Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter, Nano Size Lets You Plug it and Forget it, Ideal for Raspberry Pi / Pi2, Supports Windows, Mac OS, Linux (Black/Gold)

I really was expecting these to be a failed purchase. I thought I'd give them a go almost as a novelty... I feel silly now, as they are brilliant. Driver dependency is heavy, don't expect to just plug them in and go as some of the larger clunkier ones would allow with onboard drivers or the ability to use generics. But really it would be kind of giddy to assume otherwise with these things that are so small as to seem unlikely to be effective in any real-world applications. I would do a pro / con, but have no cons.... Perhaps because I just expected the worst, leaving me with nowhere to go but up. - Size: Tiny - I can *almost* close the USB flap on a Dell Duo Convertible with the thing in. I would forget they were in a USB hub if not for the flashing LED. They are practically nonexistent in a tower USB port, front or back. - Reliability: I have used them in odd situations, and have yet for them to be the source of an issue. Mixed NIC environments present the usual hazards, but nothing additional that I've noticed. - Range: Again, I have had low expectations, and so I used them mostly so close to the wireless source that I couldn't judge fairly. They have fit the bill at 25+ feet from the nearest active AP handily. Walls and obstacles have not buggered the connectivity. That's more than I would have expected, your situation may differ. - Price: Cheap, especially considering the awkward situations that they can be used to resolve temporary issues and the time sink potential in those situations if you don't have a quick-and-dirty answer. I will likely keep a small stack of them around indefinitely. So far I have used these in scenarios like: - Emergency connectivity for DNS server mishaps on domains - A replacement for troublesome hard-connections in nearby Win 7 64 workstations - As a makeshift NIC array via a USB hub for Windows 2008 R2 Datacenter servers requiring multiple connections but lacking the hardware - Onboard fail-safe connection (by pluging one into the unusually placed USB slots on Dell and Supermicro server boards, just leaving them there,disabled or otherwise inactive, just in case all other options are bunk) - Near invisible wireless connections on Netbooks, Dell Duo Convertibles, Legacy laptops. I can't attest fully to their cross platform usage yet. But I have several unusual server and wokrstation builds across the SUSE and Ubuntu spectrum that I will certainly be giving them a test on. I have a pretty fair expectation that as long as the drivers install as expected, they will be effective there too... I have used them as a guest captured NIC for Linux and Windows virtual appliances and servers with some success, but as there is a significant abstraction layer there, that doesn't seem like an overall statement about their usage in a standalone environment. So this is one of those times when a shot-in-the-dark actually has paid off in volume... I would (and will) purchase more of them, either for specific applications or more likely as a brilliant addition to my "what if" toolset. If there is a downside, I haven't found it yet...and I have used them in some pretty weird circumstances so far... There may well be better out there, I just stumbled on these, didn't really invest in thorough product research. I grabbed some of these along with other variant wireless and USB NICs for emergencies and peculiar issues. These are the ones I have used almost every time. The rest of that collection of variants remain safely boxed on the shelf.

The original review below was for the Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter, Nano Size. It worked so well I decided to buy the AC1200 model. That review is at the bottom. I don't know where I bought this. I thought I bought it on Amazon but I guess not. Anyway I have had it for about a year. I use it on various laptops because it is always faster than the internal Wifi and it is so tiny that I can just leave it plugged in and not worry about it getting snapped off. You may have to install the drivers on old Linux kernels. However, it ran out of the box for me on Manjaro running kernel 4.14. When I plugged it into my Linux Mint 19 (Linux kernel 4.15) the Network Manager did not see it. It did show on a lsusb so I started to look for the drivers. While getting ready to install them, it just started working. It also ran straight away on a very old, very small Acer running Peppermint 9, also with Linux Kernel 19. It connects at 150 mbs every-time on every machine and Linux. I plan to buy the dual band version of this. I am very happy with Edimax. Edimax AC1200 Wi-Fi USB Adapter Supports Web 2, MU-MIMO, Nano Size Lets You Plug it and Forget it, for Windows, Mac OS, Black/Silver (EW-7822ULC) I installed this on my Linux Mint 19.1 laptop. It sees it in lsusb right away but does not start up. I searched for the driver based on the id # in the lsusb and found the Edimax website with very clear and straight forward directions, giving each command necessary. However it was not for mine. You need to make sure that you search for the EW model number. There are several and they use different drivers and apply to specific Linux kernels. You may want to search before you buy to make sure it supports the kernel you are using. I plan test it on the latest Manjaro, I am running the 4.14 kernel there as it is the most stable for the system it is on. I will also test on LMDE Cindy. While I am a fairly experienced Linux user, anyone who is comfortable with terminal commands and knows what lsusb is, why I don't explain it here, then should have no problems. Read the install directions first, before you buy, and decide. for yourself

