Ethernet ports are almost gone from laptops, unless it's a heavy gaming laptop. Thankfully this problem could be solved easily with a USB to Ethernet adapter.
Almost every PC hardware manufacturers are constantly trying to make their laptops and ultrabooks thinner and even more thinner.
And that comes at a cost, cutting down all the legacy I/O ports. Leaving users to deal with many adapters, docs and dongles.
So, here's a list of 14 different USB Ethernet adapter to give you an overview and insight. It will definitely help pick the best product for your purpose.
Contents
Things you should keep in mind
Driver compatibility: It's the first thing you should consider before buying. Most of the usb to ethernet cable listed below doesn't need any kind of driver installation on Windows 8 or Windows 10. But Windows 7 may require manual driver installation, specially when not updated.
Recent versions of Linux, Android and Chrome OS also doesn't need any driver installation. As default inbuilt USB to Ethernet driver has a wide range of hardware support.
There should be no need of driver installation on macOS 10.9 and above. Though there's few report regarding manual driver installation to get the adapter working properly. If needed, you can download the latest driver from their respective manufacturer's site.
Speed: Even there's no USB 3 port on your device, like a Raspberry Pi SBC, I'll recommend a USB 3.0 to Gigabit adapter.
A Gigabit adapter on USB 2.0 port could reach 250-300 MBps speed easily, about 3 times more speed compared to a 100M ethernet adapter.
Also there's no ridiculous price difference between a Gigabit and 100M adapter.
Port type: If there's both USB type A and type C port on your device, the you should go with a type C adapter.
May be there's a type C port on your phone, so you can use the adapter both on your laptop and smartphone. Another advantage is they're reversible, hence easier to connect.
Best USB to Ethernet Adapter
Here's a list of 5 USB LAN adapter, USB 3.0 type A. all of them with 1000 Mbps speed. Specially for somewhat older laptops, 2-in-1 detachables and convertibles, like Surface Pro.
And of course the adapters listed here supports all the basic Ethernet functionalities. Such as Wake on LAN, auto negotiation, auto MDI-X, and reverse compatibility with 10/100M Ethernet.
TP-Link TL-UE330
It's a descent usb ethernet adapter with 3 extra USB 3.0 ports, and reasonably priced. The casing is entirely made of plastic, though doesn't feel cheap.
| Model | TP-Link TL-UE330 |
| Build Quality | Good, Plastic body |
| Converter chip | Realtek RTL8153 |
| OS support | Windows 7 and above, macOS 10.9 and above, Linux kernel 3.x, Android 4.4 and above |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
You many feel the glossy plastic body somewhat disappointing. It's prone to scratches, if rubbed against hard surface. But I've to say the adapter performs reasonably well, both as a ethernet adaptor and USB hub.
If you're thinking about to connect a wireless keyboard, bluetooth adapter or 2.4 Ghz USB WiFi dongle, then it might disappoint you. The reason discussed at the end.
Anker USB 3.0 Unibody Aluminum Ethernet Adapter
It's a aluminium body adapter, so considerably rugged compared to the previous one, and there's no USB hub.
| Model | AK-A7611011 |
| Build quality | Excellent, Aluminium body |
| Converter chip | Realtek RTL8153 |
| OS compatibility | Windows 7 and newer, macOS 10.9 and above, Linux kernel 3.x series and newer |
| Warranty | 1.5 years of manufacturer warranty |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
As said before, this adapter is quite well built with sufficiently strong cable strain relief. So you can expect a relatively longer life when handled roughly.
There's 3 indicator LED on the adapter to show various status like power and data transfer speed. However you may feel it annoying, specially when using in a darker environment.
Plugable USB3-E1000 adapter
It's one of few adapter which uses a converter chip from ASIX, and compatible with Nintendo switch. Though the all plastic body is not that great.
| Model | USB3-E1000 |
| Build quality | Good, all plastic construction |
| Converter chip | ASIX AX88179 |
| OS support | Windows 8 and above, macOS 10.9 and newer, Linux 3.x, Nintendo Switch |
| Warranty | 1 year limited warranty |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
This USB to Ethernet adapter works just fine on Windows 10 and Linux, no driver installation is required at all. But the compatibility with Nintendo Switch makes it stand out of the crowd.
On linux 4.9 and above the cdc_ether driver can detect the device, but on older systems the ax88179_178a module is used instead.
The only downside I can find is it's relatively higher price outside USA.
