Side by Side Comparison of: Edimax vs Belkin

When I purchased my new compact computer case (Fractal Design Node 202), it became quickly apparent that there was no place available to mount the somewhat large wireless antennas provided by my Mini-PCI-E wireless card. To get up and running, I decided to try out the Edimax 802.11n USB adapter I'd been using with my Raspberry Pi units. The adapter worked so well that I've ditched the onboard Intel wireless card in favor of this updated Edimax AC1200 adapter.So far, so good. Speeds have been comparable to the mini-PCIe card, while latency is a few milliseconds longer (10-15ms vs 3-8ms). The best part is that it does all this without two huge 6" antennas hanging out of the back of my new compact desktop case.The only con, if you can call it that, is that you should download the driver from Edimax's site before installing the unit. It's not automatically recognized the way the older 802.11n version is (also an excellent device).

WOW! Almost perfect and at a great price. I have run 3 different computers with it and can say that it loads perfectly in: Windows10, and 7 (but I did not test an upgrade from "7" to "10". The supplied install disk worked perfectly and once set up with the security key, each computer worked with the new dongle, or found the original wireless card. I compared wireless AC on 5 gigahertz to the prior speeds. Here's just one computer's comparison: Up and Download speeds: Edimax- 272 and 250; internal wireless card; 48 and 40. I am fortunate to have fiberoptic service rated at 1 gigabyte. My Asus router is in a basement closet 2 floors above one computer tested and 1 floor but about 30 feet horizontally offset from the 2nd computer. So far ... LOVE IT!

Works, but as for me it doesn't pickup my 5G Ubee modem/router it only seems to see the 2G. That is fine for me and I'm not going to take off any stars for that... I didn't see it claiming 5G...For some reason my Dell Latitude E6410's built in Intel(R)Centrino(R)Advanced-N 6200 ANG wlan chip wouldn't connect easily to my home network. It always took several attempts and even a reboot to get it to connect. I decided to give this Edimax a try and it works perfectly.Connects to any network now on the first attempt. Not eight attempt + plus a reboot like before. :-(I suspect since this is a very old laptop Intel didn't bother to update the drivers and since I bought this laptop from a certified refresher whom installed a licence copy of Windows10 Home for Refurb PC's --- the laptop is running an operating system it didn't originally ship with. So that driver probably didn't work well with either Windows 10 or the newer Ubee modem/routers... Either way this fixed the problem and was a cheap fix.This Edimax is using REALtek chips and drivers... So it seems to work perfectly...

I recently upgraded my old Windows-7 laptop to the “free” Windows-10 promotional offered from Microsoft. Even under Windows-7 the WiFi interface had been problematic and the issued continued under Windows-10. Given the advanced age of the laptop, I didn’t want to invest a lot of money fixing the WiFi. In reviewing Amazon’s USB WiFi solutions, the Edimax EW-7811Un appeared to be likely low cost solution were it not for the large number of negative reviews which were offset by the still larger number of positive review. I decided to take a chance and ordered the Edimax EW-7811Un.When the Edimax EW-7811Un arrived, I was able to use the default Windows-10 and Mini CD-ROM to install the driver and support software; however, neither solution worked for longer than several minutes before failing. Most troubling was that the Edimax EW-7811Un “ALMOST” worked.When I read the current product reviews, as they pertain to Windows-10, I realized that my experience was not unique and there were a number of unhappy people who ordered the Edimax EW-7811Un for use with Windows-10. In reviewing several USB WiFi solutions on Amazon, I noticed that the Windows-10 upgrades were more problematic. This could be caused by (1) older and slower hardware or (2) the Windows-10 upgrade image was not quite the same as a native Windows-10 image.For several days I considered writing a scathing review while devising alternative solutions but kept returning to the fact that the software was almost on the cusp of working. Finally, I called the Edimax support number, expecting technical support Hades, only to be quickly connected with a knowledge support technician. When I described the problem, the technician indicated that the wrong software was being distributed for Windows-10 and provided guidance on where to find the correct software, which was not on the primary Edimax website. As Amazon doesn’t support the posting of URL’s, the following navigation is provided on where to find the correct software:Navagation: edimax.us | support | download drivesOn the “Driver & Manual Download” page, go to Section 7 and download the ZIP compressed driver EW-7811Un Win v1.0.1.4, which is the first entry in Section 7.I used a tablet to download the file EW-7811Un_Windows_driver_v1.0.1.4.zip and then transferred the file to Windows-10 using a USB interface. Un-ZIP the file, using Windows-10, and then run the program “Setup”. This not a GUI and runs under a DOS shell, so just wait until it completes. As Edimax Support recommended, reboot your Windows-10 system, and you should be good to go!A few off-the-cuff observations:(1) A built-in laptop WiFi generally has a hidden and sometimes large antenna under the case. The Edimax may not work in WiFi marginal areas of your home. There are Edimax products with large external antennas but these will not have the small form factor of the Edimax EW-7811Un. If the connection is very poor the Edumax is flagged as “Turned Off” and you may have to use Windows-10 to re-enable the WiFi. This could be a bug!(2) I noticed that the Edimax EW-7811Un sometimes appears to go to sleep. Turning Device “Power Management” OFF may correct that problem.I have now run a four hour series of serious stress tests and, with the exception of marginal areas in my home, the Edimax EW-7811Un has performed well. I am giving this product “Five Starts” because of the good performance at a very affordable price point. Yes, Edimax’s software quality control was troubling in this case, but I would give their Technical Support “Six Stars” without a second thought.Microsoft Windows-10 upgrade policy was highly innovative and has given new life to older hardware and after market upgrades such as the Edimax EW-7811Un. Edimax and Amazon have to do a better job of communicating the good news to their customers.

Work like a charm, really fast as advertised. My old laptop used to have slow speed 11n connection. Now I really enjoy fast speed 11ac connection.Installation is not a problem, very easy. Just followed the guide to install driver for my win7.If you need high speed connection, this one will not let you down.

