While I would have preferred not to spend this money, it was the least expensive I found this adapter for.
I purchased a Lynksys Dual-Bank a/c router from Staples that functions on 2 frequencies at once claiming to even deliver faster speeds even over the existing N speed. I am permanently disabled and have a Staples a mile from my house and now that Amazon has opened a warehouse (NO storefront) in my state sales tax is added and the price was the same so I wouldn't have saved anything so I purchased it there.
It installed instantly with no problems. It even has 4 gigabit Ethernet ports which is exactly what I was looking for. I live in an apartment building and we have one or more resident hackers. My wireless system was hacked right through my network and pc firewalls and anti-virus programs (and yes, I had a password generator that created password of 14 mixed characters that mixed both letters - upper and lower case - and symbols if allowed). I finally decided it was enough and I would only turn on wireless if I wanted to use a tablet; the rest of the time I would run my network hard-wired. I had also upgraded my internet speed to my ISP's 2nd to the top speed (100 Mbs). Enough speed to run as many internet programs (streaming and otherwise) as I wanted to...and I got a deal.
Now the problem. When I first got the speed increase my old router (also a Linksys but only with a top speed of N) was getting 50 Mbs and again that was with my old router. Wanting to get the top a speed I was paying for I purchased the Lynksys router and was told the the salesKID at Staples that it would work out of the box. First problem, the day after purchasing it I spent a month in the hospital. I was 2 days past the refund date. Which brings up the next question; why would I need to return it?
I have 3 laptops and 2 desktops. They were all getting 45 to 50 Mbs BEFORE installing the new router. After installing it I checked the speed through Speedtest dot net and not one of the devices went over 12-15 Mbs! I lost speed.To answer another question that techies might be thinking, were my machines old...1 yes 4 no. Then the infamous technical support rounds started.
I started my self by switching back to the old modem and was now getting 80 Mbs on any device. Then a call to Linksys. I had to be switched to 3 different people before I could even understand the broken English that was spoken. I don't have a heavy regional accent of any kind, I'm from CT - about the most generic American accent you'll hear. My "help" personnel would start speaking in English and then every so often, depending on which person I was speaking to a work of Korean or Indian would just slip out. A total of 4 hours on the phone and they decided that the router was fine, it must be Comcast's problem.
I called Comcast, they came out, replaced the wiring and the cable splitter then told me that even though it takes those pieces to make the cable box and internet work the wiring was my responsibility and the trip (which showed everything was fine, was going to cost me $40. I argued that cost away since no one told me about it and it made no sense as you can't use either the cable box or the internet without wiring. They let that one pass without charging me. What I did find out was that the Comcast tech. checked the speed at the wall where the signal comes from, the back of the modem, all 4 gigabit ethernet ports and the signal was at 105 Mbs, as advertised.
Back to Lynksys. They had me do the same ridiculous tests again from unplugging everything and waiting to a variety of other tests...all done on my first call to them and none resulting in anything that worked. What a surprise!
Finally they offered to repair this router since it was still under the warranty. I was going to do that but during the switching cables back and forth and turning everything on and off the 1st modem (the one that worked, just not at full speed) got knocked off the cabinet it was sitting on and broke like a raw egg into a million pieces). I asked them to send me the new router first as I would have no internet but they said they had to have my router back first. No help at all there. I finally got disgusted and hung up.
Out of curiosity I Googled the problem I was having and found hundreds of the exact same thing! Every story was also the same about the abysmal tech support. And in almost every case the solution was the same. This is a fairly new router and there was only one fix...this purchase.
I decided to stick with Amazon since they are a little more flexible on returns so if this didn't work it would be easy to return.
I received it in the usual 2 days (I'm an Amazon Prime member and it really does work like it's supposed to). Again, anything plugged into the Ethernet ports was fine but before installing this USB plug-in my speeds were approx 12-15 Mbs.
I installed the drivers that come with the USB dongle, plugged it in and did another Speedtest. 118 Mbs average regardless of the machine I connected it to. Not one person al Linksys, Staples or Comcast was aware that to get the top wireless speeds, most computers REQUIRE this dongle. My laptops all have only 1 USB 3.0 port and it requires 3.0 for full speed. It is also about 3 inches long and made of plastic and I can imaging would take VERY little pressure to snap off. Anyone ever have a laptop start to slide off your lap by accident?
I don't know how long this will last but it works perfectly. I have purchased Linksys products in the past and never had any problems. After my grand total of 8 hours on the phone between all the phone calls and having to stay home for a service call from Comcast that was completely unnecessary, I would never purchase another Linksys product again.
There is no notation on the router box that the dongle might be necessary but I called Linksys back one final time. Now I got to speak to someone who spoke Enlish...duh! AND the first question out of that tech's mouth was, "have you purchased the USB plug-in as well?" So a huge waste of time and money. The router was on sale so I thought I was saving $15. But then I had to purchase the USB dongle/adapter for another $60.00 ($5 for shipping something that could have been put in an envelope with 2 stamps) and I spent more than $50 than I thought I would and have this adapter sticking out the side of my computer.
While this review may have come across as quite a bit of a rant, everything in it is true so buyer be ware. As for the adapter, it works perfectly and does solve the problem.
| Wireless Type | 802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
