What are the WiFi dongle with the best support ?

[Lesko]

Hi,

I would like to buy a USB WiFi adaptor for my laptop to replace the internal WiFi adaptor I have that can't pick up signals from more than 8 or 10 meters.

Does anyone have some recommendation ?

[blackpaw]

The billion ones work fairly well for me - good kernel support.

[Lesko]

Hi blackpaw,

Thanks for your answer.

I purchased a WiFi dongle 2 years ago and the driver wasn't included in the kernel at the time, so I wasn't able to use it in the end.
That's why I am trying to be careful this time.

The driver used for my internal WiFi adaptor doesn't makes the most of its full capacity. Its range is meant to be over 20m while with the current kernel support it is limited to 8-10m. So I guess some WiFi adaptor have better support than others.

So if anyone has tested a model that has excellent result and a great range, I would rather go for the same one than choose one at random.

[kdeputer]

Why doesn't anyone help this poster out? I think Atheros has the best drivers but that's just a guess. However, I want one of these 'nano' or mini dongles but I want at least 300mbps so after looking at options, most seem to have Realtek chipsets. It seems this is 'okay' to use in 13.04. Make sure the 'linux-firmware' package is installed and you should be good to go (hopefully). I think you only have to plug in your device after and configure your wireless. I'm looking at getting a dongle with the realtek rtl8192cu chipset.

[SteveRiley]

The Atheros modules have interfered with suspend/resume in some laptops -- search the threads here for a few instances. IMHO, the most trouble-free wireless in Linux is Intel. Broadcom is, of course, the polar opposite.

[kdeputer]

The Atheros modules have interfered with suspend/resume in some laptops -- search the threads here for a few instances. IMHO, the most trouble-free wireless in Linux is Intel. Broadcom is, of course, the polar opposite.

Oh, I don't need it for a laptop, though. Generally speaking, I totally agree. Nothing beats the opensource Intel chips for wifi so if I was buying a laptop, I'd try to get one that has Intel wifi hardware. Although, the PCI and PCI-e cards are available with Intel hardware, I was under the impression that there's a chance the antennas might have reception trouble from the wires coming out of the computer? At least, that is what I have read. The idea is that the usb dongle is convenient and versatile so that one can use those usb extension things to move the dongle around or in the best position/direction for the best signal?

I really don't know for sure, though. All I know is that most usb dongles seem to be getting realtek chips. Some are ralink but there are less and less that have atheros chipsets. AFAIK, you can't find a recent usb dongle that has an Intel chipset. :-/

P.S. I did read about the Atheros drivers and problems with suspend/resume. I was hoping that problem was ironed out by now.

[kubicle]

IMHO, the most trouble-free wireless in Linux is Intel. Broadcom is, of course, the polar opposite.

While I agree on a general level, it isn't quite black and white. On my aging thinkpad, the built in intel chip disconnects every few minutes (known driver issue that no one is particularly interested in fixing, it's an old chip), but a broadcom slot card works perfectly.

[SteveRiley]

While I agree on a general level, it isn't quite black and white. On my aging thinkpad, the built in intel chip disconnects every few minutes (known driver issue that no one is particularly interested in fixing, it's an old chip)

Hmm... I'm experiencing this for the first time on my ThinkPad T520 with Centrino N-6300. I blame it on the crappy wi-fi at the hotel I'm staying at in Reston, Virginia!

[Teunis]

Over the years I've used various USB WIFI dongles and the best advice I can give is to, get the cheapest.
I have played with a 5GHz one and it 'just worked' but because I don't have it here I can't tell you the brand/chipset.
As expected it was more sensitive to obstructions than a regular 2.4 GHz one but it suffered less interference from the neighbours.

[kdeputer]

Cheapest? What if it's a broadcom chipset? Well, those are in the most expensive nowadays but the cheapest ones are probably realtek-based and have a mixed review or report.

I kinda want a dual band, 300, device but they are rarely atheros. The realtek and ralink chipsets are in most of these although a newer broadcom chipset are in a few as well. All need firmware installed or the linux-firmware package. I am skeptical of the 'cheapest' because you also have to consider the quality of the device, mainly the antenna. Well, what about that theory?

[Teunis]

Sure Broadcom has a deserved bad rep in the Linux world but on the other hand some of their products do work like the Bluetooth chip in this Lenovo.

Don't worry about the antenna of a USB WIFI dongle, it's just some traces on a printed circuit board, providing the design is not stupid there's very little that can be or go wrong.

Cheapest has as advantage it doesn't hurt as much when you need to replace it and cheapest has the best chance of being a bog-standard chip.