This little adapter works and at a great price! Its wonderfully compact and the speed feels comfortably fast on my older system. That said, it was not easy to set up, but Edimax Customer Support was very helpful. I think the ease of setup has a great deal to do with your wireless router and the router's software. At the time of purchase, I had a Linksys E3000 router. I hate that router (and I used to LOVE Linksys routers! The hardware was very serviceable, but the software was abysmal!)! I purchased this adapter for an old Mac 1.6GHz PowerPC G5, running Mac OS 10.5.8 (Leopard), which did not have built in WiFi. I use this system for older applications that I still need access to (or for when my kids need internet access). I downloaded the software from the Edimax site. Setup went smoothly. The Edimax Wireless Network Utility must run in the background to allow wireless access like other wireless adapter of this type. The Edimax Network Utility showed I was connected to my wireless network with my Linksys E3000 wireless router. However, the E3000 required a static IP address and completely manual setup to get a connection to the internet. When that router (Linksys E3000) recently died, I replaced it with an Apple Time Capsule. Once I started up the Network Utility, I easily connected to the network. Next I deleted my old Network Adapter profile in Network Settings and set up a new one, entering the DNS server and Search Domain addresses. My IP address was immediately supplied by DHCP and I had my internet connection. During use I found that I while can set up the Utility to startup when the system does, I must sign on to the network each time to get network access. The network password does not appear to be saved. With the E3000 this process usually took MANY attempts, over as much as 30 minutes time. Adding devices with the E3000 was alway a chore. With the Time Capsule, connection was immediate. It may be possible to set the Network Utility to auto-connect to the internet, but I have not been successful. Use of this adapter is much easier with the Time Capsule. I just start the Network Utility, select the profile and click "apply". Enter the network password and click "connect". I then can hide the Utility and use whichever browser or access network drives as I desire. When I finish network activity I quit the Network Utility. There is one really odd thing I noticed which is why I gave this router 4 stars instead of 5 and why I quit the Network Utility immediately after use. I was working at my main station in my office while one of my kids left the G5 on and walked away without shutting down (again!). After a while, I hear a sound that started low and increased and increased in volume until it sounds like there is a jet plan in the office with me! It was the fan on the G5! I couldn't make it stop or shut the system down normally. I had to literally pull the plug. As it happens with my kids, they forgot to shut down on other occasions. If they were simply using Word or Powerpoint, no fan. If they browsing the internet... jet plane. I realized that if the Network Utility was left running while not in use, and the computer went to sleep, the G5's fan would kick on with ever increasing speed. Weird! If the computer was left on and the Network Utility was off, this did not occur. While I have not tried to repeat the jet plane/fan experience since installing the Time Capsule, I don't need to. I never let the G5 go to sleep with the Edimax Network Utility on. I believe there is a software issue here. I had a Netgear Wireless G54 Adapter prior to this. It worked poorly on the rare occasions that it worked, but its software never turned my system into a jet plane. This adapter WORKS even if there is a bug and the workaround is simple - just don't be lazy, turn the software off when not in use. For the price, I'm very satisfied.

