I recently purchased a TP Link TL-WN881ND wireless network card. This wireless network card is designed for desktop computers. It came with two short two decibel antennas.
I purchased this wireless network adapter card at a local computer store. I just needed a basic wireless network adapter card for one of my office computers. The packaging does not stipulate that this device is compatible with Microsoft Windows ten operating system.
However, I quickly installed this on a quad core computer with Microsoft Windows ten operating system installed and low and behold this device was detected. This is a 802.11 N wireless network adapter. This wireless network adapter included a compact disc read only memory disc, quick installation guide, and technical support guide.
Also, included was a bracket so that you could install this wireless network adapter in a small form factor personal computer. This TP Link TL-Wn881ND is compatible with Microsoft Windows eXPerience, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows seven, and Microsoft Windows eight operating systems. Also, both x86 thirty two bit and x64 sixty four bit operating systems are supported.
This wireless network adapter card has a peripheral component interconnect express interface, which is another reason why I purchased it. This device supports up to three hundred megabits per second bandwidth, which I have never been able to obtain. However, the installation on a computer with Microsoft Windows ten operating system installed, was a breeze.
You can install this wireless card in a PCI peripheral component interconnect express X1, X4, X8, and X16 slots. I had already verified my Gigabyte motherboard had a vacant X1 peripheral component interconnect express slot. For testing purposes I installed the two short two decibel antennas that were included.
I did not have to install the supplied drivers that were included on a compact disc read only memory disc. Microsoft Windows ten operating system had loaded a Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 driver. I was able to connect to a xfinitywifi access point with in seconds.
This PCI peripheral component interconnect express wireless adapter connected at 144.4 megabits per second which is quite normal for these types of wireless network cards. I have never been able to connect at three hundred megabits per second. Some individuals claim that most wireless 802.11 N cards never will connect at three hundred megabits per second.
Over all I was quite pleased with how easy it was for me to install this TP Link TL-WN881ND wireless adapter in Microsoft Windows ten operating system. The signal strength was not the greatest with the supplied antennas. I received only two to three bars.
There can be many reasons why the signal strength is this weak. TP Link’s official web page claims that Microsoft Windows ten operating system is not supported. However, I proved otherwise. The weak signal could have been do to wireless interference in this building.
Also, these two two decibel antennas are replaceable. I tested the signal quality with an xfinitywifi broadcast identification. I currently do not have broadband or digital subscriber line Internet access.
I have an older Belkin MIMO G wireless router and I receive a strong wireless signal from that router. Perhaps the fact this wireless G router is in the next room, could be the reason. You can purchase longer and higher decibel TP-link wireless antennas.
I was not able to find out what the highest decibel antenna that this TP Link TL-WN881ND wireless adapter card will support. However, I have seen nine decibel antennas listed on their official website. An antenna upgrade could possibly help create a stronger wireless signal.
You might want to make certain that an antenna upgrade is compatible with this TP-Link wireless card before you purchase replacement antenna(s).
TP Link TL-WN881ND – Wireless PCI Express Windows 10 Install Video Transcript
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Ultra video putted te I just want to
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make this quick video installing this
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tp-link PCI Express adapter it’s a 300
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megabit per second it only supports
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wireless and I went to a local computer
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store as you can see I paid $25.99 for
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it and I just need some quick so I can
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have wireless n they didn’t have any AC
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Wireless cards and so I just picked this
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the price isn’t too bad tp-link and they
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included a small generic box that just
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has this is a bracket that you can
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install this is for a smaller case those
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really you know small then computer
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cases I’m trying to install it in a
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cooler or master I have a cooler master
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this is a quad core with a gigabyte
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motherboard and you have to kind of
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excuse my mess but I’ve got a lot of
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wires here this is this is the you know
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for a smaller type computer so this
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isn’t going to work and then there was a
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quick installation guide that came in
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the box a little technical support and
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then there was the drivers now I might
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not need the drivers disc the Box says
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it supports up to Windows 7 I’m running
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Windows 10 and then there were two
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really small antennas I have I have
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longer antennas that I probably will
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hook up you can do that you just have to
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it’s just physics it just depends on
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what size you know what the the greatest
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length you can use but as long as the
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connections are the same and I’ll go
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through that in video and then here’s
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the card itself as you can see on the
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box it’s just got basic stuff but on the
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side it tells you did it I know on one
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side on this side it says I think you
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might be able to see it it says that it
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supports Windows 8 7 Vista XP
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now I’ve noticed with Windows 10 older
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devices work out of the box so we shall
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see and here’s the card itself it came