I was kind of worried buying this since the price was so low compared to competitors. I'm glad I took the chance I'm using this one a windows 8.1 computer it took a few minutes to go to the website and download the drivers. The website was very user friendly and took away a lot of the stress when trying to find drivers like other bigger companies do.This doubled the speed on my laptop's speed on 2.4ghz (only band my laptop supports) I was getting around 19-20Mbs downstream on a 50Mbps connection over WIFI. After I got this set up I'm around 40-45Mbs down this is as close as I'm going to get to a wired connection over WIFI and I couldn't be happier.I also tested this on a Windows 7 and Ubuntu machines with around the same results very happy I will be buying a few more of these.As for the design I really like the small factor most of the competitors are long and bulky and are just in the way. The Edimax is the perfect size with all the power. I was surprised that at this small form factor it had WPS support that comes in useful when you have a long WIFI password. The only downside is the flashing blue activity light after awhile it gets annoying I just put a small sticker over it so not a huge deal.As a final note, I recommend this to anyone looking for a low priced reliable adapter with dual band support.

I recently switched internet providers and I upgraded my service to a faster speed than I previously had, and needed to upgrade my laptop's older wireless adapter. It was only capable of 2.4ghz and I needed to be able to take advantage of the higher 5ghz my internet provider offers. I had contemplated just getting a new laptop computer, but unfortunately there aren't always funds available for the kind of stuff I want. I always start off looking for the best value, and I still end up getting what I consider the best value, but it isn't the lowest priced. Before I knew it I'm looking at $1500 laptops, and they were great for what they offered, but all I needed was to upgrade my wireless adapter, so I dropped the new computer idea, and started looking at reviews for a USB wireless adapter. After a little research, I found this little guy. It had good reviews on several sites, and it just happened to be on sale here, so I decided to give it a shot. This adapter was just what I was looking for to bring my laptop up to speed. It took a couple tries at first to get it set up, but after that it just works flawlessly. I leave my laptop on 24/7, it runs all day every day, and after almost a YEAR, I haven't had a single problem with it! Highly recommended!

This is my first purchase of a unit like this so I cannot give any comparison to others. I purchased a mid range priced unit to see how it would function before having to get someone out to run cat5 line under house since I had been on DSL. I purchased this due to it's size. I didn't want one sticking out in the front USB port and getting hung up on something. It is very small and fits well in the tight USB ports in the rear with the other ports in use.Works extremely well with my Belkin N150 router on cable hook up. Router is about 25 feet away in different room. It works just as well from a rear USB port on my desktop as a front USB port. My 50meg cable speed dropped slightly, and hovers somewhere in the 40meg to 50 meg range, which was not a great drop from wired. Metal trash can next to PC initially caused drop to 20meg, once removed, speed returned. Easy to set up, easy to use. I have not experienced any issues I have read in others reviews regarding PC being put in sleep mode with this adapter. I have been using it for a little over a month and I have not been disappointed in this little guy.I am not a big tech guy, and I had no real issues getting it set it up.

I have to retract my previous review, as it appears the last time I used this product I happened to have a defective one. Recently, my old dual-band wifi adapter broke (an accident, dropped the laptop it was connected to and it snapped). A friend persuaded me to give the belkin adapter another try and I'm glad I did. I love it now. Far better than my old dual-band adapter. Once the driver is installed, there is no need to operate it through a separate system (as there was with my old adapter). It shows up directly in networks as "wifi 2" and operates almost like the built-in wifi on my laptop. By the way, the Amazon page for this adapter seems to indicate that it won't work with Windows 10. I am actually using it right now with Windows 10 to write this review, and I am finding it works absolutely fine. Another issue with my old adapter was that it would often drop connection: it would randomly disconnect from the internet from time to time without warning. Thus far I have NOT had that problem with the belkin adapter. It has a strong connection, good range on 5 ghz wifi, and the connection is steady and fast to establish. I have bought a 3.0 USB adapter cable so that I don't have a repeat of last time, and all in all I am extremely satisfied with this product. I would recommend it highly.

I recently got an ASUS TM-1900AC router from T-Mobile and this works perfectly with it. My signal is much more reliable and stronger due to the 5GHz bandwidth and range. It features Windows 7 recognized it but could not find drivers, so I had to use the included disc. Installation was painless and easy. It was a little too big to plug into the back of my tower so it's in the front for now. It does not come with an extension cord, but you can purchase one very cheap here on Amazon. Highly recommended.

This works amazing! I thought the wifi i was on at school sucked because i would could barely load web pages in the library. I ended up buying the n300 micro wireless and was amazed at how much faster speeds i was experiencing. A family member of mine had trouble with their wifi on the computer and after a few hours of trying to fix the wifi card, i swapped my wireless usb into their computer and everything worked perfect. For the price it just seemed worth it to not bring in my computer to get fixed, also probably cheaper. The first Belkin wireless still works after 2 or 3 years, it sticks out a little bit but has not caused me any problems going around campus. When i put my laptop in its bag i pop out the usb just to be safe.

I purchased this to replace an unreliable TP-Link TL-WN722N 150Mbps High Gain Wireless USB Adapter and am so glad that I did. This little USB N adapter is fast..it connects to my router at 144Mbps. It also gets great reception despite not having an external antenna like the TP-Link. This Belkin model is not the smallest USB Wi-Fi adapter out there but it's small enough to use with a laptop. I'm actually using it with my desktop via TP-Link's own USB extension cradle TP-Link AC UC100 USB cradle 1.5m. The cradle is very useful as it allows placement flexibility. On my computer it perches on top of my LCD monitor which helps with reception. Without a cradle it would likely sit in one of the USB ports on the back of my computer which doesn't help with reception or allow me to see the little blue activity LED. On the software side it works with the provided drivers and doesn't require any additional wireless utility installation. Overall this is a very good performing wireless N USB adapter.Update: Still working like a champ 4 months later even though I really work this thing everyday downloading several gigabytes worth of data.

but eventually got it to work by downloading driver from the Edimax website onto a flash drive and then running the setup application from the download. Connection strength and speed are not the greatest but acceptable considering its price, size, and simplicity.UPDATE: 8/31/2017The biggest downside to this device is also its upside, it is tiny and so it lacks a decent radio antenna. 150Mbps is theoretical for this type of device but that's under ideal conditions and this style of device is not ideal, this makes placement all the more critical. Plugged into the USB port on the back of the tower was only receiving at 7Mbps, this was fine for email and general web, however, it was frustratingly slow for downloads and I almost threw it away. I added a USB extension cable and found that I could improve the signal by getting it higher up and away from interference and was able to attain download speed greater than 50Mbps which is the speed of my internet service. Now I am quite happy.