If it wasn't working I wouldn't be writing this review. The adapter arrived in a small box, but then, it's a small item. My advice to anyone buying this, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. I installed this on a desktop PC running Windows 10 that I had been using with a hard wired connection to my router. I wanted the flexibility to relocate the router and get rid of the Ethernet cable. The instructions said that if window popped up offering to auto install the driver to cancel it. The window did not, but who knows if it would on a different computer. The installation software came on a small CD. When I loaded it, it did not autorun, but the paper instructions explained how to start it. The autorun program is in a folder and not in the root directory. This would be obvious to any techie, but maybe not to a computer illiterati. Running the install program was simple and since I had some programs open at the time I opted not to reboot at exit. I exited the install program and closed all the running apps and then rebooted after disconnecting my Ethernet cable. The reboot finished and the little light on the adapter came on, as it should. However, I was not yet connected to the internet. So I clicked on the icon and chose the appropriate connection, entered the code and was up and running. I cannot detect any slowdown in the connection speed. All I need to do now is see if this works in the long run. So far I am 100% satisfied with my purchase. I should point out that this is the second Edimax adapter I have bought. The first one was for a laptop that had a bad built in WiFi, and it worked perfectly there. It is so small that it can be left in the USB port safely without worrying about snagging it on something.

I received promptly. Well packaged. Package (manufacturer box, not Amazon box) was torn slightly at the top. Comes with one page instruction sheet, mini CD and the USB adapter. My operating system: Windows 8, 64 bit, 2x USB2.0, 3x USB3.0, 16GB RAM, less than a year old. Directions: Somewhat poor. It states to insert adapter into a USB port 2.0 and an installation guide will pop up, but to cancel it. That does not happen so I can't. No box appears even after pulling it out and reinserting several times. So, it states there is also a mini CD, to insert that. I did. I got a popup box and I was prompted to select a language, I selected English. I immediately got an error message. I tried this 5 or 6 times with the same error message. I was unable to get past the first page for language. I called Edimax and customer support was closed. I went to the website, selected SUPPORT and found my device. The PDF for the item was the same as I got with the device, so no help. I had to download, no choice to view. I saw that Windows 8 was supported, so I found the driver list and attempted to download the driver for W8. When I hit download it launced around 50 pages on my desktop. They were so fast I could not stop them. It took around 2 minutes to close them all out. Silly Wabbit attempted to try this again. This time, I had to hit the OFF button for the computer it was launching pages so fast. I restarted my computer. I ran Norton and it said it deleted 66 items. I assume it was from Edimax because I had just ran a FULL SCAN 3 hours earlier and not used the computer since. I do not feel this was a virus or similar, but more like a glitch, My computer seems normal. When I checked INSTALLED PROGRAMS, Edimax Installation Driver was listed. I checked my internet connections, apparently it had installed but it was much slower than my factory wireless card. My wireless card gets around 20, when I am on the ethernet/wired, I get around 90-100Mbps. The Edimax was getting 12 at best after three tries using Xfinity Speed Test. The USB adapter identified itself on my computer as Connection 3, Wireless 2, but when I right clicked on it to get PROPERTIES, it would not give the usual property page. I tried this multiple times with the same result. I got the same result with my other two connections. When I unplugged the Edimax, I was able to right click and get PROPERTIES as I normally would. I found this odd but who knows? When testing each, I did disable the other two. I called Amazon, explained what happened and we decided returning the item as defective was the best option; UPS will be picking it up tomorrow. I regret having to return the item, I was hoping to bypass installing a better wireless card but they are easy to install so......guess I will. And I really don't mind being tethered to the ethernet cable. So, if you decided to order, the website does offer Windows 8 drivers. I hope the download experience for you goes much better than it did for me. Sorry Edimax but only 1 star.

