Best USB WiFi Dongle?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Best USB WiFi Dongle?

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#66349 17-Aug-2010 16:01

What are the best choices for USB WiFi Dongles? I'd prefer something that doesn't require some stupid custom driver... for example, my motherboard has WiFi built in (RTL8187), and it just uses straight Realtek drivers from their site - there isn't any special utility you have to install, or any of that garbage. I want something like that, but as an external USB solution.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79314 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#368735 17-Aug-2010 16:04

The are Belkin, DLink and Linksys adapters out there - those are the most well known brands, so you wouldn't be wrong with them.

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#368756 17-Aug-2010 16:21

I thought there might have been some specific models with a reputation.

richms

28199 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#368758 17-Aug-2010 16:25

Look on deal extreme, people have gone to lenghts to find what chipset etc they have in them, and some of them are higher power.

If it comes with an antenna, the power they say is inclusive of the antenna gain, to the "2 watt" ones are really only 200mW with a 10dBi antenna, still very useful and good value, but not the same as a real 2 watt into that antenna which would be effectivly 20 watts (and not quite legal here)

Richard rich.ms

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#368843 17-Aug-2010 19:08

Holy hell! is that place legit? So much... stuff! I can feel a shopping spree coming on...

Back to the WiFi dongles, errr, which one to choose - there are so many!

And has anyone tried any of the antennas they sell (yagi or whatever they're called)? They're so cheap - the one I found on trademe was $100, but this extreme deals place has them for next-to-nothing...

richms

28199 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#368865 17-Aug-2010 19:48

They are legit in that you get something sent, but some of the stuff is pretty crap, and any of the asian sourced power adapters are not something I would leave plugged in when not at home to be honest.

If it comes with the BT3 CD (backtrack) then it has the feature you normally want which is packet injection needed to do the quick WEP breaking.

Richard rich.ms

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#368949 17-Aug-2010 22:18

They're selling what look like rebranded linksys network components - at least the shells are exactly the same. they also have some things which they claim are linksys outright. But they are also selling 'IPods' with apple logo and everything, and clearly NOT genuine. You gotta wonder...

richms

28199 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#368983 17-Aug-2010 23:21

ipod = mp3 player to most people. They have tonnes of suppliers so you will often see almost the exact same thing at different prices.

I have had no problem with the PCI or USB wireless devices I have got from them in the past, but have really cut back how much I spend there now since most things I want are cheaper on ebay. Their postage included prices really suck when you want more than one thing since ebay sellers will normally give you a discount or have it setup to calculate it correctly. DX you may as well make every order an order for one item.

Richard rich.ms