Customer Reviews

EnGenius Wireless LAN USB 2.0 Adapter

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Initially I've decided to install only the driver and not the software. It worked right away on Windows XP SP2 and found many different networks. The average
signal strength is at least 2 bars more than on my internal laptop antenna. And surfing speeds are really good, I suppose also because of the higher transmitting power.

Later, I've installed the driver on a new laptop that already had an internal wifi antenna running on Intel Proset wireless software. However using this software I could not select the external antenna.
Therefore I had to install the software supplied with the adapter, which is recommended by Engenius anyway.

The way I use it now is: both the original Intel and the Engenius software are running.
First, I scan with the internal laptop antenna if I can connect to a network. If this does not work, I connect the external Engenius antenna via a 2 meter usb extension cable, so that I can hang the adapter in the window and run the Engenius software to find a network.

So, If you are using the Windows feature to connect to wifi, you can select more than one adapter, if you are using any other software, such as Intel Proset, you are better of installing the Engenius software to run alongside it.

Bottom line: his adapter will give you the opportunity to be online in more different locations.

I bought one of these because I often stay in hotels that advertise "free wi-fi" but don't tell you that the signal is useless beyond the lobby. In these circumstances, this booster makes a huge difference - the difference between an unusable signal in your room and a very fast, reliable one. Combined with a 15" antenna, this thing generates a flame-thrower of a signal, in one case improving the signal from 0-1 bars to a steady 4 bars all weekend long. As this precludes the need for a temporary dial-up account, it even pays for itself pretty quickly.

Finds and processes weaker signals than any of the other adapters I have tried. Very stable drivers and useful utility. Utility provides the unique feature of selecting signals with the same SSID by MAC address of access point, so that the strongest "linksys on channel 6" doesn't act as a jammer. Just wish the utility worked with Vista. Highly recommended.

Solves every WiFi connectivity problem in the house. Vast improvement over builtin WiFi interfaces. Can easily be connected to a high-gain antenna for the most difficult situations. Every computer should have one.

Plugged into 20 feet of active USB cable, duct taped it to an old satellite dish....went from 0-1 bars to 4...(excellent) and picking up 3 more signals. Downloads 20+ mp3's at a time @ sometimes in the 50,000+ kbs range while surfing the net at the same time. It's doing what I wanted very good product.

By far the best product I have used in the past two years. The antenna that it comes with can be replaced with a higher gain such as a cantenna, that is when the fun begins.

This is one of the best wireless USB adapters! I bought it replace one that the antenna kept breaking off. This one is compact and sturdy and provides great signal.

This is a great product that gives you improved wireless connectivity. I was able to connect to networks I normally could not get a connection. Price is right for the service it provides.

I am on a base in Iraq which is the ultimate situation in trying to recieve a wireless signal. We have ONE provider here and they are located across the base, on top of that the signal they send out is populated by everyone here who needs access to the internet. I have tried a huge directional array attenna, a basket attenna, and an amplified antenna that was powered by electricty, none of them helped much at all. In fact I just rather say none of them worked. Then I tried this little black box, and the rest is history. Now, I'm sure different circumstances may prevail for what works well and what doesn't work, but this EnGenius works. I use this box nearly 16 hours a day everyday, and I mean that, and it has yet to provide me with any problems. I do not work for this company, and in fact never heard of this thing before I got here, but I will definately keep one of these with me from this point forward. You can read as many reviews as you choose to, but know this, if it didn't work I would say that too, this thing works, and works well!

I recently purchased this item, for range extension on wifi networks.
Was easy to setup etc, however the item itself does not perform as advertised.
The internal card on my laptop picks up signals better than this adapter.
I switched back and forth a few times in device manager, and each time i switched
to this card i lost networks that my internal card was reading with 1 bar.
I just purchased a different card from a seller on amazon, and it works great, showing 5 bars now
in the same exact location.
So imho you should steer clear of this one.