Introduction
Laptop’s wireless speed not fast enough? Try out EDUP EP-AC1617 AC1200 WiFi Adapter that I got from GearBest. It’s a high-performance 802.11ac Wi-Fi USB 3.0 dongle with dual band support – 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Support IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with 2T2R antenna. Powered by MTK7612 or RTL8812 chipset that provide a maximum transfer rate of 1200Mbps. How does it perform? Read this review to find out…
Special Thanks
This review is possible thanks to below companies. Be sure to check them out too…
- GearBest for this EDUP EP-AC1617 AC1200 WiFi Adapter and Xiaomi Wireless Router Pro
Package Content & Design
EDUP EP-AC1617 WiFi Adapter comes in a well protected package. There are mini CD driver, user manual and EDUP product leaflet too. EDUP EP-AC1617 dongle build quality is great. It has multiple dot design and rubberized feel housing. Very light in weight and size is just slightly bigger than large size flash drive which is easy to store and carry around. And there is a blue LED light indicator at the bottom. That’s it.
Performance Result
Play and plug is supported on Microsoft Windows 10. Yes, I don’t need to install any driver as Windows did all the job for me. By the way, my EDUP EP-AC1617 WiFi Adapter is using MT7612U chipset. You can download MT7612U driver for Windows, Linux and Mac directly from MediaTek Website too (link).
As for connectivity, I manage to get up to 866 Mbps on 5GHz and 400 Mbps on 2.4GHz. Wireless range is excellent for a USB dongle thanks to quality built-in 2T2R antenna. Yes, wireless range is much better than my mini PC. And below are the speed tests from iPerf3.
107 Mbit/s on 2.4GHz is the top performance that you can get from 2T2R device. No doubt of EDUP EP-AC1617 performance here.
295 Mbit/s on 5GHz channel is very good as well. Most of my AC1200 devices including Mi Pad 3 is getting this kind of result.
Let’s check file copying test. EDUP EP-AC1617 manages to get up to 32MB/s speed by reading files from Xiaomi Wireless Router Pro. That’s on par with my Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 that I have. Plenty of bandwidth for you to stream most of the 4K movie ISO (70 Mbit/s) out there. Even higher bit rate videos are playable too like JellyFish 140 Mbps video. Isn’t that great?
Advantages
- Excellent transfer rate
- Superior wireless range
- AC1200 2T2R 802.11ac
- Plug & play support
- Top-notch build quality
- Ultra-light & portable
Limitations
- None from me
Conclusion
EDUP EP-AC1617 WiFi Adapter is one of the best budget AC1200 USB dongles that you can get. With price around $17, you can’t go wrong with it. Enjoy excellent transfer speed and wireless range. Do get yours at GearBest like I did. Need USB extension base? Buy this one then.
