Top WiFi adapters and PCIe cards for mobile hotspots on PCs
Top WiFi adapters and PCIe cards for mobile hotspots on PCs
I’ll mainly use this for VR gaming over WiFi. Right now I rely on the A7000 Netgear Nighthawk ac1900 USB 3.0 WiFi dongle for all my connections and it delivers impressive speeds. However, when trying to activate a mobile hotspot, the typical 866 Mb/s drops to around 196 Mb/s when linked to my HMD. I haven’t discovered a solution yet and am curious if this is due to my dongle since my HMD supports WiFi 6 while I’m using WiFi 5 on my PC—there should be no performance issues there. What I’m really asking is: could a PCIe card or another USB dongle boost the mobile hotspot speed from my PC? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
That is an unidentified object. Could you provide more details?
Which adapter is connected? Is it using a USB 3 or USB 2 port on the PC? Are other devices sharing the same USB header? What Wi-Fi configuration are you applying when activating the A7000 in hotspot mode? How close are you to the hotspot while using your VR headset? Have you performed a wireless scan to check for overlapping networks?
But please share your setup details: channel width options, security settings, encryption method, output power level. Also let me know if MIMO activation in hotspot mode is possible, whether the A7000 chip is accessible, and the specific VR headset model you're using. That way I can give you a precise answer.
Channel width: 160 MHz Security: WPA3 Encryption: I believe AES MIMO works, though I’m unsure. Mobile Hotspot settings on Windows 10 seem quite restricted. There’s a dongle plugged into an included extension, positioned openly at the front of my desk with a clear line of sight to my headset. The Quest 2 is connected via USB 3.0, making it the only device on a Nativek Superspeed PCIe card, giving it ample bandwidth for a full slot. When I link my phone, it receives full 866 Mb/s, but my headset caps at 192 Mb/s despite my attempts to prioritize the connection and force it. No other devices are connected during active hotspot use.
After checking more details, it appears Windows 10 doesn’t support customizing channel width, security type, or encryption beyond basic SSID and password settings. Those advanced options aren’t accessible. Regarding setting up a hotspot on the A7000, you likely need to adjust adapter properties directly. Running the command `netsh wlan show interface` will display the current interface configuration.
These configurations are generally what you'd expect using the Netgear drivers on this dongle. Changing them would be difficult since it's likely intentional. Running the command prompt gives me the same results as before, though I usually accessed details via the adapter settings. It might be worth replacing the router and switching to WiFi 6, especially after upgrading to gigabit fiber a few months ago—speed improvements would be noticeable. The good news is my latency remains very low at just 3 ms compared to the Hotspot, which is impressive. Thanks for your assistance, @Falcon1986! I’ll keep the command prompt handy for regular checks. I’m considering a full reset on my Quest 2 to see if it resolves an issue I’ve been experiencing; since Oculus couldn’t help much, it’s worth trying. Good luck!