Trendnet TEW-805UB review: Low-priced adapter delivers lackluster performance and features

January 29, 2014

The Trendnet TEW-805UB’s best features are its size and its price tag, both of which are small. It will protrude from your computer’s USB port by about 2.625 inches, and it’s street-priced at only $40. But it brings up the rear in most every other metric. It doesn’t have any special features, and in my roundup of six 802.11ac Wi-Fi client USB adapters, it finished fourth in one test location and dead last in the other three. The adapter is short, and it comes with a USB 3.0 interface, but that interface isn’t hinged and Trendnet doesn’t provide a USB cradle. Those decisions leave very little placement flexibility. The TEW-805UB’s close-range performance was merely adequate. Whereas the top-performing Asus USB-AC56 delivered TCP throughput of 404 megabits per second when situated 9 feet from the router, the Trendnet managed just 256 mbps. Still, that’s good enough to beat the Buffalo WI-U2-866 (240 mbps) and the Linksys WUSB6300 (230 mbps).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2091806/trendnet-tew-805ub-review-low-priced-adapter-delivers-lackluster-performance-and-features.html#tk.rss_reviews