Some how my son managed to kill the WIFI network in his laptop computer. Rather than face an expensive repaired and being without the system for an extended period of time, I ordered one of these and in two days he was back up and running and it has never missed a lick. Sometime later, I had loaded one of my older laptops to my ex-wife, and again somehow the internal WIFI interface managed to die. Edimax to the rescue, I ordered my second adapter and gave it to her when it came it. Not very technical, she managed to install the device and drivers and configure it for her home WIFI network. This makes the third one I've ordered. Not due to a failed interface, but a desire to have my desktop system wireless. I decided to move my cable modem/WIFI router combination to another room rather than were my home office is located. So I installed this is my desktop system and now it's off and running wireless. Eventually I will be setting up another system for my younger son and it to will have one of these and be wireless as well. A few months have past and I'm continuing on my process of making all the devices in the house wireless. Been doing some reading and was wanting to get more speed out of my wireless connection on my primary desktop. As it stands, it this Edimax has plenty of speed for browsing, YouTube videos and most of the time Streaming Videos. I do a lot of remote desktop to work and on occasion I was getting some lagging and have upgraded this one to an Inamax AC1200 which I will review over there. I've moved this one on the another system in the house. Great performer and never misses a step.

I read another customer review, mentioning that novices would have trouble installing it to XP operating systems. I did appreciate his comments because he was an expert user and he was right. I purchased this USB adapter to replace a broken LAN card inside my Acer Aspire One XP netbook, which is a few years old, but still compatible to use for remote access to workplace XP PCs. I also needed my Acer Aspire One to access my ASUS RT-N66U Dark Knight Double 450 Mbps Dual N Band Router. Pros: It is small, inexpensive, and once you do successfully install it, it does work. I tried watching 2 min clips from Hulu. It did perform adequately, but the speed of the connection varied widely from 14.2 to 58 mpbs during playback. My other Windows 7 laptops with working LAN cards did achieve 72 mpbs. It is adequate for accessing emails and regular websurfing. The Edimax adapter picked up signals roughly 25 to 30 feet away from me, separated by 2 walls, on the same floor. Because I don't have multilevel housing, I don't know if it will work vertically. I plan to use it in my office building to see if it can pick up weaker signals. Cons: It runs slightly hot. Since it is so tiny, I don't know if the heat will shorten its life. My netbook runs hot, too, which will affect the adapter's ability to disperse heat. The installation was pretty difficult. I think it might have been easier had I used Windows 7. Throw away the Quick Start Guide. It is a waste of time. It says only 3 things that are useful. Turn on your computer first. Then plug in the adapter. Cancel the Windows Hardware Wizard when it asks you if you need help installing it. It does not say to turn off your broken wireless LAN switch, which I did. Older devices will have these switches. You should deactivate your old LAN device through the START menu or Control Panel, if you don't have a switch. I also removed old network wireless connection SSIDs by right clicking the wireless icon and then choosing "View Available Wireless Networks," then "Change the Order of Wireless Networks." I deleted the old ones in preparation for connecting with my new router. Restarting may be a good idea. After plugging in the adapter, you are supposed to use the CD to install software. Throw it away. The drive won't read it. To get the software, I used an ethernet cord plugged into the router, went to Google, and found [...]. Oddly, the website is not written anywhere on the packaging, start guide, or CD. Save yourself time. Here is the link to the download site for the XP device driver and utilities: [...] Click on "driver" at the bottom of the screen. Don't bother downloading the "Manual." It is the Start Guide and nothing else. After you are done unzipping the files and installing them, you will be prompted to restart your computer. Meanwhile, you can connect the router to another laptop, using it to access the router dashboard software that shows the network traffic and security settings at the usual 192.168.1.1 site online. The new adapter should be accepted as a Client. At some point, unplug the ethernet cord from the ACER netbook. 2 wireless icons will be X-ed out. The Edimax icon looks like a misshapen Twinkie. The wireless icon that is connected to the broken LAN card will always stay inactive. "Wireless Network Connection 2" is the icon associated with the adapter. You will want this one to work. The tough part is getting the adapter to recognize the router. After clicking the twinkie icon, I could tell that it was trying to associate with the router. The SSID would flash, the IP address would register, but then the numbers would go to zero, zero, zero. I went to the security tabs in the Edimax icon, thinking that typing in the WPA2 passcode would help. It is definitely important, but still no results. I tried disabling and re-enabling the adapter to no avail. I activated AP and then changed back to Station settings. Then I tried the security tabs towards the end, which did not help at all. I rebooted again. Still no change. Finally, I went to the "Wireless Network Connection 2" icon in the Task Bar and used Windows to repair the connection. The adapter finally worked. It took me about 3.5 to 4 hrs of doing this, while answering phone calls and trying to eat, before I could get it to work. Customer Support is nonexistent and does not explain all the security terms and funny addresses, which someone like me would not understand. I will decide in one month, whether I will change my rating up or down. Update: 9/23/2013 I re-entered the websites for information because amazon did not allow me to paste it in. I re-typed the websites again. On the 6th floor of my office building, I was able to detect one Wi-Fi signal at 26% strength, ? 2 bars or so. The EW-7811Un could not detect the weaker out of the 2 Wi-Fi signals that are available. The Acer Aspire One old broken LAN card was able to tell me that 2 signals were out there, although it could not connect. That still means the EW-7811Un could not detect all reasonably available signals, which is a shortcoming. The good news is the EW-7811Un was more speedy today, for some unknown reason. I could get 90 to 120 mbps out of it. The old netbook was slow, however, because it has a single core Atom chip. After the MacAfee Antivirus software quit monopolizing the CPU, I was able to appreciate the quickness of the signal.

