver, which has been updated for OSX Mavericks and is a quick install. Works out of the box on Windows 8.

In use on a couple of 2013 MBAs, a MBP and Surface Pro 2.

http://www.amazon.com/Unitek-Bus-Powered-Converter-Ultrabooks-Compatible/dp/B00EHDNAOE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1399197688&sr=1-2&keywords=usb+3+ethernet

http://www.amazon.com/HooToo%C2%AE-HT-UE01-Gigabit-Ethernet-Converter/dp/B00CKIFPQY/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1399197688&sr=1-5&keywords=usb+3+ethernet

http://www.amazon.com/Satechi-Portable-Ethernet-Network-Adapter/dp/B00E7W1UFQ/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1399197688&sr=1-9&keywords=usb+3+ethernet

They are all the same device from the same OEM, just with different labels. I have the HooToo one as they were cheapest on aliexpress.