StarTech USB31000S2 USB to Ethernet Adapter - USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit

Easy to use.plug and play. I Thought my laptop was incapable of gigabit throughput, the problem ended up being a CAT 5 cable was in use and not a CAT 6 . Yes the adapter did make the connection a little faster with the wrong network cable. CAT 5 is NOT capable of high speed transfer. I changed to a high speed CAT 6 cable and actually got BETTER throughput WITHOUT the adapter. This product best suits users who don't have a network input on their laptop, and must use USB. Will be returning because i don't need this adapter,i just needed a better cable. I will be purchasing a CAT 7 cable for this laptop station. Would have posted pictures of test scores but they wont let you. Speakeasy Bandwidth test 410 Mbps with adapter 750 Mbps without Ookla Bandwidth test 680 Mbps ... MoreEasy to use.plug and play. I Thought my laptop was incapable of gigabit throughput, the problem ended up being a CAT 5 cable was in use and not a CAT 6 . Yes the adapter did make the connection a little faster with the wrong network cable. CAT 5 is NOT capable of high speed transfer. I changed to a high speed CAT 6 cable and actually got BETTER throughput WITHOUT the adapter. This product best suits users who don't have a network input on their laptop, and must use USB. Will be returning because i don't need this adapter,i just needed a better cable. I will be purchasing a CAT 7 cable for this laptop station. Would have posted pictures of test scores but they wont let you. Speakeasy Bandwidth test 410 Mbps with adapter 750 Mbps without Ookla Bandwidth test 680 Mbps with adapter 799 Mbps without Tested on ATT Fiber Gigabit network (1000 Mbps) will probably get better speed with CAT 7 cable

I bought this with the intention of connecting my virtual network environment to my real hardware for lab purposes. For the most part, it seems to work for normal stuff like connecting your computer to an Ethernet cable for inernet connectivity. The problem arise when trying to connect virtual and real lab environments. I have experienced flapping interfaces between my virtual router and physical layer 3 switch. I have tried numerous configurations and routing protocols, but the flapping interfaces remains. I won't let that fact ding this review too much. I am sure that for most people who aren't doing networking labs, this is just fine. That said, if you wan't a NIC for your lab, then you may want to explore options.

The built in Ethernet adapter on my almost 10-year old Lenovo ThinkPad W700 get fried by lightning a couple years ago. Fortunately, the Wi-Fi adapter was not damaged, so I still had Internet and network connectivity, but at Wi-Fi speeds. That was not at problem until the W700 was replaced about 18 months ago by a Lenovo ThinkPad P71 and the Lenovo W700 was moved upstairs. Our house has a metal roof and the Wi-Fi throughput is significantly degraded in that area of our house. Not a big problem for Internet usage but moving large files, doing backups, or syncing files between the two-system using our LAN became painfully slow. So much so that I started using the old 'sneaker net' approach and began moving files and data back and forth with thumb drives. My W700 is ... MoreThe built in Ethernet adapter on my almost 10-year old Lenovo ThinkPad W700 get fried by lightning a couple years ago. Fortunately, the Wi-Fi adapter was not damaged, so I still had Internet and network connectivity, but at Wi-Fi speeds. That was not at problem until the W700 was replaced about 18 months ago by a Lenovo ThinkPad P71 and the Lenovo W700 was moved upstairs. Our house has a metal roof and the Wi-Fi throughput is significantly degraded in that area of our house. Not a big problem for Internet usage but moving large files, doing backups, or syncing files between the two-system using our LAN became painfully slow. So much so that I started using the old 'sneaker net' approach and began moving files and data back and forth with thumb drives. My W700 is from the days before USB 3.0 and only has native USB 2.0 ports. USB 2.0 thumb drives is certainly faster than weak Wi-Fi but still relatively slow, and always cumbersome. The first thing I did was obtain a StarTech USB 3.0 ExpressCard. The USB 3.0 ExpressCard has worked perfectly. Having one USB 3.0 port means I can use USB 3.0 Thumb drives. USB 3.0 connectivity at both ends of the LAN made moving larger amounts of data faster but I still had the hassle of physically carrying thumb drives back and forth, and up and down stairs, between the two Lenovo systems. I tried a USB 2.0 ethernet adapter, but speeds were about the same as Wi-Fi. Then I tried the StarTech USB 3.0 Ethernet adapter plugged into the StarTech USB 3.0 ExpressCard. I had no idea if this would work and crossed my fingers as I rebooted Windows 10. And work it did, and very well I might add. Now I can once again move large blocks of data such as 200 or 300 15mb-18mb photo files between my two Lenovo laptops in a minute or less. And one of my backup strategies of syncing files between the two systems is now much quicker.