Why should you use a USB WiFi adapter?
USB WiFi adapters are one of the most recommended devices if you want to have Wi-Fi wireless connectivity on desktop computers. This type of device can also be used in laptops, to improve the wireless capabilities of the internal WiFi card that we normally have. We currently have a wide variety of USB WiFi adapter, depending on your needs, you can buy some models or others. Today in RedesZone we explain everything you must take into account about this type of device.
What is a USB Wi-Fi adapter and what is it for?
A USB WiFi adapter is a device that connects via USB to our computer, be it a desktop computer or a laptop, and has the appearance of a pendrive, and allows us to connect to Wi-Fi networks. Normally we will have to install the drivers that come with the USB WiFi card itself, although if you use Windows 10, it is very likely that it will automatically recognize the WiFi adapter, and later install the drivers without user intervention. In just a minute, we will have this device up and running.
Wireless WiFi adapters will provide us with the possibility of connecting via Wi-Fi to our router or Wi-Fi access point, in case our computer did not have a WiFi card before. In the case of laptops, all of them have a WiFi card inside, but low-mid-range computers usually have very weak WiFi cards and will provide us with poor wireless performance, both in terms of coverage and speed.
Types of USB interfaces
There are currently two different types of USB WiFi adapters, those that support USB 2.0 are the lowest-end and the cheapest, this type of adapters will not provide us with too much real speed, although we will have better coverage (as long as it has external antennas). Those that support USB 3.0 will always be the fastest, those that will provide us with the best real speed and will not be limited by the maximum speed of the USB 2.0 interface itself. Logically, the adapters that use the USB 3.0 interface are the highest-end and the most expensive.
Nowadays, the most normal thing is to find adapters with a USB 3.0 interface, but if you buy a low-end device, the most normal thing is that it is USB 2.0 to save costs, and, therefore, you will get a lower wireless performance in terms of speed. .
Selectable dual band 2.4GHz or 5GHz
With the departure of the Wi-Fi 4 standard, or also known as 802.11n, USB WiFi routers, access points and adapters began to use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands extensively, both simultaneously and selectable through firmware. . Today there are USB WiFi cards that only support 2.4GHz, and other WiFi cards that support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
It is essential that, if you buy a USB WiFi adapter, it has support for both frequency bands, both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. That they are dual band, does not mean that you can connect to both bands simultaneously, in fact, while routers and APs are simultaneous dual band (they broadcast on both bands at the same time), WiFi adapters are selectable dual band (they can be connected to both bands, but to one band or the other, not both simultaneously) due to hardware limitation, since they do not have two chipsets inside but only one compatible with both bands.
Internal or external antennas
A fundamental aspect of a Wi-Fi adapter is its antennas. The more antennas a WiFi adapter has, the more real speed we will achieve thanks to MIMO technology, therefore, it is recommended that at least one adapter incorporates two antennas.
Regarding whether they must be internal or external, if we are going to connect in places close to the access point or router, they can be internal without problems and we will obtain a very good wireless performance, normally the adapters with internal antennas are physically very small, ideal for connect them to laptops.
Buy it at
>
EUR
If we are going to connect in places far from the access point or router, it is highly recommended that the antennas be external, otherwise, we could have low coverage, and, therefore, low real wireless speed. Normally this type of adapters with external antennas are physically larger than those with internal antennas, and, in addition, they usually have a USB base to connect the device on the table, and not in a rear USB port where it achieves less Wi-Fi speed real.
If you don’t care about the size of the adapter, you will always get better performance with WiFi adapters with external antennas, but if you are going to use it in a laptop continuously, it is very likely that the size is an issue. However, there are Wi-Fi cards with two antennas, one internal and one external for cases in which we will connect from far away, this “hybrid” combination is ideal for not having so many external antennas.
