Wifi USB adapter: description, function, specifications of the device

Wifi A USB adapter is a device for connecting a personal computer or other device to a wireless network.

What are Wi-Fi devices for?

When building a radio network in an office or home, you have to use devices that do not have wireless functions. For example, system blocks of computers, TVs, game consoles, and so on. Even if the device is equipped with a wireless client, you often have to buy and install a more modern Wifi USB adapter, which supports faster communication formats. After all, information technology is constantly evolving, it often turns out that the device, which was released 2-3 years ago, is irretrievably obsolete today. Every day, devices are produced all the smaller, and the functions and parameters are increased. If a couple of years ago, in order to apply the Internet directly to two personal computers, it was required to install switches, to extend cables of a twisted pair over the apartment, today everything is much simpler. It is enough to install on the PC Wifii USB-adapter, which is compatible with all versions of operating systems, and everything - the network is ready. To such an improvised access point, you can connect several wireless devices simultaneously. For example, communicators, laptops and other computers. To support these networks use specialized software Virtual Wi-Fi. This software is the basis of the operating system Windows 7. This wireless network supports high-level encryption WPA2 PSK.

Communication standards for wireless networks

Choosing Wifi USB-adapter, it is necessary, first of all, to pay attention to the standard that supports this device. This parameter must match your router. Since, having bought a device incompatible with the main equipment, you can not reconcile and configure the wireless network. An important parameter is the frequency of the radio signal transmission. To date, two frequency bands (2.4 MHz and 5 MHz) are widely used. In addition, when choosing an adapter, it is necessary to pay attention to the number of receiving / transmitting devices that the device can support.

Interfaces that support Wi-Fi receivers

A few years ago it was possible to meet Wi-Fi adapters with various types of connectors: PCMCI, PCI, micro-PCI, USB and others. However, to date, the USB standard has supplanted all other kinds of interfaces. This is very convenient, since by purchasing the device mentioned above, the user can use it with any personal computer. And even when you replace a PC with a new one or upgrade an old one, you can always use this adapter.

Specifications

Wireless USB Wifi adapter transmits data at 300 Mbps, and some models are capable of transmitting information at a speed of 450 Mbps. There are Wi-Fi devices with three antennas, which significantly increases the performance of the wireless connection and signal stability. In the Russian market, the sales leaders are adapters manufactured by Asus, D-Link and TP-Link.

Turning the Wi-Fi USB adapter into an access point

Thanks to Wi-Fi Virtual technology, any adapter that supports this technology in drivers can be used as a Wi-Fi signal distributor for client-devices. To debug the system, driver installation is not necessary, it is enough to use a personal computer with the operating system Windows 7. This software contains built-in installation utilities. And when installing the equipment will offer to download the latest version of the software. A list of adapter models that are compatible with the Virtual system can be found on the official website of software developers. In fact, Virtual Router is a graphical shell that works with the netsh snap-in through the console. This program makes the process visual and convenient for the user, besides it is completely free and has all the necessary functionality. It is able, in addition to the main purpose, to transfer the adapter to Ad-hoc mode, which allows creating peer-to-peer networks. Virtually all laptops and PCs are capable of supporting this standard.

How to connect and configure Wifi USB adapter with Virtual Router system?

The first step is to install the necessary software on the PC (for example, Connectify), it converts the Wi-Fi receiver to an access point. After that, we connect the adapter to the USB port of the personal computer. The operating system Windows 7 installs the driver by itself, for this PC must be connected to the Internet. After that start the program. The first step is to specify the name of the wireless network, which is specified in the HotspotName field. Next, in the Password section, you need to set a password for accessing the system you created. For reliable protection, it is recommended that you specify a password of eight characters or more, which uses uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. In the future, it must be entered on each wireless client on the first connection. In the "Internet" field, you must select the connected network adapter with which the personal computer accesses the World Wide Web. For example, it could be a network card. Then choose "Local Area Connection".

Next, in the Advanced field, specify the Wi-Fi adapter. If only one device is connected to the computer, then select the default, and if several, then you must specify exactly the device that will be used as an access point. At this setting is over, it remains only to turn on the device. In fact, we created a Wi-Fi router from a standard adapter and a PC. After clicking the Start Hotspot button, another NAT server appears on the network. After that, you can connect the first customers: a laptop, tablet or smartphone. To do this, we conduct a search for wireless networks and "connect" to ours, using the specified password. After that, the device is ready for operation.

How much can a USB Wifi adapter cost?

The price of such a device will depend first of all on the manufacturer and on the parameters of the device. In any case, the cost of USB Wi-Fi-adapter will be affordable for almost everyone, it is 10-20 US dollars, depending on the chosen model.