Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Thomas Drew photo
Italy, Rome
1 Level
764 Review
58 Karma

Review on ASUS PCE AC88 AC3100 802 11AC Adapter by Thomas Drew

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Amazing when it works but fatal error

As many others have said this card is amazing when it works. I had a stable 1.2 Gbps connection to my Unifi DreamStation 15 feet away. Transferring large files to my home NAS was incredibly fast. Unfortunately, the problem with the card, like many others, is that it randomly stops seeing Wi-Fi networks and only a restart of the adapter or restart of the PC gets it working again. I ordered this card after reading the reviews. As an IT professional with nearly 30 years of experience, I just realized that previous users were having isolated or one-off issues (or just didn't know what they were doing) and decided to try it myself. However, after launching for the past few weeks, I can tell that something is really wrong with these cards. It worked for me for a week, no problems. Installed the latest driver (from 2018) on a high-end rugged water-cooled gaming rig. Excellent range and throughput, I played just as well online with ping and latency as I did on my wired network. When this happened, the only thing that could restore the connection was powering off/re-enabling the card or rebooting the system. Fortunately, previously the card showed that it was working correctly in Device Manager, but it didn't show any Wi-Fi networks as available. Second, you restarted the adapter, then suddenly the Wi-Fi networks appeared and reconnected and everything would be fine. Until next time, he just decides not to see WiFi anymore. =) Sometimes it worked for days without problems, then it worked 3-4 times in 30 minutes. And that has nothing to do with heat. I also methodically tested all of the adapter's driver settings to see if I could narrow it down to a power issue or driver settings, but no changes seemed to make a difference. Unfortunately I'm sending it back after troubleshooting last week and will stay connected for now. That's very bad because if the card works, I've never used a Wi-Fi card as fast as this one. But I have to work all the time, not just when I feel like it.

Pros
  • Computers & Accessories
Cons
  • Available in white only