TP-Link TL-UE300
Another cheap yet quality usb to ethernet adapter from TP-Link. Build quality is reasonably good, though it's all plastic construction.
| Model | TP-Link TL-UE300 |
| Build Quality | Good, All plastic body, with foldable flat cable |
| Converter chip | Realtek RTL8153 |
| OS support | Windows 7 and above, macOS 10.9 and above, Linux kernel 3.x, Android 4.4 and above |
| Warranty | 2 years, limited warranty |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
The most notable feature of this adapter is the foldable adapter cable and compact size. I'm using one from Oct-2017, still no fraying sign on the cable.
Just like any other RTL8153 based USB to LAN adapter, it works flawlessly on Windows 8, Windows 10, almost every Linux distribution and Android 4.4 and newer versions.
There's also no need of driver installation on Windows 10, just plug in and start using it.
Amazon Basics USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000M adapter
Nothing fancy here, it got the typical build quality, but the Amazon Basics adapter is with a AX88179 usb to etherent converter chip, like the Plugable USB3-E1000. It costs less than half of the Plugable adapter, at least for me.
So it's worth looking if you're looking for a cheaper alternative from a trusted brand.
| Model | AE3101X1 |
| Build Quality | Average, Plastic construction |
| Converter chip | ASIX AX88179 |
| OS support | Windows 7 and above, macOS 10.9 and above, Linux kernel 3.x series and newer |
| Warranty | Depends on Amazon |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
This adapter works without any problem on Windows 8, Windows 10, Linux and macOS. However it's explicitly mentioned that it's not for Android, Windows RT and pfSense.
As the ASIX AX88179 is used on this adapter, it should work with Nintendo Switch, at least theoretically.
USB Ethernet adapter for Mac
When it's about expansion port selection, Mac system are always a bit different. Previously there was Ethernet ports on Macbooks, but on newer models they're totally extinct.
Macbooks from few years back had USB 3.0 type A ports and Thunderbolt 2 ports. So you can use any of the above type A adapter without any problem. But there's very few thunderbolt ethernet adapter, all of them are made/approved by apple, check one below.
But latest Macbooks from 2017 has only and only Thunderbolt 3 ports, there's 4 of them on the 15" model.
Thankfully thunderbolt 3 uses the USB type C port, and they are pin compatible. So any macOS compatible usb C ethernet adapter should be usable too.
Belkin B2B145-BLK type C adapter
Belkin is one of the trusted names when it's about a networking equipment. The build quality is quite good, encased in a shiny plastic body, with good quality cable and connector.
There's few regional variant of the same adapter, but they're exactly same design from outside and inside.
| Model | B2B145-BLK |
| Build Quality | High quality all plastic body, reversible type C connector |
| Converter chip | RTL8153 |
| OS support | macOS 10.9 and later, all major Linux distros, Windows 8 and above, Android |
| Warranty | 2 years limited warranty |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
As other adapters, there's no driver installation required on macOS operating system,it's just plug and play. This adapter reaches around 90-100 MB/s transfer speed easily, quite close to gigabit speed.
Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
If there's a Thunderbolt 2 port on your Mac, then it's a good choice, the adapter is from Apple itself. Note that it won't fit on a thunderbolt 3 port, they're not pin compatible.
The adapter's built quality is quite good, a white all plastic body, much like the above Belkin adapter.
| Model | MD463LL/A |
| Build Quality | Very good, glossy plastic body, thunderbolt 2 adapter |
| Converter chip | Complex design, many chips |
| OS support | macOS all versions, 10.8 and newer |
| Warranty | 1 year |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
Though it's not a USB adapter, but it's worth including this one in this list. The main advantage of this adapter is there's no driver installation is required at all.
According to reviews, it performs quite well, capable of data transferring at near 1000Mbps speed.
Best USB C Ethernet adapters
USB type C is now almost mainstream, present in almost every thin and light laptops, ultrabooks and high end smartphones.
There's few advantage of type C usb ethernet cable compared to type A. As example, it's quite future proof, compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and ability to connect the same adapter on a wide range of hardware. The type C devices are reversible, hence easier to attach and detach.
Here's few shortlisted USB type C adapters, should be compatible with any type C port and thunderbolt 3 ports.