Cool! Easy way to update your Mac to AC speeds. I bought this after reading Glenn Fleishman's article on Macworld. It works as advertised on my 2010 Mac Pro. The provided software is about as smooth as one can get for a USB adapter on a Mac running Sierra short of native drivers from Apple. (The adapter comes with a mini CD with the installation drivers. ) Unit does run HOT to the touch. Other than that just a few annoyances. 1) Dialog box on startup to connect via WPS and PIN entry---just cancel it and it should connect as normal. 2) Occasionally disconnects on sleep? It reconnects on use however... might be an energy savings thing. Nice.Update: As good as the thing is, there is a lot of quirks. On cold starts or waking from sleep, there may be an issue reconnecting, if so, you may need to turn off and on the adapter via the menu. It also seems to saturate my USB bus.

I bought this for my old Windows XP gaming system, which I suddenly needed because I moved it to a location that has no cabled access. So, knowing all essentials I was anticipating an adventure. I was not disappointed in this regard. :)I wrote this as an answer under a question that I found a little encouraging..."My experience. I have XP SP3. The included Edimax CD would not recognize my OS. I downloaded the drivers from the Edimax web site and installed them, per the documentation. My system locked up completely in the desktop. So I booted in Safe Mode and performed a System Restore. Then I got wild... I inserted the USB NIC. The Windows driver installed automatically, but once finished it would not show me any scanned networks. Lastly, I installed the Edimax XP driver (previously downloaded) via its setup.exe WHILE the USB NIC was plugged in. The installer took many minutes to think... And then it finally succeeded and showed me the scanned networks. It is working fine now. Hope this info helps someone."Pros:- It works in WinXP SP3!- Very affordable.- 150Mb, really more than I need for an old hobby rig.- Once installed properly, it's very easy to configure.- Small package and a cute little miniCD. Everything is tiny and cute. You will go awwwww. :)Cons:- It worked for me, but a casual 'phile would be frustrated and perhaps ultimately defeated by the WinXP experience.- Tech support is a web form. You drop in your email and phone number. What happens after that is a mystery, because I chose not to play that game. If faced with the choice between returning my purchase and playing email/phone tag, I would have simply returned my purchase. I like a more accessible vendor. But, as a mitigating factor: see Pros "Very affordable".Overall I give 4 stars because >it worked< It did not install flawlessly, but I knew XP would be a challenge. I'm very glad it worked, and the challenge was pretty light.

First off, it is very losable. I Lost it but found it conveniently while cleaning up hard drives. (most random thing ever)It provides nice wifi, though I could have gotten 5g, considering my network speed.A few times the wifi has dropped down to 300kbps (I know. back to dial up speed, A.K.A the stone age.) but i think that was just my router, considering its holding 4 phones, 3 pcs, 4 gaming consoles, and 2 laptops. all on 500mbps.Pros,Nice and small does not take up a lot of roomThe gold (copper? IDK) USB plug does a very good job at keeping me updated.Drivers very easy to install.Comes with adobe reader XCons:Does NOT work on windows XP.What is that flashing blue light for? doesn't make any sense.Nice and small. gets lost constantly (why am I feeling Deja vu?)But anyways, Thanks to Edimax for sending this out, And I will definatley consider this as a good brand in the future.BYE!

Out of the box, this Wi-Fi adapter was easy to install with Windows 10 automatically detecting the driver and installing it. It does come with a CD to be used for installation, not sure whether or not you need it on Windows 7 or 8.Right away, I was able to use the adapter on a 2.4gHZ Wi-Fi connection via my gateway. Once I set up a 5gHz connection, I was able to hop on that once I enabled it on settings. If you’re not connecting to the 5gHz band, check your Wi-Fi settings in Windows before blaming the dongle – chances are you need to configure your WI-Fi to work on the band.The dongle can be utilized on a variety of networks, so if you don’t have a built-in Wi-Fi adapter or it’s broken, you can use this as a replacement. On both the 2.4 and 5gHz bands, I got a better performance than my built-in adapter.The only issue I have with this Wi-Fi USB adapter is that sometimes it runs hot. I have to unplug it, let it cool, then start using it again. I am a heavy Internet user, so that’s part of it but just be aware that it can get hot.

Excellent little Wi-fi dongle! This thing is small and works quite well. I had a cheap, no-name dongle that I got from my first RPi kit that I was using up until ordering this. I figured it was time for an upgrade and since this specific dongle is often recommended for Pi I finally broke down and bought one.I used this on RPi 2 w/ 2A power and it works great with both Raspbian and OSMC. On OSMC, under Network, I had to enable adapter then do a scan to find my signal. On Raspbian it connected to my signal automatically from my previous settings I assume. On both OS I noticed the same IP which went something like 192.168.1.17 so on OSMC I switched to the option "Configure Network using DHCP" to choose a static IP I had been using before. Raspbian is a little more hands on in the static IP front and I figured as long as it does what it's supposed to I don't need to screw around with it right now. I have noticed quicker response time but nothing super significant.Some people have complained about activity issues but as long as you use sufficient power (2A on B+ or Pi2) or a powered usb hub you should be fine. I'm not too sure but I've been using 2A since B+ because my HDD needs the extra power. On the B model I used a powered usb hub and a 1A power supply. My guess is if you use anything below 1A, if you use a hub or not, how many peripherals and whether you use a wired or wireless mouse + keyboard, you're gonna run into some problems. I know first time using the Pi I had issues but I worked through them and eventually got things running smoothly. Of course it's been three years now and hardware/software for the Pi keeps improving so we've got past a lot of hurdles.Overall I was pleased by the "plugability" of this dongle. I was worried I'd run into trouble trying to get it connected to my signal after using my previous dongle. If you're starting out on Pi and have no Wi-fi, consider this one as it works as desired.

This adapter not only works as it should but it was easily identified by Windows 10 and installed without the need to go and find drivers for it. I recently upgrade one of our computers to Windows 10 and the D-Link adapter that we had been using with Windows 7 just would not work. The range has been good so far. The computer using it was on top of a kitchen counter through a floor and two walls about 30 feet away and it was reliable and has not dropped the signal yet.My one complaint hence the 4 stars is that it did not come with an USB extension to be able to put it somewhere out of the way. It is rather large compared to the other adapters and required modifying the placement in the cabinets in order to fit it. However, this is a small issue given that it works and does so well.

Great for the price. Plug and play ready on Windows 10, but DO NOT try to install updated drivers, because they do not exist for Windows 10 and will ruin the functionality on that system. We have this running on a Windows 7 system and it works fine. If I was buying for Win 10, I would look elsewhere.

