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AC1200 USB Wi-Fi Adapter Round-Up

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Routers get all attention when it comes to Wi-Fi networking, but picking the right adapter is just as important. Today we test four 802.11ac USB adapters.

Conclusion

Slimmer profile, included USB extension cable promotes optimal positioning
Expensive, oldest adapter, slowest performance

D-Link DWA-182

Netgear A6210

Netgear A6210

Flip-up antenna, blistering 5 GHz speeds that literally smoke the competition, 2.4 GHz speeds are second-fastest at the closer distances, excellent software with automatic updates, extension cable with docking station
Flip-up antenna makes adapter prone to being knocked out of its USB port, slowest speed on the 60-foot test on the 2.4 GHz frequency, omission of status LED

Netgear A6210

Software with more options for power users, better performance at the 60-foot distance being the fastest on 2.4 GHz, and second-fastest on 5 GHz, status LED design is slick and innovative
Struggled to maintain a consistent connection to the router, a slower adapter overall on most of the tests

TP-Link Archer T4U

ZyXEL AC240

ZyXEL AC240

Fastest speeds at 25 feet and 50 feet on the 2.4 GHz frequency, second-fastest throughput speed on the 5 GHz frequency at 25 feet, rock-solid stable
Overall performance on 5 GHz is non-exemplary, large driver installation with no software interface

ZyXEL AC240

Final Thoughts

One lesson we learned from our data is that the 2.4GHz band won't always give you the best Wi-Fi range. Even from 75 feet away with a wall interfering, the 5GHz band facilitated better performance.

We also quantified the need for good antennas. In the end, Wi-Fi, with all of its fancy algorithms, is a radio send-and-receive problem. It should be no surprise that the two better-performing adapters from Netgear and ZyXEL are the ones with flip-up antennas.

Overall, with its significantly faster speeds on the 5GHz band and solid performance on 2.4GHz, Netgear sells the AC1200 Wi-Fi USB adapter we'd recommend based on our data. 

While much attention is often paid to the right router for your network, be equally mindful of the Wi-Fi adapter you buy. With these types of USB-attached adapters available, even older PCs can be upgraded to the latest 802.11ac wireless standard with an impressive connection speed improvement, particularly on the 5GHz band.

MORE: Networking in the Forums

Jonas DeMuro is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware.

Follow us on Twitter @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • SamSerious 03 October 2015 12:30
    For notebooks these sticks look great, but as great as a flip-up antenna may be compared to the slim sticks, they will never be as good as those porducts where you can put a big omnidiretional antenna on. Therefore for users with bigger desktop computers, a PCIe adapter with multiple swapable antennas is still the way to go.
    Reply
  • Math Geek 03 October 2015 15:47
    did not take me long to realize that a usb stick on the back of a pc under a desk surrounded by a massive bundle of various cables was not the optimal way to go about wifi on a pc :)

    i always get the stick up in the air and away from the pc and easily see double the performance this way. can't tell you how many times i went to a client's house to see about wifi problems and fixed all the problems by simply putting the usb stick on an extension cable and taping it to the wall above the pc. BOOM instant signal and throughput gain.

    as a result i look for internal cards with antennas on cables i can raise up or usb sticks that come with extension cables. just my personal experience anyway.
    Reply
  • tb75252 03 October 2015 16:20
    Do any of these products work under major Linux distros?
    Reply
  • gangrel 03 October 2015 16:56
    Math Geek: yes! It applies to any kind of wireless. I like Logitech keyboard/mouse because the Microsoft transceivers have been far more problematic, and I greatly prefer wireless. Shifting that away from the chassis is helpful...and having it too near a WiFi antenna does increase problems.

    tb7: check the manufacturers' pages to see if they're showing Linux drivers, at least as a first step. Not, as I think you know, that this guarantees they'll work. But it'll be a heckuva lot faster for you to do the research, than to wait on the chance that someone here has done it. Better chance is to skip USB and go PCI; for whatever reason, PCI network cards install much more often, and more easily.
    Reply
  • Math Geek 03 October 2015 17:16
    here's another thought since am actually in the middle of trying to figure this out. i wonder if the writer of this article knows a bit more about the features on these dongles?

