There seems to be a lot of confusion in the reviews about whether people should be buying the official Xbox Wireless Adapter for their controller. Part of the confusion is Microsoft's fault. They include bluetooth in almost all of their modern controllers. So why sell a "special" adapter that is 2-3x as expensive as a bluetooth dongle? The quick answer is that this adapter definitely can be worth it. And no, it's not the same as a bluetooth dongle. I'll explain what I mean.
Whether or not you should buy the official Xbox Wireless Adapter comes down to your environment. Wireless technology uses radio waves for communication. Radio waves are carried on different frequencies. Right now in your home you likely have two frequencies: 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz. 5 Ghz is used by modern Wifi Routers and some wireless home phones. 2.4 Ghz is extremely common and can be used by Wifi Routers, printers, displays, home appliances, home phones, AND bluetooth. And that last part is the key to what you should be buying. Because bluetooth uses the extremely common 2.4 Ghz frequency, it's very prone to suffering from wireless interference. Interference is when a signal in your zone conflicts with another signal in your zone and makes them both less stable. Because our modern homes tend to have so much 2.4 Ghz activity in them, bluetooth doesn't always work very well. So if you've tried to use a normal bluetooth adapter with your Xbox Controller and noticed that it either struggles to connect or ends up disconnecting all of the time, you likely are dealing with 2.4 Ghz wireless interference.
This is where the official Xbox Wireless Adapter comes in. It's not using 2.4 Ghz. Microsoft has created something that they're calling "Xbox Wireless". They haven't shared exactly what frequency it operates on, but it's not 2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz. Meaning that it shouldn't conflict with the stuff that you already have in your home. So if you've been dealing with those frustrating disconnections over bluetooth, then this adapter is definitely worth a try. If you don't have bluetooth and are considering this adapter, it'll probably work just fine. However you might have been able to get away with a cheaper bluetooth adapter. It all comes down to what's going on in your environment.
Reviews of products like this are often ultimately unhelpful because everyone's environment is different. Someone saying "it works" doesn't provide any clues about whether it will work in your situation. So you'll see all kinds of back and forth reviews that reflect what is going on in each situation. The bottom line is that this is a good product and can be a great alternative for those that have been struggling with bluetooth issues.
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