AC1200 Long Range USB WiFi Adapter for Linux (Model # AC3L)

I recently purchased the BrosTrend Linux WiFi Adapter, and I must say I am thoroughly impressed with its performance. This little device has made a significant difference in my overall computing experience, and I couldn't be happier. First and foremost, the installation was an absolute breeze. As someone who has struggled with setting up other WiFi adapters in the past, I was pleasantly surprised at how straightforward the process was. It seamlessly integrated with my Linux system, and within a matter of minutes, I was up and running with a stable and reliable internet connection. The signal strength and speed of this adapter are exceptional. I live in a large house with multiple walls and floors, and I was worried about the range and signal quality. However, the BrosTrend Linux WiFi Adapter has exceeded my expectations. It provides a strong and consistent connection throughout my home, and I no longer experience any lag or buffering when streaming or gaming. What's also worth noting is the compact and sleek design of this adapter. It's small enough to remain inconspicuous when plugged into my laptop, and it doesn't obstruct other USB ports. Plus, it doesn't get in the way when I'm on the move, making it perfect for both home and on-the-go use. I also appreciate the driver support for Linux. BrosTrend has done an excellent job ensuring that their product is compatible with a wide range of Linux distributions, which is a big plus for users like me who prefer open-source operating systems. Overall, the BrosTrend Linux WiFi Adapter has made a significant difference in my daily computing activities. It's reliable, fast, and hassle-free. If you're a Linux user looking to improve your wireless connectivity, I wholeheartedly recommend giving this adapter a try. It's a fantastic investment that will undoubtedly enhance your online experience.

I bought this after our previous USB WiFi adapter failed; it arrived quickly, and with a mini-DVD installer for Linux installation. I bought it specifically because it highlighted Linux support, which most USB adapters don't have. I was a bit chagrined to learn that installation "required" Internet access; out Linux machine is two rooms away from the cable modem and WiFi router, and I didn't want to have to disconnect, move, and reconnect our desktop setup to just install the drivers. So I wrote a somewhat snarky email to BrosTrend's tech support. Then I read their documentation and learned that there is an off-line installer; so I fired up my PC laptop, downloaded the offline installer & dropped it onto a thumb drive. The installation iteself took all of 10 minutes (laptop & download time included). After restarting the Linux box, the WiFi router was working perfectly -- and it's far faster than our old WiFi adapter. On top of the ease of installation and setup, BrosTech's tech support people were responsive, polite (despite my snarkiness), and exceedingly helpful. They especially get top marks for going above and beyond. I'd recommend both the device and the company highly, and will be happy to buy from them again when possible.

This was part of what turned out to be a 3 step process to get WiFi out to my detached garage. When I started, I was getting no WiFi reception in the garage at all. This is using an 8 year old Dell laptop that was a “bargain” unit to begin with, so it wasn’t using top of the line components. The onboard WiFi adapter was single (2.4 GHz only) frequency and weak on signal reception. The first step was to get a WiFi range extender. That got me some reception in the garage, but signal strength was so-so and download speeds were really slow (about 0.5 Mbps according to speedtest). This WiFi adapter was the second step. I bought it because while I use Windows when I have to, I prefer to work with Linux Mint and the listing said it would work with Linux. I started by installing it under Windows, because the drivers were available for download on the BrosTrend web site. After installation, I initially found no increase in WiFi performance which was a major disappointment. I soon figured out that I needed to go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center\Network Connections. There I could disable the onboard adapter and enable the BrosTrend. Connected to my network and BINGO – immediate gratification! The 5 GHz frequency was available and I was getting download speeds over 100 Mbps – about 200 times the speed I had before. That is a result! Even on the 2.4 GHz channel I get downloads over 20 Mbps. I am really pleased with all of that. The third step was to get the adapter working under Linux. As the listing stated and other reviewers have pointed out, BrosTrend requires you to connect to their site to install the Linux driver. Since my laptop didn’t have an Ethernet port (see “bargain” unit above), I sourced an Ethernet to USB adapter locally and was able to obtain the driver that way. Loaded it up and it worked like a champ. Again, really happy with the result. While I would rather have saved the extra $20 I spent on the Ethernet adapter had BrosTrend just made the Linux driver available for download, I give them great credit for supporting Linux at all. The easy thing for them to do would be to just cover the Windows/Mac world and be done with it. So thanks for helping those of us who have ventured off the beaten path! Five stars all around!

