Setup and Installation

We installed the TRENDnet 300Mbps Wireless N USB 2.0 adapter on a Hypersonic notebook running a 32-bit version of Windows Vista - the driver also includes support for Windows 2000 and XP, but only 32-bit versions. Under Vista 32-bit at least, there is no need to install any drivers. After plugging in the device to the notebook, Vista automatically detected the device correctly right away and we were able to connect to our wireless networking without needing to reboot. The whole process of installing the device and drivers and connecting to a wireless network took around two minutes.

We tried plugging the adapter into a machine running a 64-bit version of Windows Vista and unlike the 32-bit version of Vista, it asked for a driver to proceed with the install, but we didn't have it and we haven't had any word from TRENDnet on when or if there will be a 64-bit driver available. Bad mark right there chalked up on the white board.

As long as your wireless router is working in either 802.11b/g/n or any mixed modes of those wireless standards, this adapter will work just fine. During testing we set our D-Link Extreme N router to work in 802.11n mode only and we didn't experience any issues and the rated connection speed at close (1 - 5m) range was 270Mbps at best. The TEW-624UB adapter detected that we had WPA2 (AES) security enabled on the D-Link DIR-655 wireless router and had no issues working with security enabled.

All in all, setup and installation was a piece of cake and took only a few minutes to get fully operational - just as long as you are using a 32-bit Windows operating system or you will run into a hurdle or two.

Now, let's move onto the included software and take a closer look.