    my lg phone is very easy to connect to my roku stick using the miracast feature. win 8.1 had this as a beta feature and i was able to use it on my laptop. win 10 has finished this feature and it is now built into windows. sadly, the finalized version does not work on my laptop like it did on win 8.1. best i can tell is that the wifi card is too old and does not support the finalized feature. i can get over that as the laptop is a few years old.

    i would also like my desktop to connect the same way but my even older wifi dongle (n rated one) on my pc does not support it either. i can't find anything in any feature list for any brand wifi stick that says it supports the wifidirect standard that miracast uses.

    does anyone know how/where it is listed or is it safe to assume it is there for any newer dongle i buy. i was going to try my luck and get a new ac model assuming it would be new enough to have it supported but would rather not play the guessing game with multiple models if it is not going to be universally supported. i can't find a list of supported hardware online nor any reference to wifidirect on any info sheet anywhere. :(

    anyone know anything about this as it would be nice to wirelessly share my pc with my roku stick in another room. my phone does this no problem and it is a cheap model so this is not exactly a high end feature just one that lg supports very well.

    note: wifidirect/miracast is not the same thing as the dlna that some other options use. i have no interest in buying a chromecast stick or anything else other than a new wifi stick. i want to use the roku stick i already have and use daily. :)
    Reply
  • gangrel 03 October 2015 17:46
    Look here:
    https://www.wi-fi.org/product-finder-results?subcategories=23

    Not many right now.

    Readiing here:
    http://www.broadcom.com/blog/home-entertainment/a-miracast-enabled-future-next-gen-screencasting-brings-your-content-to-life-video-demo/

    the problem would appear to be, that router support is required, and may not be all that common. That suggests support in adapters will be slow.
    Reply
  • Math Geek 03 October 2015 17:50
    16724138 said:
    Look here:
    https://www.wi-fi.org/product-finder-results?subcategories=23

    i have been on that site and played with the search feature but was not able to get this subcategory. i only found a bunch of monitors and routers that worked :(

    but hey thanks. now maybe i can finally figure out what i need to buy. book marking that search so i can find it again :D
    Reply
  • dstarr3 03 October 2015 17:50
    For notebooks these sticks look great, but as great as a flip-up antenna may be compared to the slim sticks, they will never be as good as those porducts where you can put a big omnidiretional antenna on. Therefore for users with bigger desktop computers, a PCIe adapter with multiple swapable antennas is still the way to go.

    Well, I'm building a mini-ITX build for the living room, and the only PCIe slot will be consumed by the GPU. There are motherboards with WiFi built in, but there are better boards that don't. So, this is a very good solution for those kinds of builds, as well.
    Reply
  • gangrel 03 October 2015 17:59
    Math: check the Broadcom blurb I posted a bit late. :)
    Reply
  • Math Geek 03 October 2015 18:14
    16724213 said:
    Math: check the Broadcom blurb I posted a bit late. :)

    interesting article but that goes against what i thought wifidirect/miracast does. the feature uses the wifi cards in both devices to make a direct connection and pass data between them. a router should not come into play here. i think the article is saying the router will able to connect through miracast and then anything connected to the router will be able to use the data. at least this is how i read it :)

    for instance just for giggles last time i was in sam's club i connected my phone to one of the lg tv's (miracast actually recognized about 10 different ones i could connect to) and mirrored my screen to the oohs and aaahhhhhs of the other shoppers who did not now they could do this. now this was done without any wifi connection at all. i was not on the store network and the tv was connected to none either. a couple other shoppers pulled out their phones and in a few minutes of showing them where the settings were, we had about 6 screen going with our phones mirrored.

    this is why i read the article the way i do, since i know no actual wifi is needed, only compatible wifi cards. this is how it kills latency and such by being a direct connection between the devices with no middle man. it really is a neat feature and once it takes off, we'll all wonder how we lived without it. i watch movies from my phone to my tv all the time since it is easy to do and much easier than connecting my pc to my tv in the other room. hence my wish for a wifi dongle that works so i can do this from my pc and save my phone battery some :)
    Reply