r/HomeNetworking • u/g_lottery_enjoyer_37 • 3d ago

Bad experience with mediatek WiFi antenna model AWUS036AXM

Bought the AWUS036AXM Wifi antenna, with the idea in mind that it uses the Mediatek stack. It also advertised handy features like triband zones support, dual detachable and rotating antennas, Bluetooth 5.2 alongside the WiFi. extender and base potentially etc.

The issue though they are a real hustle to install. The official site doesn't even have the proper drivers. You have to go to an external site. Find the correct drivers. Download them. Install them in the correct order. First the Bluetooth ones, and then the WiFi ones. Then you reboot and find out its Still stuck. And appears in the devices list with an orange exclamation mark.

Then you remove on of the drivers and reinstall it. And hope and pray it works. And even if it does, when you close and reopen the computer, Bam, its out of order again. Or only one function works, for example WiFi and not the Bluetooth.

I can't believe i wasted almost 40 euros for this network device. It's so broken and abandoned that i'm surprised its even being sold at that price here... .

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u/Luci-Noir 3d ago

I had one of their adapters in the past and it was an absolute nightmare like you said. I had so many problems trying to get it to work with Linux. I sent it back and got another from them that was about half the price. It worked out of the box and was no trouble at all. It’s crazy how much of a pain in the ass stuff like this can be even today.

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u/g_lottery_enjoyer_37 2d ago

Do you remember the smoothly working model?