The model N600 I received does not look like the picture. The picture shows two led lights on top but the one I received has only one light like the lesser model N300 has. I checked the model and numbers on the item and it says it is the N600. A driver CD with manual comes with this adapter and, oddly, the manual demonstrates the adapter with the two LED lights. According to the manual one light is for showing proper connection and the other shows proper security is set -- nothing about an adapter with the one light, like the one I received. This item came in a shrink wraped box, all fancy and new but now I wonder about the difference in the missing indicator light. Then I did a challenge test up against an old D-Link USA single band wifi adapter. Guess what? The Belkin and the lesser D-Link record the same ping rates for upload and download from my Lenovo Z570 (the internal wifi card quit). I am really impressed with the D-Link but I have to put it back on my wife's PC. The Dual Band Belkin, I am hoping, will show its stuff while traveling, It works fine and for $15 a great buy.

It is difficult for me to rate these devices because dual-band is inherently a little dodgy in my opinion. It reminds me of the days when people would subscribe to two phone lines to get twice the bandwidth on a land line modem. The criteria that I'm using is that if it works with only a few drops that are fixed with restarts, it gets 5 stars. If wireless adapter has problems that a restart cannot fix but eventually can be made to work properly and consistently, then it gets three stars. A wireless adapter that is unusable most of the time gets one star.. This Belkin AC867 Dual-Band USB Adapter was low priced and, frankly, the pc that I had installed it on may have been a bit dodgy itself. So, this wireless adapter gets 4 stars.

A lifesaver. Son's ASUS Taichi had a spotty wireless connection with our modem. We kept trying to fiddle with settings on modem, settings on laptop, etc., etc. On the point of giving up and then read about using a wireless USB adapter for weak connections. Just plug it in, log in your security code for your modem, and you're set. Four bars of connectivity all the time. Wound up buying two more for our other computers that would also cut off their wireless connection at times, and now they all have four bars connectivity everyday, all day.

I needed this to put a Windows 7 desktop computer on my wireless network. Installed the adapter according to instructions using the CD to install the driver first. Wireless network icon appeared in system tray, but in "x" status. No SSIDs found, even though other devices nearby were connected. Checked the usual things, no no avail.Called Belkin tech support. After identifying the product model number, I was told that the usual 90-day free phone support was not provided for this model! I asked why, and was told that this is the way it is. Oboy. I was offered premium (pay-for) phone support, or chat. I tried to find a way to invoke chat, and after much fiddling about I got to it by:1. Start at [...]2. Select "Router Help" from "Select Support Category" - do not select "Other products help" even though my problem wasn't with a router!3. Select "Network Adapters" from "Product Category".4. Select "N300 USB Adapter" from "Product Sub Category".5. Select "F7D2102" from "For Which Product?"Fill in your contact details and start chat.The support person I got on chat didn't actually solve the problem, but all of his "is your computer plugged in?" questions helped me stumble on the source of the problem.From the Start menu, type "Manage wireless networks" in the "Search programs and files" box. Immediately I could see that the Windows Wireless service was not running. So I used services.msc, scrolled down to "WLAN AutoConfig" (don't try looking for "Wireless service") and found that it was set to Manual start. Changed that to Automatic, which started the service, and immediately the wireless networks icon listed available SSIDs. Problem solved.I haven't been using the adapter for long now, but it does appear to be working fine now that the wireless service issue was resolved.I remain VERY unhappy with Belkin's support in this. NOWHERE does it say that if you purchase this adapter, you won't get free phone support. Belkin's site only says "free 90 day phone support is available for select products". How are you supposed to know if you've selected a "select" product?????Shame, Belkin.

This works great for giving AC wifi to a laptop that doesn't come with AC wifi. With a USB3 jack, I was getting about 80-90% of the speed of the built in AC on my laptop. The range sucks, though. If the AP isn't really close by, you might be able to see it, but actually using it can be spotty and high latency. For 90% of people that's not going to be a problem, though, and it's unfair to expect a tiny device like that to compare with a built in AC card that has a huge antenna built into the screen.It works really well with windows 10, interfaces to feel just like the built in card.But I bought it for my wife's MacBook Air, and the apple experience is considerably less seamless - clunky and erratic would be better descriptive words. I ended up giving it to a friend who uses an older windows laptop,and he's getting good use out of it.

This review is for the 1200ac with mu-mimo. It definitely gave me more range that the Intel 7265 wireless card in my son's desktop from an Asus 5300ac router with beamforming and mu-mimo enabled. The 5 GHz bars went from 2 to 4. But interestingly enough, the speed was the exact same. Right around 225mbs down and 90 up. This is on a gigabit plan. When I initially plugged it in and connected it without downloading the drivers from edimax's site, it got to hot to touch within 90 seconds of use. I let it cool off, plugged it back in and restarted the pc. This time the dongle nor the wifi card was recognized by the pc. So I detached it and restarted again. This time the Intel card was recognized and connected. Once I installed the drivers everything was fine. The edimax was still a little warm but nothing crazy. Since it's getting the same speed as the Intel card without mu-mimo, I have a hard time believing that the edimax even really supports it. My laptop has an Intel AC8265 supports mu-mimo and gets 760mbs down and the full 250mbs up. Since the 5ghz bands are still pretty stable with the intel 7265, I'll just stick with that and maybe upgrade the card with the 8265 later down the road. If anyone else has the option to upgrade to the AC8265, I would highly recommend doing so over this edimax dongle. Faster speeds, equal range, frees up a USB port, has Bluetooth 4.1 and is actually mu-mimo compatible. If dongle is the only option and you want mu-mimo support, I would look elsewhere. If mu-mimo is not a high priority then this is a decent dongle for th $15 price point based on extending range to a low signal area.

Since most newer laptops already have Wi-Fi wireless networking built-in, the only need I can see for this device would be similar to mine: in an older laptop running on limited RAM and a slower processor. This product claims to be Linux compatible, but that is only true if you can install a relatively recent Linux operating system that contains Linux wireless drivers. If your situation requires that you assemble the Linux drivers in order to utilize this adapter, I cannot recommend this product; The product contains no instructions whatsoever for installing a Linux driver if the OS does not already have one built-in. Instructions I found online were vague, confusing and time consuming to perform for a newly Linux user. If you need a wireless adapter for your older laptop, I suggest you find one that includes the drivers, in a ready to use installation app. That is what I ended up doing.

