Let’s say you have an old computer and you want to connect it to your wireless network, but it just doesn’t have any wireless capabilities in it.
Well, a Wireless Network Adapter is what you need.
Keep reading and learn everything you should know about Wireless Network Adapters (such as what they are, what they do, and how to install one yourself).
And if in the end, you are still not clear on the subject, then we offer to answer all your related questions for free. Request your consultation here.
Wireless adapters come in many different kinds, shapes, and forms, changing according to their functionality and wireless standard. In most cases, they look like small USBs (at least the most recent versions) which means you can just plug them into your computer and almost forget about it.
Why do you plug it in, you may ask?
Well, their little wireless radio antenna connects to your hot spot, to your router, or to a public network like the one in your local coffee shop or nearby airport to connect to a wireless network (in case your computer doesn’t have any installed) or to improve the wireless capabilities of the internal WiFi card that we normally have.
In 2022, there are currently two different types of USB WiFi adapters:
a) USB 2.0 Support: This type of adapter is the lowest range and the cheapest, so it won’t provide us with much real speed, although we will have better coverage (as long as it has external antennas). Generally, when we buy a WiFi adapter with USB 2.0, the WiFi standard that we will use will be WiFi 4, that is, it will be compatible only in the 2.4GHz band.
There are some exceptions with USB 2.0 WiFi cards compatible with entry-level WiFi 5.
b) USB 3.0 Support: These will always be the fastest but logically, being the highest-end devices, are also the most expensive. However, there are USB 3.0 adapters that have a great value for money, and that incorporate WiFi 5 with selectable dual-band and AC1200, which are the more usual.
If you ever want something higher-end, then there’s the AC1900 or another one in a similar class, which incorporates three internal WiFi antennas. However, in the case of making it small because we will have three external antennas that are not inside the device itself.
Nowadays, the most normal thing is to find adapters with a USB 3.0 interface, but if you buy a low-end device, the most normal thing is that it is USB 2.0 to save costs, and, therefore, you will get lower wireless performance in terms of speed.
The most important thing is to buy an AC1200 with a USB 3.0 interface to avoid possible bottlenecks. Also, if decide to buy a USB WiFi adapter, make sure supports both frequency bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz).
Because the fact that they are dual-band does not mean that you can connect to both bands simultaneously. While routers and APs are a simultaneous dual-band (they broadcast on both bands at the same time), WiFi adapters don’t.
Yes, they can connect to both bands, but to one brand or another, not to both simultaneously, due to hardware limitations, since they do not have two chipsets inside but only one compatible with both bands.
In a minute, you’ll see what’s required to start using one, besides plugin-in and leaving.
To begin with, if you’re getting a USB wireless adapter, it’s important to check that you have a free USB port on your computer where this will plug into.
Normally, we will have to install or set up the drivers that come with the USB WiFi card itself, although if you use Windows 10, it is very likely that it will automatically recognize the WiFi adapter, and then install the drivers without user intervention.
And because you’ll notice Wireless Network Adapters especially when connected at medium-long distances from the main WiFi router or WiFi access point. So you’ll have to make sure if your PC or laptop is far away or not much from where the router is.
If you’re close to the router or AP, performance differences will be hardly noticeable compared to USB WiFi cards. But in case you aren’t, then it might be needed a bigger or better network adapter.
Last, but not least, at the time of buying a new Wireless Network Adapter, it’s important to look at the compatible Wi-Fi version and Wi-Fi class. These two work as parameters of achievable performance. Here’s a shortlist with a few examples:
Ask for a consultation and our experts we’ll contact as soon as possible!
The wireless lan terms BSS, SSID, BSSID, ESS, and ESSID are often misunderstood… But not anymore.
As a wireless user, you are only interested in broadcast SSIDs that allow you to connect to a wireless network. And as an administrator, you must also keep track of the BSSID and, to a lesser extent, the ESSID.
Does this all seem very complicated by now?
Don’t worry… In a few minutes, you will understand the difference.
A Wireless access point or simply called “access point” is a device that accepts a wireless signal from multiple other devices and retransmits them to the rest of the network.
APs may also be known as base stations. And at-home settings, a WAP may be capable of routing therefore may also be called a wireless router or wireless gateway. In a more corporate setting, AP and routers are devices separate from each other.
AP is a layer-2 device because it acts like a bridge connecting two types of networks: wired and wireless, belonging to one broadcast domain… In other words, one local network.
Basic Service Set or BSS is a group of wireless devices, that are working with the same AP.
As a user, you are generally not aware of which Basic Service Set (BSS) you currently belong to.
When you physically move the laptop from one room to another, the BSS it uses may change because it moved from an area covered by one access point to an area covered by another access point, but this does not affect the connectivity of the computer.
As an administrator, you are interested in the activity of each BSS. This tells you which areas of the network may be overloaded and helps you find a particular customer.
Basic Service Set Identifier or BSSID in short is the AP’s physical or MAC address, which is 48-bit long hexadecimal numbers. Just like your computer’s MAC address.
As a wireless user, you don’t see BSSID but it’s included in wireless packages/frames.
Most of the time, there are different BSSIDs on an access point for each WLAN configured on a radio.
By convention, an access point’s Mac address is used as a BSS identifier (BSSID). So if you know the MAC address, you know what the BSSID is—and, since all packets contain the originator’s BSSID, you can trace a packet. This works fine for an access point that has a radio and WLAN configured.
If you have an access point with 2 radios and 32 WLANs configured on each, you would have 64 BSSIDs plus the base BSSID of the access point. Individual access points are assigned to unique 64 MAC address blocks to accommodate multiple BSSIDs.
Since multiple WLANs can coexist in single airspace, each WLAN needs a unique name. This is the so-called Service Set Identifier (SSID) of your network, which is also referred to as “Network Name.”
As a user, you only care about the SSID. APs broadcast their SSID by default in their service area. They use a unique character string used to identify an AP. You can name it by any natural language like English, Spanish, or Chinese.
Your device can see the SSIDs for all available networks; so when you click on a wireless icon, it will bring up the SSIDs that the device recognizes, so you can then connect.
The SSID keeps packets within the correct WLAN, even when overlapping WLANs are present. However, there are typically multiple access points on each WLAN, so there must be a way to identify those access points and their associated clients.
For a secure wireless network, you may be required to provide a username and password.
One Service Set can be extended by adding more APs. This is called the Extended Service Set or ESS. Every AP broadcasts the same SSID to its users.
When you, as a user, walk with your device from one service set to another, you’re still connected to the same network, without knowing you changed to a different service set, as well as to a different access point.
Last but not least, is the ESSID or Extended Service Set Identifier. There’s formally no such thing as an “ESSID” in 802.11 standards. Thus, you can just use the same SSID for ESSID-shared networks.
Serving The Woodlands, the Greater Houston Area, Austin, & Dallas. LayerLogix is a trusted business partner for Expert IT and structured cabling solutions based in The Woodlands, Texas.