Searching for cheap bulk supply of good USB Wi-Fi adapters

[Appletax]

For several years, I have been mostly purchasing Linksys WUSB6400M USB Wi-Fi 5 / AC adapters as they work great and I could get them for cheap, but it appears that they've been discontinued and are becoming difficult to find.

What should I start buying instead? I prefer good brand name products (Linksys, Netgear, maybe TP-Link) - no Chinesium (not just made in China but also designed in China). Would be nice if I could get a bulk lot of them for a really good price per unit like less than $10 each - budget of around $100.

Wi-Fi 5 / AC ~1000 Mbps+ is perfectly fine, but Wi-Fi 6 / AX would be sweet.

 

[britechguy]

Well, this is the one I bought just yesterday: Edimax Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac Nano AC600 Dual-Band (2.4Ghz / 5Ghz) Adapter

It's $11.99, and I've used Edimax plenty of times in the past without issue. There's also this one:

BrosTrend AX300 Nano USB WiFi 6 Adapter, USB WiFi Adapter for Desktop PC Laptop, Portable USB Wireless Adapter WiFi Dongle for Windows 11/10/7, 2.4GHz ​

which is $9.

Everything, including the major brands, are made in China and by a very few actual manufacturers. I've never had a problem with any WiFi adapter I've purchased whether no-name or big-name.

 

[ThatPlace928]

For several years, I have been mostly purchasing Linksys WUSB6400M USB Wi-Fi 5 / AC adapters as they work great and I could get them for cheap, but it appears that they've been discontinued and are becoming difficult to find.

What should I start buying instead? I prefer good brand name products - no Chinesium (not just made in China but also designed in China). Would be nice if I could get a bulk lot of them for a really good price per unit like less than $10 each - budget of around $100.

Wi-Fi 5 / AC ~1000 Mbps+ is perfectly fine, but Wi-Fi 6 / AX would be sweet.

Out of curiosity, do you go through a lot of wifi dongles? I have about 20 of them and think I paid $3 each. They work great, never ever had a problem. But I only use them on laptops where I'm installing or upgrading Windows and the wifi isn't working. Most of the time, it's a driver issue.

Once the install or upgrade is done, I pull the dongle and reboot. I've only ever had one that the wifi still didn't work and it's an Asus I'm working on right now. It's going to permanently get a dongle.

I keep one or two around for this issue but sell the ones still in packages to customers who want a quick fix that doesn't cost them much.

 

[River Valley Computer]

What we are running into is speed issues. Since our area finally got out of the dark ages and starting to get Fiber speeds some customers wifi adapters aren't fast enough thus requiring a dongle to prevent the expense of opening the laptop.

 

[ThatPlace928]

What we are running into is speed issues. Since our area finally got out of the dark ages and starting to get Fiber speeds some customers wifi adapters aren't fast enough thus requiring a dongle to prevent the expense of opening the laptop.

Makes sense to me.

 

[Markverhyden]

For several years, I have been mostly purchasing Linksys WUSB6400M USB Wi-Fi 5 / AC adapters as they work great and I could get them for cheap, but it appears that they've been discontinued and are becoming difficult to find.

What should I start buying instead? I prefer good brand name products - no Chinesium (not just made in China but also designed in China). Would be nice if I could get a bulk lot of them for a really good price per unit like less than $10 each - budget of around $100.

Wi-Fi 5 / AC ~1000 Mbps+ is perfectly fine, but Wi-Fi 6 / AX would be sweet.

I've stopped buying brand x on Amazon or where ever. Literally dozens failed out of the box or shortly after. Either totally or the gremlins start taking over. Netgear is my preferred brand.

 

[Appletax]

Out of curiosity, do you go through a lot of wifi dongles? I have about 20 of them and think I paid $3 each. They work great, never ever had a problem. But I only use them on laptops where I'm installing or upgrading Windows and the wifi isn't working. Most of the time, it's a driver issue.

Once the install or upgrade is done, I pull the dongle and reboot. I've only ever had one that the wifi still didn't work and it's an Asus I'm working on right now. It's going to permanently get a dongle.

I keep one or two around for this issue but sell the ones still in packages to customers who want a quick fix that doesn't cost them much.

Kinda. I sell a fair amount of refurbished desktop PCs that do not have Wi-Fi. I buy them a bulk for a super good price from an IT Director that's several hours from me.

A few days ago, he delivered like 29 PCs including 2 laptops and 2 PC tablets + a ton of new keyboards and mice, all for $700.

Got lots of HP EliteDesk 800 G4s (mini and SFF) with hexa core i5s.

 

[ThatPlace928]

Kinda. I sell a fair amount of refurbished desktop PCs that do not have Wi-Fi. I buy them a bulk for a super good price from an IT Director that's several hours from me.

A few days ago, he delivered like 29 PCs including 2 laptops and 2 PC tablets + a ton of new keyboards and mice, all for $700.

Got lots of HP EliteDesk 800 G4s (mini and SFF) with hexa core i5s.

Okay, that's pretty much what I figured might be the case but wasn't sure.

 

[NviGate Systems]

Kinda. I sell a fair amount of refurbished desktop PCs that do not have Wi-Fi. I buy them a bulk for a super good price from an IT Director that's several hours from me.

A few days ago, he delivered like 29 PCs including 2 laptops and 2 PC tablets + a ton of new keyboards and mice, all for $700.

Got lots of HP EliteDesk 800 G4s (mini and SFF) with hexa core i5s.

What I used to do was import from China PCI-E to Mini-PCIe cards that let me recycle old wifi cards from dead laptops. It basically is a PCI-E PCB that has a Mini PCI-e slot you insert a laptop wifi card into, and has two connectors for antenae. Your desktops would be able to use PCI-E devices much better than USB, plus one less thing to lose.

 

[Blues]

@Appletax I might need to talk to you when I am ready and in the market for a mini or SFF to try and build a retro gaming emulator every time I look for these the prices seem wild or a touch over and include things I would rather source myself for less.

Related topic just what ever brands you are comfortable with I'm sure you can find a cheap option and depending on the system I question if USB or a PCIe card is better.