WAVLINK 5Gbps USB C to Ethernet Adapter, 5000Mbps USB-C to RJ45 Network Converter, Aluminum Case for Windows, Mac OS, iPad OS and More, RTL8157 Chipset, (5Gbps Need Type-C > 3.2)

I picked up this WAVLINK USB-C to Ethernet adapter to give a laptop a reliable wired connection. Setup could not have been easier. I plugged it in, the driver installed automatically, and within seconds the connection was live. Speeds are exactly what I expect from a gigabit line, and the adapter stays cool in normal use. The cable segment is just long enough to give some flexibility without becoming messy on the desk. It is especially useful when streaming, downloading large files, or doing any kind of online gaming where WiFi can be inconsistent. A small note, as with most dongles, it is good to avoid putting pressure on the USB-C port while it is plugged in, but that is just normal care. If you want to stabilize a laptop or tablet connection with minimal fuss, this adapter does the job very well.

I tested this saturating my network for 24 hours and it kept up without any issues. It runs warm to the touch as expected, but still cooler than other 5Gbps and 2.5Gbps adapters I own from the venting and how they designed the thermal. No drivers was needed on MacOS, Windows or my iPad Pro that had the latest updates, it was compatible with all of them. For the full 5Gbps speeds your device should have a network and cable that would support it and a device that has USB-C 3.2 but it will still connect at 2.5Gbps with older USB-C 3.0 devices. I have tried other 5Gbps adapters that became unstable and could not get this one to fail Connectivity is fast over an 8 meter cable to the gateway and it’s built well.

If you’ve ever wanted to turn your flaky Wi-Fi into a rock-solid wired connection without summoning a tech wizard, the WAVLINK 5Gbps USB-C to Ethernet Adapter is your new best friend. Plug it in, and boom—instant internet. No drivers, no drama, no existential crisis about why things never work the first time. The speed? Fantastic. It’s like my laptop went from “meh” to “let’s download the entire internet before lunch.” Streaming, gaming, massive file transfers—it handles it all without breaking a sweat. Build quality feels solid too. It’s small, sleek, and doesn’t look like it came out of a cereal box. Honestly, for something that just works this well out of the gate, I’m giving it a 10/10. Would I buy it again? Absolutely. In fact, I might buy a second one just to flex on my other adapters.

This was a good deal -- 5Gbps for the price of similar units that are only 2.5Gbps. I tried two of these on some systems in my LAN, in an attempt to make better use of my new 10Gbps managed switch and get faster file transfers when archiving large video files across the network. I do that frequently, as I store up to 10 multi-hour videos per day. I don't think I ever saw full 5Gbps speed through one of them, but definitely saw the 1G bottleneck go away to some degree for both test systems. I was attempting to use them in parallel with the in-built 1G Ethernet ports, which gave both test systems dual IP addresses. I used routing rules to make each system reachable by either IP address, then I picked the faster connection in my shortcuts to those systems -- based on speed tests of both IP addresses and picking the winner. I don't trust USB device stability as much as built-in ports, and these were servers that needed to stay online, so I was attempting to test the adapters without disturbing any existing IP addresses and connections to the outside world. That's obviously more complicated than just plugging one of these in, and using it instead of the built-in port like most people would. I verified the 5G connection in my switch's admin page, and I think in Linux I had to pick a different chip number, but chatGPT stepped me through that too, once we diagnosed what was going on. In my testing, I got some weird issues where 4 or 5 packets would go through, then completely lose connectivity for one packet (not just a missing packet -- a complete connection closed kinda thing), and then it would reconnect and keep going. This pattern repeated consistently like it was a driver issue, not flaky hardware. Or maybe compatibility with that particular USB port? Throughput on those affected machines was well below expected speeds, and in one case, the 1G native port was actually faster. On a different system, I saw no dropouts and consistent speed well above 1G and actually somewhere between 2.5G and 5G speeds. The adapters also got pretty warm, perhaps enough to affect longevity and make me wonder whether they'd be reliable enough to be the full-time connections for servers, and whether I'd need to address airflow in that use, but I never tried them in that role. Eventually the less-than-stellar throughput on one system, combined with the complexity of dual IP addresses per system, led me to change my approach completely. Instead of speeding up my network, I pulled all the archive drives off the server and put them in a USB4 multi-bay enclosure that had no problem reaching 900 MB/sec on its connection, and therefore max speed on all its drive drawers -- all with a single USB connection. Now the network can stay its native speed with single IP addresses, and my archive shortcuts just point to local USB drives instead.

This requires downloading the Realtek drivers in order to get full speed in Windows 11. Once that's done, it did reach the 5Gbps speeds. I like like adapter because it has a USB C PD power passthrough. Design isn't too bulky but it is larger the your average 1Gbps or 2.5Gbps ethernet adapter. I will say that it runs a bit warm but not too hot. EDIT: performance isn't great. I find that when the PD power passthrough is used it tends to drop connections if used on more hungry laptops. It still works without the power but it's unstable with PD power. Save yourself money and buy skip this if PD power passthrough is a feature you're looking for. I tested speeds between two points using iperf through a 10GBE connection. Pretty good for the price instead of a much more expensive 10gbe device.

The pass through charging port is amazing. I wish it had a usb c port for connecting to my laptop instead of the short cable built in. It just subtracts 5w from the input power to power the dongle itself. So 100w charge is 95w to laptop or 45w charge is 49e to laptop. Works on iPhone, ipad, mac, windows.

Until I had fiber optic installed, I had no idea that my ethernet port maxed out at 1 GB. There is no upgrade path for the 10 GB ethernet port once you buy a Mac Mini with a 1 GB port, so I bought this adapter to bring a wired connection into one of my Thunderbolt ports. It worked instantly, no driver to install. Now the speeds that I pay for are available to my Mac. Fantastic! I use two monitors, so now my main is hooked up to the remaining Thunderbolt port, and my secondary monitor is hooked to my Mac's HDMI port. Perfecto.

Works great. In Windows 11, It will defulted to 2.5g. To get it to do 5g just do Windows Upgrade and it automatically updates to newer driver.