Plugable USB-C to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
One of the most popular USB type C ethernet adapter, powder coated metal body with a reasonable price tag. It's almost same as the Plugable USB type A adapter, mentioned before.
| Model | USBC-E1000 |
| Build Quality | Good, metallic body, average quality cable and connector |
| Converter chip | ASIX AX88179 |
| OS support | All latest macOS versions, Linux, Windows and Android and Chrome OS |
| Warranty | 1 year limited warranty, parts and labor |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
There's two LED in the RJ45 jack, to indicate connection and data transfer status.
The ASIX AX88179 chip is well supported on macOS, however there's few issue with faulty driver. You can download driver's from here. On Windows 10 or Linux, there's no driver related issue.
AmazonBasics USB 3.1 Type-C to Ethernet Adapter
Another AmazonBasics product, cheap yet functional, available in two colors, black and white.
| Model | AmazonBasics L6LUD013-CS-R |
| Build Quality | Good, all plastic body, fairly strong cable |
| Converter Chip | Unknown |
| OS support | MacOS 10.10 and above, Windows 7 and above, all major Linux, and Chrome OS |
| Warranty | 1 Year limited warranty |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
According to most user review, Gigabit level network transfer speed is easily achieveable with this adapter. Maximum reported throughput is up to 948 Mbit/s while tested with iperf3.
Though the USB to Ethernet converter chip of is not reported yet by anyone, it works just fine on all updated Mac and Windows systems, chromebooks are also in the supported device list.
Anker USB type C to Ethernet adapter with 3 port hub
Another quality product from Anker, with 3 extra USB 3.0 type A ports to attach other devices like a USB flash drive, card reader etc. etc.
Such adapter+hub combos are quite useful when there's only one USB port are available, like in a smartphone or tablet.
The silver colored aluminium body is quite well built. The attaching cable is also good enough, can easily provide up to 1.8 Amps to power hungry devices, however pass through charging is not supported.
| Model | AK-A8303041 |
| Build Quality | Good, Aluminium body |
| Converter chip | RTL8153 |
| OS support | All major Linux distros, macOS 10.9 and above, Windows 8 and above, Android |
| Warranty | 1.5 years |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
This USB to ethernet adapter seems to work quite well with macOS, however few users are facing problem, so Anker published a patch for mac OS. To download the patch and drivers for Windows, follow this link. The driver's are on the downloads section.
uni type C USB to RJ45 Ethernet Adapter
A relatively unknown brand, advertised as USB type C adapter specialist. But there's no doubt that their USB type C dongles have above average build quality, and better looks compared to others.
This adapter stands out with a sleek dark gray aluminium shell and braided wire, feels quite durable. There's two LED on the RJ45 jack, showing connection and data transfer status.
| Model | UNICE01 |
| Build Quality | Great, Aluminium shell body, braided wire, reversible connector |
| Converter chip | Unknown |
| OS support | Most of the Macbooks and iMacs , including 2017 versions, Windows, Android, Linux |
| Warranty | Not specified, probably covered by seller. |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
Compatibility with many devices is one of it's main highlights, like Macbooks, popular Android tablets and smartphones, and Chromebooks. So it should work with any macbook without any problem.
Dell USB type C Gigabit Ethernet adaptor
This USB LAN adapter from Dell features a good build quality and a flat connecting cable.
It's highlighted as it supports PXE booting, which is a partially true and a marketing tactic I believe. Any adapter with proper UEFI UNDI driver can do that. Realtek provides those drivers from their download page.
| Model | Various, |
| Build Quality | Above average, matt finish plastic body, flat cable |
| Converter chip | RTL8153 |
| OS support | Windows 8 and above, Linux, Android, macOS |
| Warranty | 1 year |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
This adapter is specially designed to support latest Dell XPS, Lattitude and Allienware series laptops, officially recommended by Dell. Here's the link to download drivers.
So, if you've a DELL laptop and want to use specially authorized accessories, then this could be your best choice.
Best micro USB to ethernet adapters
Micro USB still the main wired connectivity option for most Android smartphones and tablets. You can connect any type A adapter with a OTG cable, but it adds up unnecessary bulk.
So here's two shortlisted micro USB to ethernet adapter for somewhat easier ethernet connectivity on Android.
Smays Micro USB to RJ45 LAN adapter with 3 port powered hub
It's adapter is USB 2.0 hub with 3 type A ports and a 10/100M fast ethernet port,and a 5 volt power adapter. Much like a cheap docking station for Android or Windows tablets and smartphones.
