The best USB Wi-Fi adapters can deliver an experience that's almost indistinguishable from a built-in wireless module on your PC or laptop.
Best USB Wi-Fi adapters FAQ Do USB Wi-Fi adapters work well? The list price of $40 makes the Linksys WUSB6300 an excellent choice for an adapter to toss in a bag with your notebook or to carry as a backup. The longer distance tests for this adapter are even more impressive when you compare it against the competition that falls short in the wireless fringe testing. While the spec does limit the 2.4GHz scores, the speeds on 5GHz, even on the more extended distance tests, bring home the win for throughput on three of the six criteria for this increasingly competitive category of the adapter. The WUSB6300 balances its small size against decent range and throughput. Even with the tiny size, it supports the latest technology for wireless adapters, including MU-MIMO and Beamforming. It offers AC1200 speeds, which translates to about 860Mbps via 5GHz, and 300Mbps on 2.4GHz. The Linksys WUSB6300 gets termed "micro" by the Linksys folks. Perhaps the best part is that the street price of this adapter is $34 making these kinds of speeds affordable for all.īest Wi-Fi range extenders (opens in new tab) | Best gaming routers (opens in new tab) | Best gaming headset (opens in new tab) | Best controller for PC gaming (opens in new tab) | Best gaming monitor (opens in new tab) | Best mechanical keyboard (opens in new tab) The only real weakness was on the far tests where this adapter gave up a little ground to the competition. We came away particularly impressed on the close 5GHz test of 298.9 Mbps, much faster than some other respectable adapters could muster. The EW-7833UAC smoked the competition, with class-leading throughput on four of the six tests, which included both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. While it is similar in size to other mainstream adapters, it cleverly features a small deployable piece that contains three antennas to increase range and throughput, along with support for both MU-MIMO and Beamforming technology. Installation was straightforward, with Windows 10 managing the settings. While many mainstream adapters suffice with AC1200 specs, this one takes it a notch up with AC1750 speeds (N450, AC1300).
The Edimax EW-7833UAC (opens in new tab) is the update to our previous budget adapter pick, the EW-7822UAC.