I have always tried to avoid USB wireless dongles. They have tiny, internal PCB antennas and poorly-written drivers. However there's no denying that they are handy - I used an old donated 802.11g device when I've been experimenting with a Raspberry Pi and with other backup Linux computers. I ended up buying the cheap somewhat old TRENDnet TEW-649UB wireless USB adapter so I could get yet another g device off my n network and hopefully gain some more speed.
In a sea of these devices that all seem the same, this one is a bit unusual. It's an oddball 1x2 2.4 GHz single-band 802.11n USB 2.0 device which transmits over one antenna but receives 2 streams over 2 antennas. This means it's rated 150 Mbps/300 Mbps - but only with 40 MHz wide channels which you are unlikely to be able to use. Otherwise with 20 MHz channels it will be 72/144 sync rate.
The device was on sale for $12.99 - regular price is $39.99 but that must be pricing from back when n was still in draft stage and these were state-of-the-art products. There are other even smaller 802.11n USB adapters for $9.99, so it's not the very cheapest but nearly so. I didn't have high expectations.
Inside
FCC photos show there's not much of interest inside this device other than the Realtek RTL8191SU controller, which sits across the junction between the USB port shield and the case.
The only other item of interest is the antenna. It's difficult to see in a straight-down view but it's easier to see at an angle:
It's not a PCB antenna, it's an offboard metal antenna. It is tightly wrapped around the PCB just inside the case and occupies the space inside the case completely. The manufacturer attempted to put as much antenna into this device as possible.
Incidentally the FCC documents show this device to be quite old - they were filed October 15, 2009. There are references here and there to this actually being a draft n device.
Features
There's really not much to this device physically. It's a tiny device - the portion that sticks out of the USB port after insertion is only about the size of a nickel. This makes it less likely to be hit or damaged.
At the end is a bright blue LED which indicates activity. It also doubles as a WPS pushbutton and the blinking pattern will indicate WPS status.
The wireless connection utility is quite informative, containing lots of data. However I will not be using it again - it's yet another startup program and after the driver is manually installed, Windows can manage this device on its own using its own built-in Wireless Zero Configuration service. What was more worrisome about this utility is that it refused to coexist with my laptop's built-in wireless device - it disabled it and I could only regain access to it after I uninstalled TRENDnet's utility.
However the main reason I purchased this device was for use in a Raspberry Pi. It works perfectly here and it also works perfectly in my main Linux Mint 16 PC. It will not function on a PC running the Linux Mint 16 live DVD - I suspect the rtl8192 kernel module is not included in the stripped-down live DVD environment, but is included in a full install.
Performance
Speeds were tested with iperf's simultaneous bidirectional test at least twice and averaged. If there was significant variation from test to test, it was tested a third time to get a more accurate average. As expected, one stream was almost twice that of the other. Unfortunately I was unable to measure signal strengths using isSSIDer, it always reported an RSSI of -45 dB. Instead I will list it by location, with distance from the router increasing and signal strength decreasing.
Location A: 47.47 Mbps
Location B: 52.17 Mbps
Location C: 75.25 Mbps
Location D: 55.87 Mbps
Location E: 68.3 Mbps
Location F: 51.87 Mbps
This is an extremely impressive result for such a tiny device, particularly at long ranges. It's not overly consistent but speeds remain impressively high everywhere. You could even pass uncompressed Blu-Ray video at maximum bitrate at the furthest location.
Strangely the slowest speed was at location A, in the same room a few feet from the AP. This seems to be antenna overloading - the signal was just too strong.
I also tested this on the Raspberry Pi, very close to location A. It averaged 72.8 Mbps. The Linux Mint 16 client, also close to location A, tested at 73 Mbps so obviously the antenna overloading is specific to one small location. Running this device on Linux caused it to heat up more than in Windows though. It heated up quite quickly but not to dangerous levels - a non-contact thermometer indicated a temperature of 85.1 F (29.5 C) in a room with an ambient temperature of 68 F (20 C).
