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Good Wifi Stick/Adapter for Windows PC?
In August, I'll be moving into a new flat and likely the router will be not in the same room as my workspace. Since my Windows PC doesn't have a wifi card, I was looking which wifi stick to get (pref dualband and good speed since we are looking to get a 1 Gbit/s line).
I assume TP Link/Asus/Fritz are the go-to brands for wifi sticks these days, right?
Was looking at smth like https://www.tp-link.com/home-networking/adapter/archer-t3u/
Comments
they all suck. get the cheapest, and get on with it.
The last one I had reached smth like 200 Mbits, so not too bad. Could also just use my Chromebook for tethering lol. That one reached like 900 Mbits with built in wifi. Or even phone. Hmm
If you have PCI-E available then choose whatever board with Intel AX200/AX201 (same thing). You can easily get 1Gbps+ on this chipset, no CPU overhead unlike cheap Realtek chips which offload many things to CPU via driver, VERY stable - never had problem with this chip. It doesnt matter if its Gigabyte, ASUS or random chinese brand, just look at chipset.
You should be able to get them around $25-$40 (depends on country).
Don't cheapout on it like @CheepCluck suggests.
Of course "they suck" if you buy random board with Realtek chip which costs $2 in bulk.
AX200/AX201 will give you WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.1 at low price. You also have more expensive AX210 with WiFi 6E but AX200 is enough for 1Gbit.
Good idea! Thanks
Another solution
I have had super good performance with TP-Link, but I use them mostly on Linux.
Archer T2U Nano from TP-Link. Used it, great stuff.
I have tp-link tl-wn722n, no problem so far.
Thanks for the recommendations guys! Will have a look
They all suck. Consider a small AP like a Mikrotik hAP mini - bridge your Ethernet port to the wifi via it. Much, much more reliable.
I've tried a lot of the sticks and dongles. My computer was a business line so the PCI-E slot didn't work with wifi cards. The most solid thing I could find was the TP-Link Archer T4U Plus. I retired the computer about 4 months ago so don't use it anymore but it worked great.
You don't have to buy a "name-brand" adapter from TP-Link. Most of these WiFi adapters just use some reference design from Realtek, slap on some housing and packaging and send them off to the shelves.
http://en.techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/TP-LINK_Archer_T_series
If you were interested in the T3U you could probably find a cheaper adapter that also has the RTL8812BU.
What I would do personally is to buy an Intel AX200/AX210 PCI-E card from Aliexpress.
+1 for getting a PCI-E network card. I have Gigabyte's GC-WBAX210 (based on the AX210) in one machine and it performs very well and is extremely stable.
Most, if not all, USB based cards suck. I have a ton of them that span many years (thanks to odd projects over the years) and have always had headaches.
Intel based chipsets seem to be the strongest performers in my experience.
I do have this https://www.newegg.com/tp-link-archer-t3u-plus-usb-3-0/p/N82E16833704529
But this one seems better https://www.newegg.com/tp-link-archer-t4u-plus-usb-3-0/p/0E6-002W-006J5