More powerful USB wireless adapter randomly disconnects from internet constantly

brian15co

Honorable
May 15, 2013
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10,510
I posted this question last week, although I got no responses.

The wireless internet on my desktop was cripplingly slow. I had a usb wireless adapter plugged into the back of the case. I tried a neighbor's laptop and we determined that it was the positioning of the usb adapter (we are ~50 ft from the wireless router through a few walls).

I bought a new USB wireless adapter (Rosewill RNX-N180UBE) with a big antenna and an extension USB cable. Immediately, I thought problems were solved. Speedtest results showed download speeds of 15 Mbps whereas before they were as low as 0.1 Mbps.

Although, now the internet randomly disconnects after a minute or two. I need to click disconnect, then click reconnect. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

If I put my old wireless USB adapter (Belkin N300) in the extension cable, I get speedtest results of ~ 2 Mbps, although no disconnects.

When I had my work laptop up here a few months ago, The disconnection problem was almost identical.

What can I try? What other info would be helpful?
 
The problem is the wireless USB adapter, the 'few walls', and the 50 feet distance.

Since you have a desktop, do you have a PCI slot available? Wireless PCI cards are much better than wireless USB adapters.

Both my home built desktops have PCI wireless cards. One has Linksys and the other has Asus. Both work well at 30 feet distance and between 4 drywalls. One is PCI and the other is PCIe.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320113 (Asus PCIe card) - in use for 16 months so far.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G15S7718 (Linksys PCI card) - in use for over 4 years on two different desktops.

I recommend one of the above depending on what type of PCI slot is available on your motherboard.

 

brian15co

Honorable
May 15, 2013
9
0
10,510


Thanks for the reply. I am afraid the solution may not be as simple as that, just because my work laptop was disconnecting in the same manner. It was not using a USB adapter, just its internal one.

Also, the Rosewill adapter with the large antenna was giving extremely fast speeds as compared to the belkin one. The Rosewill adapter keeps automatically disconnecting (small yellow exclamation point over the wireless "bars" icon in the system tray)

Just to clarify, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit