[Flounder] wifi dongles

[Russell Coker]

Usually I use Wifi with laptops that have built-in devices (which are usually 
good and always good enough to not neede a dongle) and phones/tablets.  I have 
a couple of 2.4gHz USB dongles for the rare occasions when I need to connect a 
PC, they aren't great but are good for that purpose.

Now I have a relative who can't conveniently get an Ethernet cable to their PC 
with the latest Optus changes (the cable-modem compatibility thing was turned 
off so the NBN device at the other end of the house has to be used).  I've got 
them using one of my 2.4gHz dongles which is giving poor performance and also 
drops out when it gets hot (IE when the CPU is busy and hot air is blown out 
the back near the USB ports).

The issue is what features should I look for in a good wifi dongle.

USB 2.0 is capable of 40MB/s (320Mbit/s) which is faster than an NBN 
connection, but I guess USB 3 is worth looking for as a check that the product 
isn't ancient.

What's Linux compatibility like for such devices?  I haven't bought one since 
before 5gHz wifi was introduced.  Can I just assume that they all work?  
Should I look for support for older Windows versions, IE something that's got 
Win7 support probably uses an interface that Linux kernel developers have had 
plenty of time to reverse engineer?

5gHz is a required feature for me as that frequency tends to have less 
interference.

Are external antennas good?  Adverts claim that the antennas give a 5dB signal 
gain which should give a real improvement to reliability and speed if it 
performs as claimed.

Is 802.11n (multiple antennas) worth getting?  Optus supplied them a Sagemcom 
Gateway F at ST 3864V3 HP (note HP not AC which is higher spec).  Apparently the 
HP model supports 802.11n, but will it be useful?  Reliability from one end of 
the house to the other is what's needed not high speed.

Kogan and eBay seem to have similar devices on offer but eBay has a better 
range and lower prices.  I guess the market for lemons applies and I should 
just buy the cheapest thing from eBay.

nmcli dev $DEVICE connect $ESSID password $PASS

As an aside all the documented ways of getting Wifi to work on Debian in a way 
that can start on boot before a user login failed apart from running the above 
command.

PS My intention is that this list will have general discussion of free 
software related issues such as buying suitable hardware, with a preference 
towards things that have regulatory issues specific to our region of the world 
(IE wireless stuff).  We could get a separate list for meeting announcements 
if people want that.

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