As others have said this adapter is much slower than other usb wireless N adapters and you have to be pretty close to your router. But, that is the price you pay for getting a low profile one with small antennas. I'm using this in a laptop with a flakey internal wifi card, but it cuts my speed in half and cuts it in a quarter in the other room. At least it doesn't cut in and out like the old built in wifi card. So, I'd rather have the slow speed than flakey network access.I had problems with it not coming back online after closing the laptop lid. So, I had to go into the advanced power save features and tell Windows 10 to NOT shut the power down to the USB ports when sleeping. That seemed to take care of the issue.It is very low profile which is nice, just know that that the tradeoff to low profile is lower speed and less range from your wireless router.

I found myself in a situation at an RV park for three weeks at which I had a poor wifi connection on one of two laptops, while the other laptop had no problem. Based on the reviews for this product, I figured I'd risk $9 to see if it might work better than the wifi adapter built into the poor performing laptop.We received the adapter ahead of schedule (ordered Thursday, shipped on a Friday, and received on Monday), but alas it performed much worse than the built in adapter. We talked to their tech support, who answered the call quickly and was polite and easy to understand, and that tech said that this device needs to be within 30' of the wifi router and should not be expected to work as well as an internal adapter.They don't accept returns, so I guess it will go into my pile of unused electronics. I gave it three stars instead of one because tech support was good and they didn't promise it would work better - I had just hoped it would based on the reviews

I read another customer review, mentioning that novices would have trouble installing it to XP operating systems. I did appreciate his comments because he was an expert user and he was right.I purchased this USB adapter to replace a broken LAN card inside my Acer Aspire One XP netbook, which is a few years old, but still compatible to use for remote access to workplace XP PCs. I also needed my Acer Aspire One to access my ASUS RT-N66U Dark Knight Double 450 Mbps Dual N Band Router.Pros:It is small, inexpensive, and once you do successfully install it, it does work.I tried watching 2 min clips from Hulu. It did perform adequately, but the speed of the connection varied widely from 14.2 to 58 mpbs during playback. My other Windows 7 laptops with working LAN cards did achieve 72 mpbs.It is adequate for accessing emails and regular websurfing.The Edimax adapter picked up signals roughly 25 to 30 feet away from me, separated by 2 walls, on the same floor. Because I don't have multilevel housing, I don't know if it will work vertically. I plan to use it in my office building to see if it can pick up weaker signals.Cons:It runs slightly hot. Since it is so tiny, I don't know if the heat will shorten its life. My netbook runs hot, too, which will affect the adapter's ability to disperse heat.The installation was pretty difficult. I think it might have been easier had I used Windows 7.Throw away the Quick Start Guide. It is a waste of time. It says only 3 things that are useful. Turn on your computer first. Then plug in the adapter. Cancel the Windows Hardware Wizard when it asks you if you need help installing it.It does not say to turn off your broken wireless LAN switch, which I did. Older devices will have these switches. You should deactivate your old LAN device through the START menu or Control Panel, if you don't have a switch.I also removed old network wireless connection SSIDs by right clicking the wireless icon and then choosing "View Available Wireless Networks," then "Change the Order of Wireless Networks." I deleted the old ones in preparation for connecting with my new router.Restarting may be a good idea.After plugging in the adapter, you are supposed to use the CD to install software. Throw it away. The drive won't read it.To get the software, I used an ethernet cord plugged into the router, went to Google, and found [...]. Oddly, the website is not written anywhere on the packaging, start guide, or CD.Save yourself time. Here is the link to the download site for the XP device driver and utilities:[...]Click on "driver" at the bottom of the screen. Don't bother downloading the "Manual." It is the Start Guide and nothing else.After you are done unzipping the files and installing them, you will be prompted to restart your computer.Meanwhile, you can connect the router to another laptop, using it to access the router dashboard software that shows the network traffic and security settings at the usual 192.168.1.1 site online. The new adapter should be accepted as a Client.At some point, unplug the ethernet cord from the ACER netbook.2 wireless icons will be X-ed out. The Edimax icon looks like a misshapen Twinkie.The wireless icon that is connected to the broken LAN card will always stay inactive."Wireless Network Connection 2" is the icon associated with the adapter. You will want this one to work.The tough part is getting the adapter to recognize the router. After clicking the twinkie icon, I could tell that it was trying to associate with the router. The SSID would flash, the IP address would register, but then the numbers would go to zero, zero, zero. I went to the security tabs in the Edimax icon, thinking that typing in the WPA2 passcode would help. It is definitely important, but still no results. I tried disabling and re-enabling the adapter to no avail. I activated AP and then changed back to Station settings. Then I tried the security tabs towards the end, which did not help at all. I rebooted again. Still no change.Finally, I went to the "Wireless Network Connection 2" icon in the Task Bar and used Windows to repair the connection. The adapter finally worked.It took me about 3.5 to 4 hrs of doing this, while answering phone calls and trying to eat, before I could get it to work.Customer Support is nonexistent and does not explain all the security terms and funny addresses, which someone like me would not understand.I will decide in one month, whether I will change my rating up or down.Update:9/23/2013I re-entered the websites for information because amazon did not allow me to paste it in. I re-typed the websites again.On the 6th floor of my office building, I was able to detect one Wi-Fi signal at 26% strength, ? 2 bars or so.The EW-7811Un could not detect the weaker out of the 2 Wi-Fi signals that are available.The Acer Aspire One old broken LAN card was able to tell me that 2 signals were out there, although it could not connect.That still means the EW-7811Un could not detect all reasonably available signals, which is a shortcoming.The good news is the EW-7811Un was more speedy today, for some unknown reason. I could get 90 to 120 mbps out of it. The old netbook was slow, however, because it has a single core Atom chip. After the MacAfee Antivirus software quit monopolizing the CPU, I was able to appreciate the quickness of the signal.

Be careful buying this device. Belkin has not (and probably will never) supplied a driver upgrade for Windows 10.

When we moved to a new home, I could no longer cable connect my desktop to the wireless router, so I needed to equip the desktop for wifi. When I got the Belkin product, I was running Windows 7. What I encountered was that after booting up the PC, I had to remove the device from its USB port and reinsert before it would work. Shortly thereafter, I upgraded to Windows 10. I had exactly the same problem. I updated the driver. No help. Once it's removed and reinserted, it works great until the PC is shut down.I contacted Belkin's tech support via IM. They said my problem was because I was running under Win10 - it didn't support Win10. I said that made no sense, because a) it did the same thing under Win 7, and b) it works fine once re-seated. So, Belkin was no help. This product is OK, but I'm concerned I'll eventually either damage the Belkin device or the USB port.

