If you have a computer that you want to add WiFi to, such as a desktop computer, so that you can place the computer wherever you want, or to upgrade a laptop with a slower WiFi adapter, the easiest way to add WiFi is to use a USB adapter. Today, I’m looking at the Linksys Max-Stream AC600 USB adapter which only works with Windows PCs ( Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 operating systems only. Windows 8 is not supported). Thus I had to borrow three Windows 10 laptops to conduct my tests. It’s a tiny USB adapter that supports everything up to 802.11 ac and occupies almost no space. It support both the 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands and supports MU-MIMO technology. More on that in a second.
Setup is easy:
- Pop the CD into your computer and run the setup application.
- Wait until you are prompted to plug the USB adapter into the computer.
- The drivers will get installed and the setup is done. Declare victory and have a beer.
Once installed, I was able to do some speed tests and I was able to figure out that this adapter maxes out at 400 Mbps when I tested this adapter with the Linksys Max-Steam AC5400 Router that I tested earlier this week. That’s acceptable given that these are USB adapters and as a result they have small antennas that limit the speeds that they are capable of. That was kind of interesting. But I went a step further. I wanted to find out if MU-MIMO really worked.
MU-MIMO works like this. Normally, each device on a WiFi network gets serviced one at time. MU-MIMO can service each device simultaneously. Clearly the latter is more efficient. To test this, I took three Windows 10 laptops with the AC600 adapter installed and started streaming three different 1080p videos from YouTube while I monitored the speed of the connections coming into the PCs. If MU-MIMO works, there should no stuttering of the videos. And that’s what exactly I saw. To make sure that this wasn’t a fluke, I used the built in 802.11 AC adapters that were built into the Windows 10 laptops which did not have MU-MIMO and I noted that the playback wasn’t nearly as smooth as stuttering was present on all the laptops from time to time. Is this a scientific test. No. But it is how the average user will tell if MU-MIMO is working or not. And it clearly works.
The Linksys Max-Stream AC600 USB adapter goes for $70 Canadian. It clearly a quick and easy way to get a PC or a laptop running Windows 802.11 ac and get MU-MIMO compatibility as bonus. Pair them with a MU-MIMO compatible router and you can really have a WiFi network that is capable of doing anything that you need it to.
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This entry was posted on August 31, 2016 at 8:49 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Linksys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Review: Linksys Max-Stream AC600 USB Adapter
If you have a computer that you want to add WiFi to, such as a desktop computer, so that you can place the computer wherever you want, or to upgrade a laptop with a slower WiFi adapter, the easiest way to add WiFi is to use a USB adapter. Today, I’m looking at the Linksys Max-Stream AC600 USB adapter which only works with Windows PCs ( Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 operating systems only. Windows 8 is not supported). Thus I had to borrow three Windows 10 laptops to conduct my tests. It’s a tiny USB adapter that supports everything up to 802.11 ac and occupies almost no space. It support both the 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands and supports MU-MIMO technology. More on that in a second.
Setup is easy:
Once installed, I was able to do some speed tests and I was able to figure out that this adapter maxes out at 400 Mbps when I tested this adapter with the Linksys Max-Steam AC5400 Router that I tested earlier this week. That’s acceptable given that these are USB adapters and as a result they have small antennas that limit the speeds that they are capable of. That was kind of interesting. But I went a step further. I wanted to find out if MU-MIMO really worked.
MU-MIMO works like this. Normally, each device on a WiFi network gets serviced one at time. MU-MIMO can service each device simultaneously. Clearly the latter is more efficient. To test this, I took three Windows 10 laptops with the AC600 adapter installed and started streaming three different 1080p videos from YouTube while I monitored the speed of the connections coming into the PCs. If MU-MIMO works, there should no stuttering of the videos. And that’s what exactly I saw. To make sure that this wasn’t a fluke, I used the built in 802.11 AC adapters that were built into the Windows 10 laptops which did not have MU-MIMO and I noted that the playback wasn’t nearly as smooth as stuttering was present on all the laptops from time to time. Is this a scientific test. No. But it is how the average user will tell if MU-MIMO is working or not. And it clearly works.
The Linksys Max-Stream AC600 USB adapter goes for $70 Canadian. It clearly a quick and easy way to get a PC or a laptop running Windows 802.11 ac and get MU-MIMO compatibility as bonus. Pair them with a MU-MIMO compatible router and you can really have a WiFi network that is capable of doing anything that you need it to.
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This entry was posted on August 31, 2016 at 8:49 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Linksys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.