What do I need to know about wirless USB options for mac pro?

[Ravich]

I *really* hate the new visual layout/UI. Anyways, with that out of the way:


I just moved. I was previously using an outlet adapter where one outlet connects to the router via ethernet and the other one connects from another outlet in the house to my mac pro. In an attempt to avoid the cord complications, my roommate supplied me with a USB wireless adapter. Not sure what to say about it other than that it is tiny, and it says TP-link on it.

I did my usual trouble shooting and googling to attempt to find something out, but 20 minutes later I'm still not seeing any enlightening information.

How exactly do I go about using this thing to acquire an internet connection on my Mac Pro? I'm running OSX 10.9 on a 2009 2.93G 8 core mac pro.



Further research has revealed this: http://www.hackintoshosx.com/files/file/4331-tp-link-tl-wn723n-v3-tl-wn725n-v2-usb-wifi/

I found another thread with a link to realtek drivers, but they only go up to 10.8

 

[ActionableMango]

Your post is confusing, but I think you are trying to connect to a wi-fi router using a USB wi-fi adapter that isn't well supported in OS X.

For a clean, factory-like install and zero worries about drivers well into the future, I would get an Airport card and hook it up to the existing antennas. Here is an article about that.

 

[Ravich]

The reason I havent gone with that option is that it is expensive, and I frequently hear that the casing of mac pros interferes with the signal.

 

[ActionableMango]

I understand, but because it's Apple hardware you'll have driver support in OS X forever, which is exactly your problem now.

You can go here to see a list of compatible USB WiFi options, but note that most of them also don't have driver support all the way up to Yosemite 10.10--the cheap wireless USB adapter people have a history of dropping driver support.

Because of that, I'd predict that the very few adapters actually supporting Yosemite are likely to not support for El Capitan, or whatever comes after that. So if you go this route, there's a good chance you'll just have the same problem again in the future. You'll update to 10.12 or whatever, only to find that you've lost network connectivity.

On the other hand, I suppose the USB dongles are cheap enough that you can just buy one every time they stop being supported, and it will still be less expensive and easier than installing the Airport card.

 

[Ravich]

Sounds about right. I think I'll go with that solution for now. Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

 

[H2SO4]

The reason I havent gone with that option is that it is expensive, and I frequently hear that the casing of mac pros interferes with the signal.

I think it does. I’ve exclusively gone cable on my MP for that very reason. Even worse if you have a USB3 card installed.

 

[krypticos]

i have a 06 pro with the internal wifi and bluetooth cards that i installed myself and the signal straight on both of them are very good. bluetooth works up to about 10 feet away with out issue and wifi is probably double that.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I think a better solution if you want to use WIFI instead of your "outlet adapters" (Powerline?), would be to get a cheap WIFI router, set it to BRIDGE MODE, and connect it directly to the ethernet jack on your Mac Pro.

Basically, the bridge device connects to the WIFI in your house, and converts it to wired ethernet, which plugs into your ethernet jack.

This way, no worries about WIFI adapter compatibility with OSX, and since it's EXTERNAL to your Mac Pro, you get the best signal, and best speed. Most routers can be set to bridge mode, so you can buy any model you want, to support any speed of WIFI you want (g,n, or ac).