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WiFi 6 USB adapter sold as 1800Mbps: how the two bands add up to that figure, and which socket on the PC lets it run at speed

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WiFi 6 USB adapter sold as 1800Mbps: how the two bands add up to that figure, and which socket on the PC lets it run at speed

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USD 7.15
USD 14.90 Save USD 7.75 (52%)
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Networking

About this product

A USB WiFi adapter is the fastest way to give a desktop, an older laptop or a small form factor PC a wireless link, and the figure in the title is the first thing worth decoding. 1800Mbps is the sum of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios rather than the rate of a single band, and in practice the 5GHz side carries the larger share while the 2.4GHz side carries the smaller one. Which of the two you end up on depends on distance and on how many walls sit between you and the router, since 5GHz gives more speed at shorter range while 2.4GHz reaches further at lower rates. The second point is the socket, because this is a USB 3.0 adapter and pushing it into a USB 2.0 port on an older machine leaves the link capped by that older port; use the blue or otherwise marked 3.0 socket, and if the rear ports are hidden behind a metal case, a short extension cable gets the gain antenna out into the open where it can work. The third is the driver, since the listing names Windows 10 and 11 where the chipset is usually recognised on its own, though a machine that has never had wireless may need the driver copied over first.

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Pros & cons

Pros

  • Turns a desktop or an older laptop into a WiFi 6 machine without opening the case
  • Runs on both 2.4GHz for range and 5GHz for speed, so it suits flats with thick walls as well as open rooms
  • External high-gain antenna can be moved clear of the case, which a flat internal card cannot
  • USB 3.0 link keeps the adapter from being the bottleneck on a fast router
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Cons

  • 1800Mbps is the combined two-band figure, so do not read it as a single-band rate
  • In a USB 2.0 port the adapter is capped by that older socket and will not reach its rated speed
  • Drivers for Windows 10 and 11 are implied; Linux and macOS support is not stated
  • It adds a device sticking out of the PC, so a laptop used on the move is better served by an internal upgrade
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