Purchased this USB wifi to dongle to use with my Raspberry PI running openelec & XBMC. Works great. Took a few minutes to get the settings right to get it to work but once the settings are right, it works like a charm. Here are the settings I used: Goto System->OpenElec->Network Network Adapter: Network Technology: WLAN Network Interface wlan0 IP Settings: (USE SETTINGS APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR NETWORK!) I haven't tested it with DHCP yet. Static IP Address:192.168.1.80 Netmask Prefixlength:24 Network Gateway: 192.168.1.1 DNS Server 1: 192.168.1.1 WLAN Settings: WLAN SSID: YOUR WIRELESS SSID WLAN SECURITY: WPA/WPA2 (OR YOUR WIRELESS SECURITY) WLAN Passphrase: Your passcode A couple of observations to help insure success: 1) The Rasperry PI is very sensitive to under-powered power supplies, especially when using USB WiFi and drives. Some reviewers said they had to use a powered USB hub to get this dongle to work. I can only see two reasons that that would be the case: 1) They are using too small a power supply for the PI (a minimum of 1A is REQUIRED, I strongly suggest a 1.1A or greater power supply) or 2) They were running another power hungry device off the PI's USB port, like a USB drive of some sort. I have no problem running this dongle directly off the PI with no hub. 2) First time setup is much easier with a USB keyboard plugged in, but when using two USB devices on the PI its critical you have a strong power supply. By the way, iPad power supplies work nicely, as do the newer iPhone power supplies. I'm very happy with this purchase and will be recommending it to a group of high school kids who I'm helping with their raspberry PI projects.

Item arrived very quickly, was just as described (and yet looked even dinkier than I had envisaged - I can't believe anything so small can contain an LED light AND the necessary hardware to act as a wireless aerial) and works perfectly. At the price it is ridiculously good value for money, providing an elegantly simple solution for a 2008 XP netbook (with inbuilt Atheros wireless card) that stubbornly refused to talk to my parents' brand new wireless router, even though the router had identical WPA2 settings to my own. Being bang up-to-date it actually talks a lot faster to my 5-year-old router too. So now it just lives permanently in one of my netbook's 3 USB ports, and the Atheros card has been disabled. As it sticks out all of 4mm it sneaks inside the netbook cover quite happily. The afore-mentioned blue LED light flashes as it is connected and transmits data. Note: One thing - if you have more than one wi-fi profile set up (e.g. I have two - mine and my parents' router), it won't change between them automatically when you change location. However, when I boot up the netbook, the Edimax window opens automatically and I just click on the 'Profile' tab, double-click the required profile, and it connects in about 3 seconds flat.