Fast shipping and good price. I purchased this item because I was moving my office and my wife's office around. We both used our computers for work. We had to have 2 separate internet connections with our own modem. I no longer work from home and wanted to eliminate the cost o one of our internet modems. Her office was on the other end of house in garage store room. I moved her office into house. If you don't need blazing fast speed this item works fine. I have internet speeds up to 100 megs and when I was hooked directly up to router I was getting over 90. I moved my computer across hall from where router and modem is, about 10 or 15 feet away. Hooked up wireless adapter and ran speed test. I get about 20 megs now, a drop of over 70 megs. Since I no longer use my computer as my work computer it's fine. I ran speed test on my wife's computer that is now hooked up directly to router in my old office an it still get's over 90 megs. So if you want a lot of speed then I would suggest getting a adaptor that will support more speed. Otherwise it's fine.

I bought this adapter to replace my old 802.11 n adapter for 802.11ac and 5 GHZ band. It works fine with 2.4g, but it is very slow with the 5gband. My connection maxed out at 167 mbps on 5g. But got a respectable 300 mbps for 2.4g which is the same as by old adapter. I ran into lot of issues while connecting this to a USB 3.0 port. I disconnects every other minute on 2.4g and wont connect to the 5g network at all.PROS--------1) Easy to setup2) works great with the 802.11 n networkCONS----------1) Doesn't work with USB 3.0 ports2) Horrible 5g performance3) Doesn't work with linuxIf you are looking for a decent wireless N adapter on a 2.4g network this fits the bill. But if you are looking for a high speed ac/5g network adapter you better look somewhere else

I bought this item twice; the first time, it stopped working and I was unable to get a warranty replacement because I'd had it for about a year. Not too big of a deal; sometimes these things happen and it's not a really high dollar item.Bought the same model again, this time with Amazon's optional 2-year warranty, just in case. Less than a month later, it quit working. I did all the tests to make sure it wasn't a problem with my computer and that the device actually didn't function. While on live-chat with Belkin, it suddenly started working on the other computer I had attached it to...and have had no problems since, thus far.This item is just too questionable, based on these experiences. I wouldn't buy this again.

The Belkin N600 DB picked up a strong 2.4GHz and 5GHz signal from the moment I plugged it in. The signal strength was better than my previous Netgear product. The adapter worked flawlessly for 4 months, and then I experienced 2 days of signal dropout and connection issues.After the 2 days of issues, my Windows 7 machine informed me that there was no adapter installed. I contacted Belkin technical support after trying the adapter in 4 other computers(Win 7 32 & 64, Win Vista, and Ubuntu Linux 13.10) without the operating system recognizing a USB adapter being plugged in. Tech Support asked a bunch of questions and verified that the item was in fact under warranty. I was informed I had to call Customer Service to receive an RMA. Customer service actually answered the phone after 48 minutes on hold(being told wait time was 10 minutes) and spent 3 minutes telling me I had to email them my proof of purchase. I was informed that I would be contacted IF my proof of purchase was validated and then they would process an RMA. As of today(2/10/2014) I have heard nothing for 9 days.In short, I would only advise purchasing this adapter if you intend to throw it away when it breaks, as their customer support is pretty bad.*UPDATE* 2/13/14: So after calling support and listening to another 45 minutes of hold music, I got a supervisor on the phone and got them to admit I had a valid receipt and to issue an RMA. The adapter is heading back to them and I am waiting to see what they send back.

Wifi or Bluetooth, you can only have one on, but not both.I see a lot of complaints about wifi and bt connection problems.I didn't think about this when I bought it, but I figured within an hour that I could not run both at the same time as both radios are right next to each other and but operate at 2.4ghz. That means it's causing interference with itself. Both wifi and bt will compete for the 2.4gh. I guess this USB wifi + bt combo would've been fine if it was a 5ghz wifi module that way there won't be any interference.and yes, i installed the drivers.

Got this for a MacBook whose wifi has become inconsistent. This doesn't work well. It's fine when it's close to a repeater which only has wireless N. And it's fine when it close to a router which has both AC and N. But when it's just a bit farther away from the AC/N router, it gets confused and the speed starts alternating between decent and terrible. Its OSX software gives no way to adjust it to avoid this. Our other laptops and phones with AC/N wifi have no problems handling switching between the two frequencies in an orderly way, keeping the speed relatively good at various distances from the router.

Wanted to love this product but it has terrible lag in connectivity once the installation sort of worked. Initially would connect then the device could not find the internet gateway. It sort of fixed itself after a few reboots but connectivity is very slow to the internet gateway. The other wireless devices on my network are super fast so there is definitely an issue with this device which is physically only about 30ft away from the router.

I got this because my new laptop has trouble keeping the wireless server. I use this on my pc and have had it on older laptops and it worked great. It still works great on my pc. But for my new lap (with windows 8.1) I could barely get 2 bars, 3 bars was an amazing feat. It was the slowest connection I have ever dealt with. It would be a great product if they didn't claim that it worked great with Windows 8.1, because it does not. That's the only thing I can think of as to why it doesn't work like it's supposed to since it works great on all my Windows 7 computers. I have chosen to use my laptops on board wireless card and deal with the constant having to reconnect. It's still a lot faster then what I got with this usb card.

Edit - 11/1/2016 -So I've downgraded the device to two stars. I did notice recently when running a continuous ping that every 9th ping would be around 1000 ms, sometimes 2000 or even 3000 ms. What this means is when downloading a large file the file will stop every 9 seconds for a second, then continue. I did not think anything of this since I now have the device on a laptop used for web browsing. My original desktop computer has been upgraded to a Netgear AC adapter that does not experience those drops. I am on Windows 10 x64 and could not find a driver to fix the issue. In any case I thought perhaps it was my Archer C7 so did not think about writing a negative review, however, I just got back from my friend's house and had a hard time downloading a large ios update in iTunes for my friend's iPhone. The constant stops were causing the download to have problems. I had to revert to the built in wireless N in the laptop which ran at a slower but consistent speed. So after that I have decided to just stay with Wireless N in my laptop and do away with this AC adapter altogether. Those constant lockups are annoying, especially when downloading something large.Original Review ---I bought this about 6 months ago when I bought a new AC router (The Archer C7). It's been stable, and relatively fast. The router is next door. I can transfer data at about 120 mbps with no issues. For what I do it's more than enough speeds. About 4 times faster than my wireless N card.It was plug and play on Windows 8. No issues in six months with any drops and that's with playing Diablo 3, streaming movies, copying gigs of data wirelessly, Internet browsing, remote VPN connections. And it was super cheap.If I were farther from the router I would get a bigger device with better antennas but since it's only next door this is perfect, especially for the price.