Conclusion
This device may have changed my mind about USB wireless devices. Its range and speed are quite impressive, especially considering its low cost and small size. No doubt its unusual 1x2 design helps with speed, but it's quite surprising to see this speed sustained at long range.
Don't use the provided wireless utility on Windows though.
In a sea of these devices that all seem the same, this one is a bit unusual. It's an oddball 1x2 2.4 GHz single-band 802.11n USB 2.0 device which transmits over one antenna but receives 2 streams over 2 antennas. This means it's rated 150 Mbps/300 Mbps - but only with 40 MHz wide channels which you are unlikely to be able to use. Otherwise with 20 MHz channels it will be 72/144 sync rate.
The device was on sale for $12.99 - regular price is $39.99 but that must be pricing from back when n was still in draft stage and these were state-of-the-art products. There are other even smaller 802.11n USB adapters for $9.99, so it's not the very cheapest but nearly so. I didn't have high expectations.
Inside
FCC photos show there's not much of interest inside this device other than the Realtek RTL8191SU controller, which sits across the junction between the USB port shield and the case.
The only other item of interest is the antenna. It's difficult to see in a straight-down view but it's easier to see at an angle:
It's not a PCB antenna, it's an offboard metal antenna. It is tightly wrapped around the PCB just inside the case and occupies the space inside the case completely. The manufacturer attempted to put as much antenna into this device as possible.
Incidentally the FCC documents show this device to be quite old - they were filed October 15, 2009. There are references here and there to this actually being a draft n device.
Features
There's really not much to this device physically. It's a tiny device - the portion that sticks out of the USB port after insertion is only about the size of a nickel. This makes it less likely to be hit or damaged.
At the end is a bright blue LED which indicates activity. It also doubles as a WPS pushbutton and the blinking pattern will indicate WPS status.
The wireless connection utility is quite informative, containing lots of data. However I will not be using it again - it's yet another startup program and after the driver is manually installed, Windows can manage this device on its own using its own built-in Wireless Zero Configuration service. What was more worrisome about this utility is that it refused to coexist with my laptop's built-in wireless device - it disabled it and I could only regain access to it after I uninstalled TRENDnet's utility.
However the main reason I purchased this device was for use in a Raspberry Pi. It works perfectly here and it also works perfectly in my main Linux Mint 16 PC. It will not function on a PC running the Linux Mint 16 live DVD - I suspect the rtl8192 kernel module is not included in the stripped-down live DVD environment, but is included in a full install.
Performance
Speeds were tested with iperf's simultaneous bidirectional test at least twice and averaged. If there was significant variation from test to test, it was tested a third time to get a more accurate average. As expected, one stream was almost twice that of the other. Unfortunately I was unable to measure signal strengths using isSSIDer, it always reported an RSSI of -45 dB. Instead I will list it by location, with distance from the router increasing and signal strength decreasing.
Location A: 47.47 Mbps
Location B: 52.17 Mbps
Location C: 75.25 Mbps
Location D: 55.87 Mbps
Location E: 68.3 Mbps
Location F: 51.87 Mbps
This is an extremely impressive result for such a tiny device, particularly at long ranges. It's not overly consistent but speeds remain impressively high everywhere. You could even pass uncompressed Blu-Ray video at maximum bitrate at the furthest location.
Strangely the slowest speed was at location A, in the same room a few feet from the AP. This seems to be antenna overloading - the signal was just too strong.
I also tested this on the Raspberry Pi, very close to location A. It averaged 72.8 Mbps. The Linux Mint 16 client, also close to location A, tested at 73 Mbps so obviously the antenna overloading is specific to one small location. Running this device on Linux caused it to heat up more than in Windows though. It heated up quite quickly but not to dangerous levels - a non-contact thermometer indicated a temperature of 85.1 F (29.5 C) in a room with an ambient temperature of 68 F (20 C).
Conclusion
This device may have changed my mind about USB wireless devices. Its range and speed are quite impressive, especially considering its low cost and small size. No doubt its unusual 1x2 design helps with speed, but it's quite surprising to see this speed sustained at long range.
Don't use the provided wireless utility on Windows though.