Leider kann ich noch keine langfristige Beurteilung schreiben aber der erste Eindruck ist überwältigend. Das Problem: ein Sony VGN315FS Notebook das keine WPA2 Verschlüsselung verarbeiten kann. Ich musste den schönen neuen Router auf WPA umstellen und verlor damit den Geschwindigkeitsvorteil des neuen n-Netzes. Ich habe mir deshalb dieses kleine Wunderwerk bestellt um das Sony Notebook auch mit WPA2 betreiben zu können. Der kleine USB-Knopf ("Stick" möchte ich das Teil nicht nennen) ist wirklich unauffällig am Notebook. Die Installation lief problemlos ab und das Funknetzwerk wurde auch sofort erkannt. Ich hatte mir ja ob der Grösse keine grossen Hoffungen in die Reichweite gesetzt und wäre schon mit Semi-stationären Werten zufrieden gewesen, aber der Empfang ist sogar besser als mit der alten WLAN-Karte und reicht bis in den letzten Winkel unserer Altbauwohnung ohne, dass das Display Verluste anzeigt (der neue Router hat aber natürlich auch eine gute Reichweite). Bis jetzt konnte ich ca. 10m und drei Altbauwände überwinden. Die Geschwindigkeit ist ebenfalls eindrucksvoll, auch wenn wegen der ollen USB 1.1 Buchsen am Sony Notebook keine Höchstgeschwindigkeiten im Netzwerk erreicht werden dürften. Webseiten bauen sich jedenfalls subjektiv betrachtet sehr schnell auf. Fazit: zu diesem Preis immer einen Versuch wert! Nachtrag (16.1.2011) Leider bricht die Internetverbindung immer wieder einfach ab und wird erst nach einem Neustart des Rechners wiederhergestellt. Das Gerät zeigt keine Fehlfunktion an. Vielleicht müsste ich die eingebaute WLan Karte des Notebooks deinstallieren (sie ist nur deaktiviert) oder ähnliches ich probiere es jetzt aber erstmal an einem anderen Rechner aus (unter Win7 und nicht mehr mit XP) wenn das Phänomen da auch auftaucht gibts Sternabzug :-)

Product is easy to use. I bought it to be used with my Hackintosh on mojave even though it's not yet supported by drivers offically, but yea it works awesome and for Rs.449 it's a steal deal. As of now highly recommend and bindas go for it. Nice work edimax 🙂

I have two Raspberry Pi boards: the RPI-2B and an RPI-3B. I have installed FreeBSD 12.0 (just released Dec 2018), and as FreeBSD does not support the Broadcom built in WiFi on the RPI-3B I need an external solution. And the RPI-2B board has no WiFi anyway, I needed one there too, so I ordered two of them. The Edimax Nano just works perfectly. FreeBSD supports it fully. It connects to my Google WiFi mesh quickly and provides excellent data rates. It's tiny so it barely protrudes from the Raspberry Pi's case. I highly recommend it!

Me funcionó perfecto para un Hackintosh con Mac OSX sierra 10.12.6, ese era el fin así que quede satisfecho, talvez no tiene mucho alcance pero está bien por el precio, por ejemplo yo tengo mi PC a 8 mts rectos de el router solo separados por la pared y la puerta de mi cuarto y de t rayas me daba 4 o Aceves 3 y mi velocidad de 20mb me daba comon15 o Aceves que estaba raro hasta 3mbs, pero es razonable por qué es tamaño mini y por precio cumple en conectarte.