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USB Wireless adapter?

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MasterBash

Regular Contributor
Currently I have an Asus RT-AC86U. I am looking for a very very good and stable USB Wireless Adapter to move around on multiple computers. I currently have a TP Link T9E on this one and I get very good transfer speed. The link is reported to be 1300/1300 at around 5 meters away. However, I am wondering if there is any equivalent when it comes to USB devices. I really like the portability of those USB dongle, however it will also be used for gaming so hopefully there is a USB device that can be on par with a PCI Express Wireless adapter.
 
I have the ASUS USB-AC68 and D-Link DWA-192 both works greate for me.
 
thank you

is the latency stable? if you run a ping test from the adapter to the router do you get a lot of jitter? I never used usb wifi but I heard bad things about them a few years ago so I am a bit cautious.
 
I never have any problem about that, there is also the Netgear Nighthawk A7000 AC1900 i tested that last week and i have the Netgear R7800.
 
buy any of these ASUS routers and use Operation Mode: Media Bridge

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-rt-ac68p-rt-ac1900-rt-ac1900p.35759/

It is better than any PCI/USB Wireless adapter in the market.

Dude did you read what the OP wrote? I very much doubt the OP is going to find moving a router from PC to PC very portable...

I am looking for a very very good and stable USB Wireless Adapter to move around on multiple computers. ........ I really like the portability of those USB dongle
 
More can go wrong with a router, especially wrt. power issues. You are not going to find a 4x4 router for ~$20 or less either. Some of the routers on that list cost ten times as much and all are more expensive than any adapter, except for the TM-AC1900 router which is only available from the US at a heavily discounted price.

Also, many routers don't support wireless bridging so they can act like a remote WiFi adapter. Wireless bridging - 802.11 station- is pretty much the opposite of AP mode: you are not sharing a wired network (acting like a wireless server), you are connecting to a wireless one (acting like a client).

Still, given there is like only one consumer 4x4:4 PCIe card in the market, i.e. the Asus PCE-AC88, a 4x4:4 router that supports wireless bridging would be the most powerful solution by far, though it then depends on what type of "portability" you needed.
 
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Unfortunately, a router in bridge mode is not an option.

I got the USB-AC68 today. It works really well. It is quite big though, as in not allowing me to use some USB ports. Yes, I know there is an extender and I am using that right now. So everything is fine.

However, IF I wanted something slightly more portable and really good, would the USB-AC56 or the USB-AC53 Nano fit the bill? Or is the USB-AC68 simply a step above everything available right now?

Thanks!
 
Anyone that has owned the usb ac56 or usb ac53 nano that can comment please? really appreciate it
I don't own any of these adapters, but the USB-AC68 likely performs well mostly because of its design. It supports three spatial streams which give it a maximum theoretical 802.11ac speed of 1300Mbps. It includes a USB cradle so that you can place the adapter away from the computer in a spot that gets the best possible signal. It has two large external antennas as well as two more internal antennas with good separation to improve MIMO effectiveness.

All of these ASUS adapters are manufactured by Edimax and all use Realtek chipsets.

The USB-AC56 was reviewed by SmallNetBuilder in its AC1200 USB Wireless Adapter Roundup. It only has two internal antennas which are right next to each other. You can connect your own dual-band antenna to improve the signal.

The USB-AC53 Nano probably requires a better signal to perform at its rated speed because the antennas are so small.
 
Thank you for your answer.

I am wondering, mostly because I never had luck with one or 2 spatial streams adapters, they always seemed to disconnect for me. Is it a driver or adapter problem or in general if you use one or two antenna, you are more prone to instability?
 
Thank you for your answer.

I am wondering, mostly because I never had luck with one or 2 spatial streams adapters, they always seemed to disconnect for me. Is it a driver or adapter problem or in general if you use one or two antenna, you are more prone to instability?
It could be anything. I don't think it's true that one or two-stream adapters are more likely to disconnect.
 

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