Is this an upgrade or a downgrade?

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HnSWorld

Commendable
Jul 31, 2016
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I'm currently using a TP-LINK TL-WN721N adapter (http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/cat-11_TL-WN721N.html). It is very old and starting to get defective, plus I recently upgraded to Windows 10 and it has no official driver for the OS.

What I have in mind is the TP-LINK TL-WN781ND (http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/cat-11_TL-WN781ND.html), reason 1 it is very cheap in my country and reason 2, I read PCI adapters are usually faster than USBs.

I know it's far from a top notch adapter but if I buy it, will it increase or, at least, keep the same performance I had with the USB one? Remembering it's an external antenna vs an internal one, and the version I'm looking for is the V2, which supports Windows 10 according to this http://www.tp-link.com/en/article-15587.html

In other words, will it be an upgrade or a downgrade??? Thanks!
 
Solution
B
Where the antenna is located is as important as the size. Sure the PCI antenna is larger but it is next to a big metal box that blocks the signals. Now if you plug the USB into the back of the computer it is the same problem but the key advantage is you can use a cheap USB extension cable and move the USB device away from the computer to place in in a better location.

PCI is not better or faster than USB just because it is PCI. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
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B

bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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Where the antenna is located is as important as the size. Sure the PCI antenna is larger but it is next to a big metal box that blocks the signals. Now if you plug the USB into the back of the computer it is the same problem but the key advantage is you can use a cheap USB extension cable and move the USB device away from the computer to place in in a better location.

PCI is not better or faster than USB just because it is PCI. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
 
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Solution
H

HnSWorld

Commendable
Jul 31, 2016
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The USB adapter I use is in the back of the case and I still get full signal strength, I should be fine with the PCI one then!
 
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H

HnSWorld

Commendable
Jul 31, 2016
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Update: I've been using the new adapter for a couple of days and it is working just fine. I still get full signal strength according to Windows and connection hasn't dropped once. I'm getting slightly better speeds. I have a 50Mb connection and when I test it at speedtest.net I get an average of 47Mb download, which is pretty good and almost as much as the internet cable itself. When I was using the USB adapter I was getting about 40Mb download speed and horrible disconnects (probably because it was defective as I said). Overall, I strongly recommend the TP-LINK TL-WN721N because of its price and performance.
 
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