Andrew Unsworth connects elderly laptops to 802.11ac networks with AVM’s latest USB wi-fi adaptor
Although 802.11ac wi-fi routers have been around for some time, not all devices ship with 802.11ac adaptors. This is a shame, because 802.11ac connections provide higher data transfer speeds at greater distances than older wi-fi standards. This is good news for anyone who frequently streams movies and music from a NAS device, or those lucky enough to have high-speed fibre-optic broadband.
If your device doesn’t have a built-in 802.11ac adaptor, you don't have to miss out: you can buy a USB 802.11ac wi-fi adaptor. AVM has for a long time released USB adaptors that are compatible with various wi-fi networks, but the FRITZ!WLAN Stick AC 860 is the company’s fastest USB adaptor to date.
The Stick AC 860 slots straight into a desktop or laptop computer’s USB port, but also comes with a tough 93cm-long extension cable. Installation was a breeze. The Stick AC 860 comes with a helpful user manual that makes good use of graphics to explain the various ways in which it can connect to a wireless network, and the Stick AC 860 can auto-install its FRITZ!WLAN Client utility when it’s inserted in a USB port.
We had no problem connecting to a network, but users must use the regular Windows wi-fi connection utility in the Taskbar, because the Stick AC860’s utility doesn’t have a scan and connect feature. While this is no hardship in the great scheme of things, it is a bit of shortcoming, as many other wi-fi adaptors’ utilities let users select and connect to networks from within the utility, and this is something we’d expect the FRITZ!WLAN Client utility to do too.
WPS connection is also available, and the FRITZ!WLAN Stick AC 860 supports AVM Stick & Surf, which is a neat feature that enables a secure connection to be made to a FRITZ!box without having to know the wi-fi security code. Users simply plug the Stick AC 860 into a FRITZ!box router’s USB port and the connection details are loaded onto the adaptor. When the user plugs the adaptor into a laptop or PC and selects that FRITZ!box router from the network list, the computer will connect to that FRITZ!box automatically.
When connected to a FRITZ!box 7490 on the 5GHz band with an 802.11ac connection, the FRITZ!WLAN Stick AC 860 transferred data at an average 149.13Mbps at a distance of one metre and eight metres, and 41.05Mbps at 15 metres. In comparison, the D-Link DWA-182 wi-fi adaptor (£42.98, www.dabs.com) transferred data at an average 142.47Mbps at one metre, 139.81Mbps at eight metres and 13.74Mbps at 15 metres.
The DWA-182 and the FRITZ!WLAN are well-matched, as both are rated at over 860Mbps. The data transfer rates of the two adaptors at 15 metres may seem like quite a drop-off, but the 15 metre test is difficult, and there are many obstacles between the router and the test laptop, such as walls and metal objects. We’d expect to see better performance from both adaptors under less severe conditions, and with a clear line of sight between the test laptop and the router.
The AVM FRITZ!WLAN Stick AC 430, which is rated at 433Mbps, produced an average data transfer rate of 139.81 at one metre, 126.41 at eight metres and 17.55Mbps at 15 metres. As the Stick AC 860 is only a few pounds more expensive than the Fritz!WLAN Stick AC430, it’s worth paying extra for the Stick AC 860 to benefit from the higher performance.
While it doesn’t make sense to buy the FRITZ!WLAN Stick AC 860 to use it with a 2.4GHz connection, it’s worth noting that its 2.4GHz-band performance is far from shabby. The Stick AC 860 transferred data at an average 83.89Mbps at eight metres, while the D-Link DWA-182 transferred data at an average 57.63Mbps. The FRITZ!WLAN Stick AC 430’s 2.4GHz performance was lacking in comparison, with that adaptor transferring data at an average 21.4Mbps at the same distance.
The FRITZ!WLAN Stick AC 860 is compact, fast and user friendly. If you’re looking to make the most of an 802.11ac router, the FRITZ!WLAN Stick 860 is a good choice, especially if you’re already using an AVM FRITZ!box. Andrew Unsworth
Great performance and competitively priced.