Customer Reviews

Alfa AWUS051NH 500mW High Gain 802.11a/b/g/n high power Wireless USB A / B / G / N Wireless WiFi Network adapter With a 5dBi and 9dBi Rubber Antenna and Suction cup / Clip Window Mount - High speed Up to 300 Mbps - With Hot Swap Support

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was a bit disappointed with this unit. It failed to perform as well as the Linksys 400mW 802.11N USB wireless adapter in spite of it's 500mW and higher gain antenna. I had expected better performance but found that the throughput was a good deal lower, connecting at 6.5mb where the Linksys was consistent connecting at 13mb or higher. The Linksys also stays associated with the access point more consistently than this unit. I replaced the Linksys because it would disassociate on and off, but have gone back to it because it's more consistent and better performing than this 500mW unit. I would argue that it was the strongest on the market; it might have the power to be the best but it simply doesn't have the performance.

Set up is staightforward... no problems there. I was disappointed by the fact that the extra power & high gain antenna did little to improve remote signal strength over my laptop's internal receiver!! As a ham radio operator i am aware that a number of factors can affect signal propogation and reception. I tried different areas of my house..away from power cables..away from other RF sources.. still no luck. Then I tried it at my business where i get wireless broadband internet from my brother-in-law about 300ft away almost line-of-sight. The performance was no better than a standard usb adapter with internal antenna. (already using high gain antennaes on the wireless acces point). I decided to try it for a couple of days but it crashed Windows overnight. I just unplugged it and havn't tried to set it up again.
Somehow thw theory of high power+good antenna did not match up in the practical application of this product

First, I read reviews for this and similar items before buying, and going with an unknown company was a bit scary for me. From what I have read, a "super" antenna doesn't always help much or work as advertised. I knew that I needed something that would pick up the gain a bit, since my daughter's iMac is at the very edge of the wireless router's range. I have a big house with plaster walls - plaster which is set with wire mesh. So the walls destroy wireless signals.

The iMac did not immediately recognize the USB connection and indicated that there wasn't enough power for the device thru the USB. This was corrected, once the software was installed. Additionally, the older iMac has a superdrive dvd (slot-loading) and the adapter has NO paper documentation - just a mini cd. The only things included in the box were the stock antenna, the extra "super" antenna, the USB cable, the wireless adapter and a mini CD. Mini cds don't work with slot-loading drives...

So, I had to copy the Mac drivers/software from the mini cd using a PC and install them on the iMac from a flash drive. Not a big deal, but if you have a Mac of any kind, chances are you'll have a slot-loading drive, so you're in trouble if that's your only computer/laptop. Make sure to get a flash drive or portable HDD and borrow a friend's laptop, in order to transfer the installer.

Once the .dmg was run, this adapter worked BEAUTIFULLY. It picks up our wireless better than my Xbox 360, which is directly over the router, and picks up almost every other wirless in the neighborhood. Definitely works as advertised, but definitely NOT easy to set up if you have a Mac. Including a full-sized CD with the software would address this shortcoming. I wish I could get one of these for each of my Xboxes.

As an IT security professional, I needed a card that is supported by various Linux distros to test the network. The card worked great on Windows, but not too well in the Linux environment. I recommend the Alfa AWUS036NH instead.

Save your money and buy a Hawking brand antenna instead. These Alfa antennas (or software?) constantly drop the internet connection. After writing back and forth to the Alfa tech service department, and them asking me ridiculous questions, or claiming they couldn't reply because they were "on vacation", they have stopped responding to my e-mails. My Hawking antenna, however, works FLAWLESSLY!

I was previously using an USB wireless N adapter and had many problems because of the distance to my router. this caused me to experienced dial-up like speeds over the cable internet connected to my network. This was not a true for this product as this adapter is very stable and has improved the speed greatly. the software provided with this is useful and gives a good amount of information to troubleshoot any problems between your router and your adapter. The only downside i could see with this is when using the hi-gain antenna it has a larger footprint compared to other products although this is outweighed by its higher performance.

This is a good antenna but a longer antenna will make it unstable so that it will be easy to knock over unless you do something to prevent this of course. It's not a big deal. THIS is a big deal though: this month or last month I had upgraded the ASUS realtek driver that this thing uses, which, stupidly, tries to be it's own wireless connection manager in place of windows', which is poor, but better than asus'. This stupid wifi manager that comes with the online driver, whatever, it when it starts DISABLES THE WIFI ANTENNA BY DEFAULT, and the tray icon is obscure and the software doesn't let you know it's being it's own wifi-manager and over-riding windows'. This stupid thing is so annoying, and rolling back the driver just made it more buggy. This stupid newere driver has given me problems ever since I had it, and finally I'm not able to use either my laptop's built in wifi hardware or this adapter no matter what I do. ASUS should refund me so that I can afford a new HP 2133 laptop. I'm going to have to buy an external dvd drive to fix my laptop now by fixing the OS.

With my built-in wifi wireless network, I only got 2 kb/seconds download speed. After installing this Alfa Wireless-N 500mW 802.11n high power wireless USB adapter with Bonus Screw-On Swivel 9dBi Rubber Antenna, I could get 100 kb/seconds download speed, sometimes 1 mb/seconds depend on which wifi network my computer is connected to. In addition, my computer could find over 20 wifi networks that are around where I live. Besides, it is very light, easy to use and install. It is absolutely a wonderful product for a computer with a very slow or no immediate wifi connection.

Dont waste your money. Buy the Awuso36h with the 7dbi panel.I received no more signal strength than my original wireless card.

Product works fine but connector design flaw, friction fit part comes loose quickly and antennae falls out.You need to glue connector back.