Home > Consumer Reviews > USB 500mW WiFI Adapter for Wardriving & Range Extension *Strongest on the Market*

I just moved into a basement studio apartment in the downtown area of my little coastal city. I was able to pick up 2 unsecured signals, but only got 1 bar for each and could only connect intermittently and at very slow rates. I almost got my own service at $50 / month, but thought I would try this product first to see if it would help boost the signal.

Well, I just got it today. Came straight home from the post office and tried it out on my Acer Extensa 4420 Laptop that has Vista on it. Plugged it into the USB port, put the CD in and it installed without a problem. I just installed the driver (not the software) and it worked with my existing system flawlessly. At my desk I used to be able to detect a signal but not connect to it. After installing this software and putting the antenna on top of my desk (so about 5ft in the air or ground level from my apartment), I went from 1 bar to 3 bars and was connected right away and started getting 1 - 1.5 meg speeds! Now I'm able to watch youtube shows, VIP shows and movies online without problem. The signal is strong and fast enough for everything I need without worry. Its great!

So then I tried installing the antenna on my Acer One Netbook that has XP on it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a workable driver online, and so I just copied the files on the CD to a jump drive and then put those on my netbook. It would not detect the driver as my Vista laptop did, so I had to install from the files I got from the disk. This did install the driver and software and I was able to get online. Unfortunately, I have to use the software that came with it and I really don't like it very much. But beggars can't be choosers, right? Now, over on my sofa (where I usually sit and do my work) I am able to get 1/2 meg with the antenna sitting on my desk. If I put it on the back of the sofa or on top of a peanut can, I get the 1 -1.5 megs and the connection works great. I'm using it right now!

Love this product. Absolutely recommend it if you have free hotspots available to you but the signal is too weak. This took me from 1 bar to 3 bars and gave me a strong enough signal that I do not have to get my own service and can save $50 / month. Very nice.

This is a nice small device that connects with a mini-USB cable to my MacBook Pro. I had to hunt around for the driver but eventually found it on the Realtek website (google for "realtek rtl8187b drivers utilities"). The driver you need is that for the RTL8187B, which is the chipset used in this ALFA device. I installed it on OS X 10.5 and it works fine. (The box included a CD, but that only had the older 10.4 driver on it.)

Update: Though I said it 'works great' on the Mac, that turns out to be an overstatement. This thing needs better OS X drivers! Often times I'll plug it in and nothing happens: no lights, no recognition on the computer, and no response when I start the drivers manually. A reboot will fix this, but this is a bit silly.

this is the best!......i did my research..this is the least expensive adapter yet probably has the longest range...i also purchased a 9dbi rubber duck antenna and usb extension cable ...just run the cd install the drivers,,plug it in to the usb port....bingo!picking up many unsecured and encrypted signals from blocks away...maybe miles!i plan to buy another one for my desktop....you may also be intrested in checking out how to build your own wifi antenna to use with the alfa,,,beat the system!!!! get free broadband!!! this device will do it for YOU!

I recently bought my kids a Dell desktop (windows XP) and since the room was not wired for internet, chose to connect through my Net Gear Rangemax wireless router. Since the router is in the basement and the desktop is on the second floor on the opposite side of the house (5,500 sq ft), I cound barely get 1 bar at best. After hooking this up, I got 4 bars at 54 Mbps! Although there are NO instructions with the unit, none are needed. As soon as I plugged it into the USB port, Windows recognized the new hardware and prompted me to install the enclosed CD to download the drivers. Was up and running in 5 minutes tops! I had previously looked at getting a router repeater, but this was far easier to install, half the cost and works like a charm!!!
Buy it!

I have a notebook pc that couldn't pick up the signal from my downstairs wireless router, when I was upstairs. If I was lucky, I could get two bars. Since this was the least expensive adapter I could find, I read the reviews and decided to give it a try. It is EXCELLENT! I didn't even need the little disk that came with it - I plugged it in, my pc located the software, and it was up and running in about 2 minutes. Immediately I had 4 bars (could probably get five if I played around with where I put it), and was able to watch videos and movies, as well as everything else I do online. I did have to put my Linksy's key in, but that was simple. I also located a lot of other networks I'd never seen before, but most of them were secured - I live in a fairly rural area, so I wouldn't expect to find any "hot spots".

I'm really, really happy with this item - it was half the price of the other options, and as I said, did exactly what I bought it for. I would highly recommend it to anyone - since I found so many other networks, my guess is it would also work well for people who live near "hot spots". I bought this from D Broth, and it was here well before I expected it. In my opinion, this is a great product, at a very fair price!