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Wi-Fi 6 promises to bring better speeds, better range, and less interference to business and home networks, but so far, that experience hasn't materialized in real-world environments. While many routers support the Wi-Fi 6 802.11axstandard, Wi-Fi 6 compatible USB Wi-Fi adapters aren't yet widely available—but they're coming soon. Coverage is dependent on the mobile phone reception in your area, so the mobile 'not'-spots that have you cursing your network provider might also affect your mobile broadband connection When shopping for a router for your home, you're looking for enough range to blanket your home with the strong Wi-Fi signal you need to support streaming and gaming from multiple devices.
Since most laptops already have Wi-Fi built-in, you may wonder what the point is of a USB Wi-Fi adapter. The truth is, if your computer already provides reliable Wi-Fi, there's almost certainly no need to add an external adapter. However, for laptops with poor Wi-Fi hardware or PCs that typically don't include Wi-Fi support, a USB Wi-Fi adapter will help bridge that gap. Most USB Wi-Fi adapters work reasonably well when close to your router. Still, if you're sitting beside your router anyway, you could just as easily plug in an Ethernet cable and get even better performance. A USB Wi-Fi adapter allows you to move around your home, so you will want one that offers the range you need. However, there is such a thing as wireless home internet, and it's different from hotspots. It relies on exterior antennas and larger, less portable routers that stay in one location. Recent wireless internet plans are more likely to have unlimited data than hotspot plans. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all sell wireless home internet via 5G in various parts of the country, along with a wide range of smaller, local wireless internet service providers (WISPs). Update: August 26, 2021. I’ve now moved to another location with a better cellular signal. 96% instead of 57% as shown on Pinephone, and ran Speedtest again with the “4G LTE WiFi modem” router with the same SIM card, and results are pretty good.Relying on a satellite connection over a wired connection and Ethernet cable will impact your overall speed, so if you are wondering if tri-band routers are worth it over LTE routers, the former will offer increased speeds as they are plugged in. However, as 5G connections become more standard, the speed of these LTE routers has been steadily increasing and should approach wired devices in several years.
Hotspot plans change all the time. On AT&T and Verizon, your best bet is to add a hotspot to your existing carrier's phone plan as a separate line. That gets you the most data for your dollar. If you add a hotspot onto an "unlimited" phone plan, you get up to 150GB of high-speed data with Verizon, up to 50GB of data with AT&T, and up to 40GB with T-Mobile. After that, the carriers deprioritize your data or throttle it unpredictably depending on local network traffic.
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Even if you have a powerful router or mesh Wi-Fi system that provides solid coverage for your home, the USB Wi-Fi adapter still has to do its part, and not all adapters are equal in this regard. Adapters that sit farther away from your computer's USB port—either by protruding out, offering external antennas, or using an extension cable—will generally provide better range, all other things being equal, since they have less interference from your computer to contend with.
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