Alex Atkin UK
Occasional Visitor
I recently bought a TP-Link Archer C7 to try and improve the WiFi problems I have been having on my Galaxy Note 3. (suddenly stops transferring data without warning)
I figured while I was doing that I might as well have a dongle around for if I need to do any data transfer on my tablet/laptop so I ordered the Edimax EW-7822UAC as it seemed to be decent for the price. The problem is, I'm not getting the performance I expected and its proving to be totally unstable on my Asus T100-TA which is what I primarily bought it for use on.
Actual performance is measured using iperf.
Galaxy Note 3:
Link speed 433Mbit, actual performance 239Mbit down, 266Mbit up. This is consistent test after test, always above 200Mbit.
This is exactly in line with where I would expect performance to be on a single stream 802.11ac device.
Edimax EW-7822UAC:
Windows 7 i5 2500K (plugged into Renesas USB 3.0 port about 3m away from router through a wall):
Link speed 650Mbit, actual performance 125Mbit down, 152Mbit up.
Windows 7 i5 2500K (plugged into Renesas USB 3.0 port with extension cable so its only 2m away from router clear line of sight):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 177Mbit down, 157Mbit up. I ran this test many times moving the dongle/antenna and router around to try and get the very best possible performance.
Windows 7 i5 2500K (plugged into Intel USB 2.0 port):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 141Mbit down, 92.8Mbit up.
Fedora 20 i5 2500K (plugged into Renesas USB 3.0 port with extension):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 199Mbit down, 243Mbit up.
Fedora 20 i5 2500K (plugged into Intel USB 2.0 port):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 205Mbit down, 238Mbit up.
Most importantly though, it runs like crap on my intended device:
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA with Windows 8.1 drivers auto-installed:
Constantly failed to connect to any 5Ghz network and the few times it did connect failed to pass any data.
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA with Windows 8.0 drivers from website:
Link speed 867Mbit with iperf reporting 116Mbit down, 106Mbit up.
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA with TP-Link TL-WDN3200 (802.11n dual-stream 300Mbit):
Link speed 300Mbit, actual performance 119Mbit down, 96.8Mbit up.
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA (802.11n single-stream 150Mbit):
Link speed 150Mbit, actual performance 79.3Mbit down, 52.1Mbit up.
How on earth can it be performing worse than my Galaxy Note 3?
Anyone else had problems like this and/or can recommend a USB dongle that actually works properly with the C7?
The Asus USB-AC56 also has favourable reviews but I see suggestions that it may even be the same dongle with a different form factor. In that case I would end up with the same problem.
I suppose I could be lucky and find this is all caused by the antennas being terrible on the Edimax branded dongle, I have seen two identical chipset dongles perform wildly different before. But should I just wait and see if three-stream dongles will ever turn up? Its not worth keeping hold of this one unless it managed at LEAST double 802.11n speeds, consistently.
I figured while I was doing that I might as well have a dongle around for if I need to do any data transfer on my tablet/laptop so I ordered the Edimax EW-7822UAC as it seemed to be decent for the price. The problem is, I'm not getting the performance I expected and its proving to be totally unstable on my Asus T100-TA which is what I primarily bought it for use on.
Actual performance is measured using iperf.
Galaxy Note 3:
Link speed 433Mbit, actual performance 239Mbit down, 266Mbit up. This is consistent test after test, always above 200Mbit.
This is exactly in line with where I would expect performance to be on a single stream 802.11ac device.
Edimax EW-7822UAC:
Windows 7 i5 2500K (plugged into Renesas USB 3.0 port about 3m away from router through a wall):
Link speed 650Mbit, actual performance 125Mbit down, 152Mbit up.
Windows 7 i5 2500K (plugged into Renesas USB 3.0 port with extension cable so its only 2m away from router clear line of sight):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 177Mbit down, 157Mbit up. I ran this test many times moving the dongle/antenna and router around to try and get the very best possible performance.
Windows 7 i5 2500K (plugged into Intel USB 2.0 port):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 141Mbit down, 92.8Mbit up.
Fedora 20 i5 2500K (plugged into Renesas USB 3.0 port with extension):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 199Mbit down, 243Mbit up.
Fedora 20 i5 2500K (plugged into Intel USB 2.0 port):
Link speed 867Mbit, actual performance 205Mbit down, 238Mbit up.
Most importantly though, it runs like crap on my intended device:
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA with Windows 8.1 drivers auto-installed:
Constantly failed to connect to any 5Ghz network and the few times it did connect failed to pass any data.
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA with Windows 8.0 drivers from website:
Link speed 867Mbit with iperf reporting 116Mbit down, 106Mbit up.
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA with TP-Link TL-WDN3200 (802.11n dual-stream 300Mbit):
Link speed 300Mbit, actual performance 119Mbit down, 96.8Mbit up.
Windows 8.1 Asus T100TA (802.11n single-stream 150Mbit):
Link speed 150Mbit, actual performance 79.3Mbit down, 52.1Mbit up.
How on earth can it be performing worse than my Galaxy Note 3?
Anyone else had problems like this and/or can recommend a USB dongle that actually works properly with the C7?
The Asus USB-AC56 also has favourable reviews but I see suggestions that it may even be the same dongle with a different form factor. In that case I would end up with the same problem.
I suppose I could be lucky and find this is all caused by the antennas being terrible on the Edimax branded dongle, I have seen two identical chipset dongles perform wildly different before. But should I just wait and see if three-stream dongles will ever turn up? Its not worth keeping hold of this one unless it managed at LEAST double 802.11n speeds, consistently.
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