Notebook on the sofa, Internet radio in the kitchen, smartphone in the kids’ room: WiFi connects devices throughout the home with the Internet. But how fast the transmission runs depends on the WiFi standard. The new standard is IEEE 802.11ac. It increases the speed in the wireless network in theory to a proud 1300 Mbps in the frequency range of 5 GHz. But a router with wireless technology on its own will not boost speed: Remote stations are required, which also master the standard.
Plug and surf: Retrofit the latest WiFi with a USB adapter
The WiFi standard also scores highly even if many other wireless networks are working in the immediate environment and wireless interference occurs, as is often the case in big cities.
Then you can select the interference-free 5 ghz band.
The problem: Only current notebooks and PCs support this frequency band. Devices that are already a few years old have outdated technology inside. Most cheap desktop computers do not even have a WiFi card.
The solution: Retrofit the computer with a USB WiFi stick — for example with the new adapter EW-7822ULC from Edimax. Simply dock and after automatic driver installation connect with the domestic WiFi — finished.
The stick is very compact, measures only 14.9 x 7.1 x 20 mm. It is also backward compatible with older WiFi standards, either the 5 or 2.4-gigahertz band.
Quickly find out: What WiFi does my PC have?
Tip: If you do not know which WiFi standard your computer supports: Open the Windows Device Manager by pressing the Windows key and the Pause Break button. Then click on the small arrow in front of “Network Adapter”.
You can usually see the name of the standard with which the WiFi chip works: It normally contains the designation of the standard. “802.11n” stands for the older n standard.
Image: reichelt.de