My life necessitates that I use Windows sometimes instead of Ubuntu all the time. I thought that having my wNIC on the front of my computer (closer to the router) would help me with some signal issues. When this dongle works, it works really well, but when it doesn't OMG.The kernel for this wNIC isn't in the stock kernel so I had to compile it. The package from Edimax is terrible, half-hearted, and didn't work so someone else had modified it to work correctly. I use the term "correctly" very loosely since most of the time 5GHz would not work. A simple reboot would correct it sometimes, but not every time. Add on top of that the kernel updates from Ubuntu would require you to recompile every time... Even with a script I wrote to take care of it with a single command it was still a 70/30 chance that the wNIC would fail to connect to anything.I replaced this dongle with the TP-Link TL-WDN3800 PCIe x1 card and it works near flawlessly. I have better signal strength too since the card has actual antennae instead of a PCB with traces looped around.If you're looking for an easy solution for wireless AC for linux, search elsewhere.

After about of month ,or at least roughly 20+ Gbs of data recorded transmitting, I find that the quality starts to dip and stops connecting to the wireless from what use to be every day, to nearly every hour. Since I wanted to make sure it wasn't just my PC, I'd try to use it on other devices and it'll perform the same.It's the only way I can communicate with my family from afar so I'll just have to work around it until then.

Pros: Worked as advertised originallyCons: Stopped working very well after only 4 monthsI bought this four months ago and originally was very pleased. Installed just fine on my Windows 8.1 machine. It found our network just fine (the 2.4 and the 5GHz bands) and connected easily enough. Speed tests were much better with this adapter than the original adapter (which isn't saying much). I was happy until around 3 weeks ago when all of a sudden, it stopped working as well. First, it started dropping connections. It would be connected to the 2.4GHz band, then drop the connection entirely. I'd then connect to the 5GHz band and it would connect fine, but the performance wasn't great. It would take a log out or restart to find the 2.4GHz band again. Next, the network speed started decreasing. I would sit next to the computer with my phone connected to the wifi and do a speed test on both. The computer would consistently get speed tests that were around 25% the speed of the phone on the same network. Finally, when it started dropping connections during downloads, I had enough.I tried all of the things I thought I could. I looked for updated drivers, restarted the machine multiple times. I uninstalled and re-installed the device to see if that would fix it and nothing worked. I tried multiple different USB ports, but nothing. I browsed some forums, no advice. In the end, I just gave up and purchased the TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Dual Band Wireless N900 PCI Express Adapter. Got it, installed it, so far so good. It's not a USB adapter, which is fine for my desktop machine, but won't help you if you need a USB adapter.

I was hoping for a good wifi adapter for online gaming now that I have a dual band router that has a 5ghz channel. However If you love to online game look elsewhere. While the signal for this is strong, the signal breaks off ever couple minutes or so. It doesn't break off for long, but it stays off just long enough for you to get kicked out of online matches or disconnect you from an online video, If you just need an adapter to generally surf the web, this one will probably do the trick, although you probably could find a better quality adapter for the same price.Also it has it's glitchy moments with online videos.I'm gonna keep this as a backup adapter for now, but I'm currently ordering a different one on Amazon. Probably won't do another belkin brand anytime soon. Dissapointed

USB connector is a little loose (I did not expect it to "wiggle" from the plastic case). This device is not plug-and-play (it didn't misrepresent itself, I just assumed it would be). On my Windows 7 computer, it lost Internet connectivity several times in the first few days of use. When it did work, it was fine. It was also one of the less expensive AC adapters out there. I don't know the reason it looses internet connectivity, Window's built in troubleshooter could not figure it out either. Maybe my Windows OS is messed up, maybe this is a bad wifi dongle, not really sure, but bottom line was that it lost connection several times in just a couple of days. I bought another WIFI USB dongle (more expensive Netgear), and it has worked fine with no problems. Just giving my honest impression, the low cost of this device might be a great solution if it works with your system, just was not reliable with mine.

Recently I had the need to move my computer to a different location in the house. This location didn't have ready access to ethernet (unless I felt like snaking ugly cables across the entire house), so I figured I would hook up to the Wifi.I received this adapter, hooked it up, and was connected to the internet in no time. For a while.Then, the next day, while uploading a Youtube video my connection suddenly dropped. All of my other WiFi devices worked properly. When trying to diagnose the issue, I saw that Windows was reporting an error code of 31 - that it could not load the drivers for the device. Which is strange, given that the drivers were functional not minutes before.After a whole day of troubleshooting to no avail, I contacted Belkin customer support who told me that the F9L1101v1 does not support Windows 8.1Apparently it supports Windows 8, but that whole .1 makes all the difference I guess.tl;dr If you're on Windows 8.1, do NOT buy this!

Irony: late in the troubleshooting process with Belkin's heldesk they asked me to install it on another PC (not a Mac) so I borrowed one and it installed correctly. Never learned why it would not install correctly on my Win7/64 but it was not even possible to uninstall it and start over. No one could understand the inability to uninstall and get a fresh start. I wasted a lot of time before I got a new gigabit card and some CAT7 cables. Now everything works. I will deal with the lack of portability this product offered. Unlike my Belkin AC router which is a GREAT product, I wasted a lot of time for nothing with this USB Adapter. Try it at your own risk.

After 2 months it stopped working, just like a lot of other people stated in their 1-star reviews. I got it on December 2, 2015, and it stopped working on February 4, 2016...almost exactly two months later, just like everyone else said. Yes, I'm pretty upset...but I'm also a little impressed that the adapter is seemingly so consistent at crapping out. I'm not even going to bother with a return since it was only $15, but I feel I should at least share my experience on Amazon so others don't fall into the same trap I (and many others, apparently) did.

I bought this thinking it would work based on reviews but I was very wrong. It stops working constantly. As in like 4-5 times a minute. Every single page comes up as website not available and I have to refresh over and over and finally it'll work. Then the next page is not available...etc. I don't know what's wrong with it, it is connected to the Internet and the little blue light inside is always going. I can test my internet with my phone and my internet is working just as it should. So it is obviously this little thing not working properly. I finally had enough after a month or so and just ordered 75 feet of Ethernet cable. Not gonna waste my money on another one of these. Buy at your own risk.