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in this anti-static bag but it’s just a
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simple it’s it this isn’t a x1 it’s an
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it’s a PCI Express card and actually the
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box says it supports PCI Express 2.0 PCI
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Express slot X 1 X 4 X 8 or X 16 now the
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x1 are real small and you can see it on
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the motherboard sorry for the lack of
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lighting but you see this the white slot
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delight slots right there that’s x1 you
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see the blue one that’s x16 that’s
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either X 8 or X 16 but so this will fit
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so what I’m going to do is I’m just
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gonna then also I have to press down on
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this tab so then this releases these
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these covers let’s see if I can I have
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to see I’m trying to do this without
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moving my computer so that’s what I’m
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doing it this way oh you press up that’s
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right you press up and you lift out now
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I took the blank out this was factory
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installed you just twist them I don’t
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want to remove them do you see this one
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blow rate let’s see
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I gotta get put right here you just
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press down on it and you just kind of
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twist them back and forth and Nick right
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here and they come out but I don’t want
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to remove that one so I’m going to just
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slide in the card I don’t need to add
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that additional connector will drive it
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it’s the wrong way so you just slide it
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in and you just there it slides right
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there and it’s flush and then I’m going
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to screw it down I always screw down
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then what you do wants you to screw it
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down you just move this lever back and
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you just make sure it’s tight and that’s
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it so this will be the end of this part
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that they’ll speak three separate parts
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but one video
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adios ultra video put a decoy on back so
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as you can see I have the TN wireless
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card installed and now I just need to
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connect the radial antennas now you see
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how small they this these are these are
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very small but I have larger ones right
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here I’ve got I think this is like five
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five inches or something like that and
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this is really long I think this is nine
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inches this one will fit believe it or
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not see the end it’s the same connector
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and see they all have the same
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connections but for now what I’m going
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to do just to get this working on and
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install the two ones that are provided
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but later on I’m going to test these
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this is from an old Alfa device that
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these are both from an Alfa device but
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they’ve got the same connections so you
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just screw in the antenna you just do it
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one at a time and they’re just real
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simple
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and then they twist these aren’t very
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good because they’re River they’re small
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but you can always whatever will fit and
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whatever the card supports you can
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always upgrade so I’ve got two obviously
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one is super large but at least I can
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replace one with with one of these that
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it’s longer it’s about five inches of
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six inches something like that okay so
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that’s it
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so then I’m going to come back and I’m
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going to boot up Windows 10 we’ll see if
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it works right out of the box a Jules
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Oh tribute letter – oh I’m back so to
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try to finish this installation of this
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tp-link TL w and eight eight one and D
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it’s a three hundred megabits per second
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Wireless and PCI Express adapter
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supports eight seven vista XP it also
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supports PCI Express one what is it 1 4
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8 and 16 all right so let’s see in
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Windows now what I want to do is I want
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to unplug my Ethernet cable because I’ve
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got that I was using a router so we’re
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going to unplug the ethernet cable and
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we’re going to see if this will work
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right are the Box open network in all
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right then we can see
