alfa network awus036h Review

Alfa AWUS036H USB WiFi adapter, old but gold The adapter operates in the 2.4GHz frequency range, with 802.11b/g communication standards. Why we are writing about AWUS036H? you will understand a little later, having familiarized yourself with the main characteristics of this device and its capabilities. But all in order …

• awus036h chipset:Ralink RT3070
• Monitor mode: supported
• awus036h ap mode: supported

So. First about the adapter. This model was previously produced in a half-watt version, but the manufacturer has upgraded it and now it is one-watt. It is also worth noting that any adapter turns into miserable trash without a normal antenna, which is why my choice stopped at a narrowly directed antenna of 15 dB.

Alfa AWUS036H is a powerful (1000 mW) WiFi USB adapter for connecting to wireless 802.11g networks.
Included: adapter, USB cable, driver CD and 5dBi omnidirectional antenna!

The advantage of the adapter is the RP-SMA connector, so you can connect an external antenna. It should also be noted that the adapter is based on the popular Realtek 8187L chipset and has exceptional sensitivity, but only works in the 802.1G standard.

Most wifi points still support 802.1G standard, which limits the maximum transfer rate. It is extremely high sensitivity that makes it possible to successfully use this adapter for conducting research on the security of wifi networks.

This adapter is rightfully considered one of the best devices for hacking WiFi networks.
Testing for the discovery of access points in comparison with the laptop.

Alfa AWUS036H Contents of delivery

Alfa AWUS036H is delivered in a small cardboard box with color printing, which shows the device itself, the manufacturer’s logo and describes the main characteristics. All components supplied in the kit are neatly placed in a special plastic tray made of thin transparent plastic, thereby preventing any damage during transportation.

The Alfa AWUS036H delivery set is quite interesting and includes everything you need to start using the adapter. Including a special stand, which can be fixed with a suction cup on a vertical surface above the computer, thereby improving the conditions for receiving a radio signal.

The kit includes:

• adapter AWUS036H
• external antenna
• USB cable
• stand
• Suction cup for holder
• CD with drivers and software

And as we can see, for a device with a rather low cost, the scope of delivery is quite extensive.

Appearance and interfaces

The AWUS036H case is made in a futuristic style in the form of a rectangle and is made of high quality plastic. The upper part of the adapter is gray, with the Alfa logo and an LED indicator. At the same time, in its lower part, there is a Mini-USB connector for connecting the device to a personal computer.

And on the back, we see the RP-SMA connector for connecting an external antenna.

The sides of the device have only ventilation perforations. And on the lower part of the Alfa AWUS036H case, in addition to special legs that prevent the adapter from sliding on the table or any other horizontal surface, there is a label with the manufacturer’s logo, model name, certifications, MAC address and device serial number. And even a holographic sticker, most likely, in order not to be forged. 🙂

And as already mentioned above, there is a special stand in the kit, with which you can fix the adapter somewhere higher on a vertical wall or cabinet wall. All together, it looks like this:

AWUS036H Specifications

As we mentioned at the very beginning, Alfa AWUS036H operates in the 2.4GHz frequency range and supports IEEE802.11b / g wireless communication standards with connection speeds up to 54Mbit / s. But these are not its main advantages. One of the main criteria that played a major role in what we are now talking about is a fairly high output power of the radio module and an external antenna with a gain of 5dBi. That allows you to use this adapter to provide communication in various places where the reception conditions do not allow the use of other devices.

A complete list of technical characteristics:

Operation and testing

The main intrigue of this whole review lies in this part. More precisely, in the real application of the USB Wi-Fi adapter Alfa AWUS036H. Many of you have probably encountered a problem when, in some remote area or room, the reception of a wireless signal is so weak that it is almost impossible to use ordinary adapters. And laying a cable or installing an additional access point or repeater is not financially profitable. It is here that Alfa AWUS036H can come to the rescue.

This is exactly the situation we encountered in our office. Instead of an additional access point, the cost of which is several times higher than the cost of the adapter, we installed AWUS036H and got a fairly stable connection at a speed of 54Mbit / s and a completely stable Internet of about 18Mbit / s for a remote computer located in the farthest room. Thus, by sacrificing the connection speed, which, by the way, is not always needed above this threshold, we were able to save financially.

At the same time, at the moment, the adapter has been working for more than a month, and more than one failure was not noticed. The device practically does not heat up and completely fulfills all the tasks assigned to it.

Conclusions

As you already understood, in spite of the fact that the Alfa AWUS036H is in some sense an outdated device that does not support modern wireless communication standards, it can still do a good job in some specific conditions. The combination of low cost and increased power can do a good job in conditions of unstable reception.

Monitor mode WiFi adapter for Kali Linux

In the meantime, this material was being prepared for release, the Taiwanese company Alfa, presented several new models of USB WiFi adapters, such as AWUS036NHR, which, with the same characteristics, already support the IEEE802.11n communication standards and the connection speed up to 150Mbit/s.