Freenet Antennas tested a number of USB adapters and decided on this one for the following reasons:

• From the same supplier that provides our hugely popular UltraWAP. We are very happy with the quality and performance of equipment from this supplier.
• This very versatile unit works with the following popular wifi tools:
  • Vistumbler for Vista.
  • Netstumbler See known bugs below.
  • Kismet, the passive wifi monitor. See known bugs below. Works with Linux and Windows
  • Aircrack, the wireless network auditor
• It has drivers for

  	Windows, including Vista		Linux
  	Macintosh		Intel IXP

• Works with Ubuntu 9.04 and greater, out of the box. No driver install required.
• It has an external rpSMA antenna connector. As modern laptops no longer come with PCMCIA slots, it is becoming increasingly difficult to add an WiFi interface with an external antenna connector. This unit solves the problem.
• Multi Mode:
  • Client (Station Infrastructure)
  • Ad-Hoc
  • Access point (AP). Yes! You can operate this unit as an AP. The Windows driver includes SoftAP which is used with this USB device to make an AP. Notice: SoftAP not available on Windows Vista.

Performance

At Freenet Antennas we like to do real world testing to confirm the quality of the gear we import and sell. Here is the result of a very successful 18.5 km test we did.

Distance	18.5 km. Clear line of Sight
AP end	UltraUSB mounted in a 17 dBi Intennatm. Connected to a PC running Windows XP. UltraUSB driver in SoftAP mode. Channel set to 6.
Client end	UltraUSB mounted in a 17 dBi Intennatm. Connected to a laptop running Windows XP. UltraUSB driver in 'client' mode. 802.11b (11 Mbps) mode selected.
Result	Instant connection with reported received signal levels of: Netstumber: -74 dBm [graph] UltraUSB GUI: 39%[picture] The reported receive speed was 6 Mbps.
Comment	With 802.11b mode selected at the client end, data connectivity was excellent with 100% success on a 100 packet PING test. If set to 802.11b/g mode, PING packets were unreliable despite the good connection - possibly due to a software limit on distance in 802.11g mode.

802.11g Wireless LAN Hi-Gain USB Adapter

• Complies with the IEEE-802.11g / b wireless standard
• High-Speed Wireless data rate up to 54Mbps
• 64/128/256-bit WEP, WPA Data Encryption function
• Portable mini size design with 2dBi antenna

Key Features

• Complies with the IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g 2.4GHz (DSSS) standards.
• Supports 64/128/256-bit WEP, WPA (TKIP, IEEE 802.1x) and AES functions for high level of security.
• Supports peer-to-peer communication among any wireless users. No Access Point required.
• Automatic fallback increases data security and reliability.
• Supports the most popular operating systems: Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP, Vista, Linux, Macintosh.
• Supports USB 2.0/1.1/1.0 interfaces.
• Operates in 3 modes: Client (Station Infrastructure), Ad-Hoc, and Access point (AP). Yes! You can operate this unit as an AP. The Windows driver includes SoftAP which is used with this USB device to make an AP.
• Uses the raLINK chipset which is very Linux friendly and allows packet injection and monitor mode with scanning.

Available in the 17 dBi Intenna

The UltraUSB is available pre-installed in our 17 dBi USB-tenna.

Click image to enlarge

Known Bugs

• VISTA: Works OK with supplied software. But "unknown device" reported by Netstumbler software. (Customer reports like this = 2)
• XP: Works OK with supplied software. But Netstumbler software only reports signals from strongest (closest) AP (Customer reports like this = 1)
• Win2000: Works OK with supplied software. But Netstumbler software only reports signals from strongest (closest) AP (Customer reports like this = 1)
• Linux: All works OK as a WiFi interface. With Kismet software, all APs are reported, but show no power levels. (Customer reports like this = 1)

Specifications

Standards	IEEE-802.11g /b
Bus Type	USB 2.0 Type A
Frequency Band	2.400~2.4835GHz (Industrial Scientific Medical Band)
Modulation	OFDM with BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM (11g), BPSK, QPSK, CCK (11b)
Radio Technology	Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
Data Rate	54 / 48 / 36 / 24 / 18 / 12 / 11 / 9 / 6 / 5.5 / 2 / 1Mbps auto fallback
Security	64/128/256-bit WEP Encryption, WPA (TKIP, IEEE 802.1x) and AES
Antenna	2dBi Hi-Gain external antenna supplied. You can add any WiFi compatible antenna for extra range.
Drivers	Windows 98SE, Me, 2000 and Windows XP, Vista, Linux, Macintosh, Intel IXP
LEDs	Link, Activity
Transmit Power	17dBm / 50 mW (Typical)
Receive sensitivity	-83.5 dBm@11 Mbps -70 dBm@54 Mbps
Temperature	32~122°F (0 ~50°C)
Humidity	0~95% (Non Condensing)
Certification	FCC, CE, C-tick

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What Not to Buy

Here is a widely available product we did not choose to sell even though it was cheaper.

Apart from major problems with the Windows driver, it had poor WiFi performance. When we opened it - found the manufacturer had simply soldered an rpSMA connector across the existing internal antenna. Anybody who knows anything about basic radio/antenna theory will instantly recognise that this completely changes the antenna impedance (from 50 to 25 ohms) and will cause significant loss of signal. A poor design indeed.

Click image to enlarge

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Documents

	Data Sheet
	Manual
	Drivers (Select USB RT257x/RT2671)
	Linux UltraUSB Users Page