Wi-Fi Adapters
A comparison of the TP-LINK TL-WN725N and Edimax EW-7811Un.
They are both the same size and cost but note the differences in Signal Level and Quality:
TP-LINK TL-WN725N
Bus 001 Device 039: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
# iwlist wlan0 scan wlan0 Scan completed : Cell 01 - Address: 00:15:E9:69:75:C2 ESSID:"dlink" Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg Mode:Master Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1) Encryption key:off Bit Rates:54 Mb/s Quality=0/100 Signal level=2/100
usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 44 using dwc_otg usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8179 usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 usb 1-1.2: Product: 802.11n NIC usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Realtek usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 00E04C0001 Chip Version Info: CHIP_8188E_Normal_Chip_TSMC_D_CUT_1T1R_RomVer(0) MAC Address = e8:94:f6:0b:e5:73
Edimax EW-7811Un
Bus 001 Device 036: ID 7392:7811 Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS]
# iwlist wlan0 scan wlan0 Scan completed : Cell 01 - Address: 00:15:E9:69:75:C2 ESSID:"dlink" Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg Mode:Master Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1) Encryption key:off Bit Rates:54 Mb/s Quality=53/100 Signal level=29/100
usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 43 using dwc_otg usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=7392, idProduct=7811 usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 usb 1-1.2: Product: 802.11n WLAN Adapter usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Realtek usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001