Question Can you recommend a modern, low cost wifi 5 dongle for desktop?

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I just realized that my Wifi dongles are about 5+ years old, Aukey AC1750 from early 2018. Can anyone recommend a more modern one under $20 with simultaneous dual bands?
(please not one of the itty bitty ones - I've had bad luck with those)

Thanks!

 

[Tech Junky]

Laptop or desktop?

Desktop you can get a pcie adapter for using the M2 cards and run antennas to the best location for signal.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I just realized that my Wifi dongles are about 5+ years old, Aukey AC1750 from early 2018. Can anyone recommend a more modern one under $20 with simultaneous dual bands?

Actually, no, not USB dongles. Those Aukey 1750 3x3 stream dongles were about the Apex of USB 3.0 technology.

You can get the Fenvi AX1800 dongles with the two "wing" antennas (also RealTek), that will do WPA3, etc. for $20-25, but I wouldn't put their throughput as appreciably better than those older Aukey 1750 units.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Do you need support for Linux? Do you need support for promiscuous mode? How big an antenna are you willing to have sticking out of the laptop or desktop? Need some more information to give good recommendations.

If you are not using windows, I would suggest an Alfa AWUS1900, but if you use windows it has horrible windows drivers (but some of the best for linux/OS X). If you need windows compatibility, the Alfa AWUS036AC is good, but isn't going to be discreet if you are using it on a laptop. If you want something a little more discreet, look at the ASUS USB-AC68 or a D-Link DWA-192 (if you can still find either of them at/near their list prices as opposed to the limited stock price gouging prices).

None of these will be under $20. The second one is probably the closest to that price range though. The problem you are running into is that wifi 5 is now in the "old enough that we start raising the prices due to scarcity" category of hardware, and these types of things, even though millions were made, were made a throw-away-able (i.e. they didn't cost enough when they were new for people to attempt to resell them used).

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Laptop or desktop?

Desktop you can get a pcie adapter for using the M2 cards and run antennas to the best location for signal.

It is a desktop, but it is one that I built for my sister about 8 years ago, so it probably has pci slots in there, not pci express. She just recently got around to starting to use it. No Linux needed for her.

Isn't "wifi 5" the current tech?

Good gosh - I looked at those Alpha things - I don't need that many antennas!!! It's only about 15 feet from the router, going through one wall. My son temporarily got it working with an old wifi N dongle that I didn't know I had in a drawer. I was tempted to just get an Aukey AC1750 that I saw someone selling, but if she says that the wifi N dongle is working, I'll probably just leave it alone....

 

[Tech Junky]

Isn't "wifi 5" the current tech?

Actually WiFi 7 is coming soon and the latest buyable is 6e. The only issue with N is the speed is really lacking but, it's an older system that might not be all that fast to begin with. Depends on what she will be using it for. Who knows how old the N adapter is either and how long it will last. The good thing is prices aren't horrible for replacements.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Actually WiFi 7 is coming soon and the latest buyable is 6e. The only issue with N is the speed is really lacking but, it's an older system that might not be all that fast to begin with. Depends on what she will be using it for. Who knows how old the N adapter is either and how long it will last. The good thing is prices aren't horrible for replacements.

I think my sister has a 30 megabits per second cable connection, so the N adapter will probably work fine for her. She is mostly wanting it so that my kids can do homework if they are over at her place, so she can watch youtube, look up weather forecast, etc.

I had no idea we were almost to Wifi 7 already!!

 

[Tech Junky]

had no idea we were almost to Wifi 7 already!

Yup, and WiFi 8 in a couple of years doubles the speeds again. Forecast is 10ge WiFi at that point. 7 will get close to 5ge over WiFi though which is what my Ethernet is setup for currently.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Ended up getting 3 of the TP Link AC1300 (Archer T3u Plus) for $14 each. (says used, probably open box, on Amazon) I like the price, and that they have an antenna that you can move around to get the best reception. They are supposed to be plug & play in newer Windows, and people on Ubuntu and Linux Mint have reported getting them working decent with some fiddling. I'm guessing with how many have been sold, it's just a matter of time until they are supported natively in most versions of Linux.