Easy=peaty to get it up and running, on Linux mint - as advertised.

It works great on an old version of 32 bit linux lmde, on an old dell dimension 2400 from 2003. Just copy the code from the bostrend website in your terminal and execute.

Edit 2: The seller ended up refunding my money, so I can't find any fault with their support. Edit: The adapter worked great for about a week or two, then slowly started becoming less and less reliable. My connection would fail, and I would have to re-seat the adapter, or reboot. The activity light would either come on solid blue, or turn off entirely. Today the adapter stopped working entirely. It initially looked like the provided extension cable might have been part of the problem. I removed the extension cable and plugged the adapter directly into the back of my PC. That initially brought it back to life, when it hadn't been working at all. However, within a few minutes, the light turned solid blue and the adapter stopped working. My prior adapter, an internal TP-Link card, began constantly dropping the connection, and would take forever to reconnect. The problem seemed to start when I moved the router a little further away from my desktop, but no other wi-fi device was affected, even in the same room, and signal strength was still over 50%. I decided to see if I could find a better, more stable adapter. I was somewhat hesitant to buy from a brand I had never heard of, but BrosTrend seems to be the only company that has wholeheartedly embraced the linux community, so I was willing to give them a chance. So far, I have not been disappointed. The install was easy, although you do need to have an internet connection to download the media. Now that I'm up and running, I have not lost connection once, and my signal strength and download speeds are consistently better than they had been before. If you have reservations about buying from a smaller brand, it's worth remembering that all of the wi-fi adapters on the market, no matter who sells them, all use chipsets from the same five or six vendors. In this case, it's a Realtek chipset, and they make chipsets for all the big companies.

I had RPi 3 that worked really well and decided to get RPi 4 to use as a replacement desktop. However, I rapidly realised that the wifi performance of the latter was pitiful in comparison to its older brother. (I had already used the Pi3 to setup a dedicated music server and didn’t want to dismantle it). So I put the whole project away for a year or so. Coming back to it recently, I tried again, with all the latest firmware and software updates. However if anything, the wifi was worse. It could not connect at all to my Mesh router, and poorly to my main one. Download speeds were 50Mb/s immediately after booting, but soon dropped to <1Mb/s. Nothing I tried would improve throughput. So somewhat reluctantly I purchased the Brostrend AC3L in the hope that a distant device, with antennas, might improve the speeds. I hardwired the RPi4 to my router and used the commands from the Brostrend website to install the drivers. This was very much a black box, and in truth, I have no idea what happened! However, subsequent wifi access was massively improved with average d/l speeds of >120Mb/s. Hopefully it lasts (I will update my review if it doesn’t), but I can now use the RPi4 for its intended purpose! If you are having the same trouble I was I would at least give this device a try. You can always take advantage of Amazon’s return policy if it doesn’t work!

Works awesome

Produit efficace avec un câble de rallonge pratique, qui aurait cependant gagné à être souple et tressé, il est un peu raide et déstabilise le support. Cette clé est détectée et marche automatiquement avec les noyaux linux 6.5 et plus récents, avec le driver standard rtw88_8822bu. Par contre pour les distributions plus anciennes (par ex Debian 12) il faut installer le driver fourni par le constructeur sur son site deb.trendtechcn.com mais il fournit un script automatique pour cela. Aussi, la clé marche parfaitement avec "network-manager", l'interface graphique standard des bureaux linux. Mais en mode serveur sans écran, il faut aussi l'utiliser, via la commande "nmcli", en évitant que "network-manager" ne vienne perturber votre config réseau existante. En effet, je n'ai pas réussi à me servir des autres commandes non graphiques telles que iwconfig, iw, wpa_supplicant, ... qui ne retournent pas d'erreur mais n'établissent pas la connection. Bref, aucun souci si vous l'utilisez sur un desktop linux moderne. Sur des serveurs, cela demande d'un peu plus se pencher sur la configuration si vous n'utilisez pas "network-manager".

Works great.

Fué muy fácil de instalar, no tuve necesidad de hablar con soporte las mismas instrucciones, me funciona en Debian 11

all most everything good, i suggest users put direct to pc or laptop..dont use cord

La uso en ubuntu (linux). Perfecta y autoinstalable. Poco antes de acabar los dos años de garantía (lo compré de 2021) tuve un problema y dejó de funcionar. La asistencia técnica online muy buena y al final me lo cambiaron y solucionado enseguida. I