I have a ~5 year old Dell laptop, a Latitude small business one, so fairly well-built. The internal wireless adapter is I think only G, but I still can only get about 10-12 Mbps up/down on my 50 Mbps FIOS connection. I tried replacing the internal adapter, but the new one was quite wonky (disconnecting a lot) and I gave up and installed the OEM one.I was quite excited to come across this little thing that seemed to get pretty good reviews. Well, it was relatively easy to install, but man, is the speed terrible. When I'm sitting 6 feet from my wireless router, I'm lucky to get 4-5 Mbps DOWN (and <1 UP). In my bedroom (I live in a 700SF one bedroom apartment), it was significantly worse.Maybe I'll try calling their tech support, but this really pathetic!

This Edimax Nano didn't give what the speed I wanted. It was really slow - only got 1.5 Mbps on a 45 Mbps Frontier internet connection. My 4 yr. old wireless-n adapter at least got 12 or so. My latest adapter, a D-Link RangeBooster unfortunately was incompatible with the new wireless access point the tech installed into my AT&T router/gateway. I ended up running a 25 foot Ethernet cable to the computer which allowed me a 50 Mbps speed.OK for basic wireless if you have a slow connection. It's tiny, cheap and has a pretty blue light that winks at cha Installation was goof-proof except for that mini-CD software disc in a vertically-oriented drive in my business Dell refurb.Amazon was super on this order - refunded my money (I had ordered 2 of these Edimaxes) promptly and didn't even make me return 'em. They said to donate or give to a friend.

The drivers tend to crash windows networking under Windows 7. I updated my drivers to the latest ones available from the Edimax website after the first time it froze up but it didn't help. Every couple of hours, the computer would lose all internet connection, the wifi indicator in the system tray would not respond and if you tried to open the network settings, it would freeze and never open. It seemed to happen most often when the connection was under a high load, for example while watching Netflix, downloading, and transferring files across the network. I would get an hour or two of use out it and then it would crash again and each time I would have to reboot my computer. That doesn't have to happen too many times before you start shopping for a replacement. Even when it does work, the reception from 20ft away was only about a third of what I get on my cell phone.

Plugged this little adapter into one of the front panel USB connections on my computer running Ubuntu 12.04, kernel 3.5.0-39. Ubuntu recognized the wireless device immediately, and presented a list of available networks, including the 2 that I use. I tried connecting to those 2 several times, and it took from 20 seconds to a minute for Ubuntu to report a connection. It seemed to report a good signal level, showing 3 bars of 4 available in the display. However, Firefox repeatedly timed out before a connection to a web site could be obtained. I tried moving the computer around, and even tried putting the device on the end of a USB extension cable (a really nice Amazon Basics one), but Firefox was never able to connect to any web site. Another Ubuntu computer sitting close to this one, but with a built-in wireless adapter, connects almost immediately and works fine with the browser. I suspect that this device needs a very strong wireless signal for it to work.

I can only get 3 Mbps download speed!!!I replaced this adapter with a 7+ year-old Belkin N wireless adapter and installed it's old software (in Win 10) with no problems.Old adapter and old driver getting 16 Mbps MINIMUM download speed.I DO NOT Recommend this crappy wireless adapter!

Horrible wifi adapter. I purchased this because I recently built a computer for gaming purposes. It took me 10 hours to download Counter Strike Global Offensive which should have taken about 30 minutes. I tested my wifi score on speedtest and my ping came out at 225!! Downloads speed test was 0.35 and my upload speed was 0.15!!! I tested out my laptop which came out as 25 for ping, 10 for download speed, and 1 for upload speed which is very fast. So the point is do not buy this piece of junk.

It didn't work.Update;This will not work on smart TVs, Mac based computers, or Windows 10. If you read the FAQ's, Belkin says they don't have the drivers for Windows 10 or Mac. And they say this adapter will not work on smart TVs.READ THE FAQs BEFORE YOU BUY THIS. AND IF BELKIN SAYS IT WON'T WORK ON SOMETHING, BELIEVE THEM!(Sorry for the ALL CAPS, but it seems that is the only way to get through to some of you)

This is regarding the Belkin F7D2102 N300 Micro Wireless N USB...I HATE IT!After I installed the driver and plugged in the N300, it worked for a little while then quit. I had to repeatedly go through the Windows 7 troubleshooting procedure to get it to work. It kept on failing. I removed the N300 and uninstalled the drivers from Add/Remove in Windows 7 and now my Windows networking is STILL BROKEN! The N300 screwed up my Windows 7 networking. My wireless was working fine before. I got the N300 in order to go from 150mbits to 300mbits. However, it was, rather, a setback.Also, the seller was rather lackadaisical about putting the thing in the mail.VERY disappointed.--s.c.

I have an extended stay guest who is living in my 2nd bedroom/office and as such had to move my computer to the master bedroom. The layout of the house is such that I can only have my router in its current spot, so I resolved to try and make wireless work. For reference my major use case is gaming, specifically competitive Counter-Strike, so any time outs or dropped connections are completely unacceptable. Previously I'd realized that the 2.4GHz spectrum is completely saturated in my building and barely works, so I knew I'd need a dual-band solution. When I first set it up I was very happy; speeds and latency were about what I get with my wired ethernet connection.Then things started going downhill. I'd randomly start getting timeouts on a constant "ping 8.8.8.8 -t" where other computers on the network wouldn't, so I knew it was something local. Disabling and re-enabling the device in device manager solved the problem, so I was pretty sure I'd found the culprit.So, I figured I'd try to update the drivers, since the one Windows auto-detected was from 2013. Fine, download the drivers from Belkin's site, try to install it, and when it asks for the device to be inserted, BAM, blue screen. Every time, on ever port. Others from these comments have had the same problem. So now I'm stuck with an adapter I have to disable and re-enable several times a day to get working.Needless to say this will be my last Belkin product.

This adapter didn't work after I did the installation, searched on Google for advice, and spent a couple hours chatting with Technical Support after which they told me to exchange it for another one. When the second one arrived and it didn't work either, I spent three hours chatting with Technical Support, which ended with her recommending I contact Microsoft.That's when I thankfully decided to go with the Medialink Wireless-N USB Adapter (300 Mbps) - 802.11n, 2.4 ghz - Compatible with Windows 8 / Windows 7 / Windows Vista / Windows XP. This adapter worked on my Windows 7 32-bit desktop after a simple 10 minute process. It comes with clear instructions. I didn't have to change any computer settings.