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change adapter settings there’s the
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Ethernet there’s the qualcomm atheros AR
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90 287 wireless network adapter and
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we’ll see if it will connect show
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available networks
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oh so windows loaded the driver for it
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now I use Xfinity Wi-Fi so we’re going
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to connect to this and we’re just going
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to see if it’ll connect I’ve connected
0:08:05.390,0:08:12.590
there before so it should have my
0:08:07.010,0:08:18.580
credentials but we’ll see if right out
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of the box that okay wants me to login
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that’s fine we’re almost there I will be
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right back I just need to login and then
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I think this will work be right back I’m
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back as you can see I’m on the internet
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so my extent any Wi-Fi credentials were
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accepted and then we can go we can go to
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youtube and I’ll just show you
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it’s working now this was on Windows 10
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64 bit professional and I have
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coolermaster case and a gigabyte
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motherboard and what we can do is we can
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go back here and we can look at the
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speed I think we can look at we can look
0:09:00.770,0:09:07.340
at the properties and see what it’s
0:09:02.390,0:09:10.820
connecting at I guess it has Qualcomm
0:09:07.340,0:09:16.360
after os– a are 92 87 chipset I guess
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and what we can do is there should be a
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we should be able to look at the where’s
0:09:20.960,0:09:27.470
that at
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Oh status so look look at the speed now
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this is a 300 megabits per second device
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is connected at 144 the signal quality
0:09:34.880,0:09:40.170
isn’t very good that could be why it’s
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only connected at 144 but that’s I think
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technically end speed that’s the slowest
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and speed I think 300 megabits per
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second is the fastest but as you can see
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it’s connected to Xfinity Wi-Fi I’m
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happy with that I’m not happy with the
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signal quality but what we can do is the
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details you know got an IP address blah
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blah what I do I have my own caching
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name servers that’ll help a little bit
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and I’ll change I’ll change it to my
0:10:06.570,0:10:14.280
local caching name server and my little
0:10:11.270,0:10:16.440
anyways not to digress about that so I’m
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okay with that right now so out of the
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box as you can see it works now the
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other thing what we can do is drivers
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I’ll look for Windows 10 drivers that
0:10:22.890,0:10:28.290
can affect your connection signal
0:10:26.400,0:10:30.510
quality believe it or not because the
0:10:28.290,0:10:32.670
hardware needs to know how to talk to
0:10:30.510,0:10:35.970
the software meaning the operating
0:10:32.670,0:10:38.160
system and if it’s just you it looks
0:10:35.970,0:10:41.790
like Windows 10 has drivers for but I’m
0:10:38.160,0:10:43.860
going to still go out to tp-link and
0:10:41.790,0:10:48.960
then I’m going to look for drivers for
0:10:43.860,0:10:50.550
TL w and 88 1 and D for Windows 10
0:10:48.960,0:10:52.560
hopefully they have Windows 10 drivers
0:10:50.550,0:10:54.680
if not you know what I’m saying
0:10:52.560,0:10:57.120
for now I think this will be functional
0:10:54.680,0:10:58.200
let’s see what can we do I don’t want to
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play a youtube video because I don’t
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want to get a copyright strike but just
0:11:00.420,0:11:05.990
a test also look at look at the the
0:11:06.530,0:11:10.440
antennas look how small they are I mean
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those those aren’t very good you’ll have
0:11:10.440,0:11:15.930
to excuse all my wires but I’ve got a
0:11:12.570,0:11:17.250
longer one and I’m going to test this
0:11:15.930,0:11:20.040
one I’m going to even try to hook this
0:11:17.250,0:11:22.110
guy up and I might make a video in till
0:11:20.040,0:11:24.870
until you that helps but what we can do
0:11:22.110,0:11:26.940
is we can close out of this now and I’m
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trying I’m just trying to test what can
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we do to test speed I don’t want to play
0:11:30.900,0:11:37.410
a video though but because you’ll get a
0:11:35.760,0:11:40.230
copyright you can get a copyright strike
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I’m trying to think what what we can do
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here on the Internet
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how about we’ll just look up my weather
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for my weather forecast how about that
0:11:48.470,0:11:52.870
but I didn’t have to drive load any
0:11:51.120,0:11:55.420
drivers
0:11:52.870,0:11:57.070
it is not the blazing staff that that
0:11:55.420,0:11:59.740
could be the DNS servers because right
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now I’m using Comcast’s and quite
0:11:59.740,0:12:08.350
frankly I’m not impressed with theirs
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but I mean we can go back to YouTube
0:12:08.350,0:12:20.050
and it seems ok let’s just scroll down
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in it’s not the best but it could be the
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DNS it could be the drivers so we’ve got
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some work to do but out of the box it
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worked on Windows 10 and I’ll let you
0:12:30.490,0:12:33.970
know I might make a second video maybe a
0:12:32.290,0:12:36.610
review video this is just the
0:12:33.970,0:12:40.540
installation video and I’ll go over and
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I’ll let you know did one of my other
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antennas help you know I’m saying where
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is that the drivers was it the DNS
0:12:47.290,0:12:51.720
servers ideals