Well packaged, works fine, consistent, but not as fast as PCIE Wifi cards given that it is only 300mbps.FYI, you need cd rom drive to install the needed drivers for it to work.If a cd rom drive is not available, you can download the drivers from TP Link website. Search TP-Link TL-WN823N driver then select the hardware version, mine is V3. Then select the right driver for the model.Model and hardware version is found in the serial number in the box.

5/5 for performance, 1/5 for drivers installation

I gave this 3 stars because it has 5 star performance at an inexpensive price point when you finally get it running but it gets 1 star for the drivers and installation process.I took me almost an hour to get this installed on a Windows 7 Pro machine because the software stopped at the much mentioned "device not recognized" or "device not installed" issue. This is because the latest software release on the CD and the www.tp-link.com website doesn't have the windows drivers bundled with it. It took a bit of investigating but this is what you need to do to get it installed:You need to download the "TL-WN823N(US)_V2_160315" version for Win 7/8 or the "TL-WN823N(US)_V2_160311_win 10" version for Win 10 which do have the OS drivers. Then extract the correct drivers ... MoreI gave this 3 stars because it has 5 star performance at an inexpensive price point when you finally get it running but it gets 1 star for the drivers and installation process.I took me almost an hour to get this installed on a Windows 7 Pro machine because the software stopped at the much mentioned "device not recognized" or "device not installed" issue. This is because the latest software release on the CD and the www.tp-link.com website doesn't have the windows drivers bundled with it. It took a bit of investigating but this is what you need to do to get it installed:You need to download the "TL-WN823N(US)_V2_160315" version for Win 7/8 or the "TL-WN823N(US)_V2_160311_win 10" version for Win 10 which do have the OS drivers. Then extract the correct drivers folder for your OS to the desktop. Next run windows "Device Manager" and look for "unknown device" under "Universal Serial Bus controllers". Right click on it and "Update Driver Software..." then "Let me pick from..." option and point it to the extracted folder. It may take 5-10 mins to install because windows will create a restore point first. The device should now show up under "Network adapters" in the Device Manager but will not be functional yet. You will need to reboot the PC without the adapter installed then plug it in after boot up and see if the USB device software is activated properly. It took me two iterations of manually installing the drivers before it showed up in the windows "Network

Hit or miss if it even sees my wifi network.

I have tried to use this a number of times. I have had success with it seeing my wifi network and connect and used successfully once (after about 30 mins fiddling around and updating drivers to actually find my wifi). This is a hit or miss whether it even sees my wifi network which is actually visible on other devices. It is not an issue with signal - my place is so small that I get full bars in all rooms (just don't want to run cords to the old desktop pc ). It successfully see's my wifi one time and since then I cant get it to even recognise my wifi network. either shows no networks or the neighbours locked network (which sometimes I wish I had the password for... lol). Don't waste your money or your sanity. Buy something else. I'm even taunted of the brand all ... MoreI have tried to use this a number of times. I have had success with it seeing my wifi network and connect and used successfully once (after about 30 mins fiddling around and updating drivers to actually find my wifi). This is a hit or miss whether it even sees my wifi network which is actually visible on other devices. It is not an issue with signal - my place is so small that I get full bars in all rooms (just don't want to run cords to the old desktop pc ). It successfully see's my wifi one time and since then I cant get it to even recognise my wifi network. either shows no networks or the neighbours locked network (which sometimes I wish I had the password for... lol). Don't waste your money or your sanity. Buy something else. I'm even taunted of the brand all together.

Review of TP-LINK TL-WN823N USB Wireless Adapter - N300, Single-band

The TP-link USB wireless adapter is fabulous. It saves having an electrian install an extra ethernet box upstairs. It's compact and the Internet is just as fast as it is downstairs near the modem. This solved all my problems for what was it, £7. Or so. Delighted.

Ultra portable, almost to its own detriment

- These benchmarks were taken on my desktop, roughly 15 feet away from my router; averaged from 5 tests each. - Ethernet: 18.6ms 3.6MB/s Down 740KB/s Up - Adapter with Windows drivers: 20ms 1.86MB/s Down 746KB/s Up - Adapter with TP-Link drivers USB2.0: 19ms 1.99MB/s Down 744KB/s Up - Adapter with TP-Link drivers USB3.0: 19.6ms 966KB/s Down 729KB/s Up - Unsurprisingly, the Ethernet connection provided the best speeds and was nearly perfectly consistent between tests. As for varying the drivers, there was virtually no difference; the results were fairly consistent between tests but nowhere near the Ethernet connection. The only outlier in the benchmarks was plugging the adapter into a USB3.0 port, which provided very inconsistent results which were slower than ... More- These benchmarks were taken on my desktop, roughly 15 feet away from my router; averaged from 5 tests each. - Ethernet: 18.6ms 3.6MB/s Down 740KB/s Up - Adapter with Windows drivers: 20ms 1.86MB/s Down 746KB/s Up - Adapter with TP-Link drivers USB2.0: 19ms 1.99MB/s Down 744KB/s Up - Adapter with TP-Link drivers USB3.0: 19.6ms 966KB/s Down 729KB/s Up - Unsurprisingly, the Ethernet connection provided the best speeds and was nearly perfectly consistent between tests. As for varying the drivers, there was virtually no difference; the results were fairly consistent between tests but nowhere near the Ethernet connection. The only outlier in the benchmarks was plugging the adapter into a USB3.0 port, which provided very inconsistent results which were slower than anything else. - These benchmarks were taken on a HP Pavilion DV4 1222NR running only on battery power, just over 100 feet away from my router. The most appropriate drivers were used for each adapter. USB adapters were always plugged into the same USB2.0 port; averaged from 5 tests each (unless otherwise noted). - Wireless card: 20.6ms 959KB/s Down 723KB/s Up - Adapter: 22ms 293KB/s Down 123KB/s Up; failed last 4 tests due to connectivity issues. - Older adapter (TL-WN722N): 22.3ms 330KB/s Down 369KB/s Up; failed first test due to connectivity issues. - Older adapter (TL-WN722N) with larger antenna (TL-ANT2408C): 21.4ms 463KB/s Down 343KB/s Up - These benchmarks demonstrate the importance of bus speed and antenna size. The built in wireless card was able to trounce all the other wireless solutions quite decisively, with a fairly large antenna and a faster bus speed than the USB adapters. The USB adapters had fair performance, but connectivity issues which were gradually resolved as I moved up to larger antennas. - This last set of benchmarks were taken on my phone (LG Optimus Elite) while sitting at my desktop. These benchmarks were taken to quantify the softAP feature of the adapter. - Phone using existing WiFi: 28.6ms 901KB/s Down 403KB/s Up - Phone using softAP WiFi: 32.6ms 1.15MB/s Down 308KB/s Up - There’s not much in these numbers, but they were consistent, I would say that the softAP feature of this adapter is useful if you have a lower end wireless router and find yourself often out of your router’s WiFi range. - In conclusion, this adapter is really best suited as a replacement for a laptop’s dead wireless card. For a desktop PC, where mobility is not important, you would use a hardwire connection, a less mobile wireless adapter, or even an internal wireless card. For a laptop, this adapter was beaten by a 4 year old wireless card, making it useless if you planned to upgrade your wireless performance. Even so, it worked through my subjective tests, and stood up to video streaming, online gaming, and VOIP. I still however, would only recommend this adapter to somebody valuing portability above all else, or somebody who would make freque