However the power adapter is only for delivering extra power to the USB ports, not for charging the host device.
| Model | GAZEWALL19810006-1 |
| Build Quality | Average, glossy all plastic body |
| Converter chip | RTL8152 |
| OS support | Windows 8 and above, all linux distros, Raspbian, Android 4.4 and above |
| Warranty | Unspecified |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
The RTL8152 chip used in this device is pretty well supported by most operating systems, just like it's gigabit version RTL8153. So we could expect a stable operation and wide range of device support.
Here's the new version of the same on Amazon.
Plugable USB 2.0 OTG Micro-B to 10/100M Adapter
This is a perfect adapter for any Windows 10 tablet and most android tablets. Features a ASIX AX88772 chip, which has quite mature driver support.
However the build quality is not that good. All the plastic body, cable and the connector looks somewhat flimsy.
| Model | USB2-OTGE100 |
| Build Quality | Average, plastic body, avarage cable quality |
| Converter chip | ASIX AX88772 |
| OS support | Windows 8 and above, all Linux versions, Android 4.4 and above, Raspbian |
| Warranty | 1 year limited |
| Price | Check on Amazon |
Unlike all other's above, it's fast ethernet device, speed limited to 100Mbps. This adapter also said to be supported by Raspberry Pi Zero when using the Raspbian OS, which doesn't have any ethernet port.
Comparability with Android varies, however if you're using customs ROMs like Linage OS or various AOSP ports, then it's most probabbly supported.
Android driver support: A micro USB to Ethernet adapter can be connected to any android device with USB OTG functionality, if there's a proper driver. Most of the time the default cdc_ether driver is built-in inside the kernel, which has a wide range of converter chip support, including the RTL8153 and RTL8152.
Here's how to properly install RTL8153 driver on Linux.
Note - Interference with 2.4 GHz ISM band
As I've said earlier here, the USB 3 adapters with hub functionality may cause with interference with any wireless device connected to it operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.
It's because USB 3 signals works within a broad frequency range, and the 2.4 GHz band falls under the it's spectrum. So, there could be significant amount of RF radiation, specially when the connecting wires not properly shielded and long.
So, if you're planning to connect a USB bluetooth adapter, wireless keyboard-mouse receivers or a USB WiFi dongle, then they might not work as expected.
As of my personal experience, WiFi connection dropped few times while using the Amazon Basics adapter. But there's no drop if the signal is strong enough.
Then connected a Logitech Unifying wireless keyboard receiver to the TP-Link TL-UE330 adapter. No lags while the keyboard is close, but starts lagging and dropping when it's about 4-5 feet away.
And it starts lagging even more when I connect a USB 3 external hard drive.
Conclusion
WiFi speed has been improved quite a lot, however it's nowhere near a wired connection in real world. Ethernet is still the backbone of networking, either it's over copper or fiber.
So, sometimes for a better data transfer speed over network, ethernet is still much better choice. For optimal performance, pick one of those cables from this top ethernet cable list.
Hopefully this list is meaningful, expecting it to be useful, though somewhat long.
Very thorough reviews.
It would be interesting to note any differences between the ASIX and Realtek chips.
I have an ASIX88179 USB 3.0 > GbE that has never missed a beat
I've also got two other Volans aluminium USB 3.0 > GbE adapters that I haven't used that thoroughly and only identify as "Realtek USB GbE" (hardware ID: VID_08DA&PID_8153) which I'm assuming is the RTL8153.
Wondering if one would benefit me more than the other for running VM traffic on a small server running 24/7 (nothing critical, just home server stuff)
the realtek chip is not good !
ASIX88179(a) is the best chip
is there a throughput limit via USB? As I've been looking into them (mainly for my Fire Stick) I was wondering if 10/100 is about it's limit or if there's something out there spec'd for gigabit.
Really appreciated the article.
Of course there's a throughput limit through USB.
You should expect around 280 to 300 Mbps maximum throughput, if a Gigabit USB ethernet adapter is connect to a USB 2.0 port.
Don't USB-Ethernet dongles create a bottleneck at the USB port? Aren't we still better off buying a computer with a real ethernet port?
Absolutely USB Ethernet adapters are bottleneck to the wired network.
However sometimes and USB to ethernet is the only option to connect the system to a wired network, specially with modern thin and light laptops/ ultrabooks.
I have a work phone requiring Ethernet plug in or order to be operational. If i buy one of these adapters and connect it to my lab top do you think the phone will still be operational?
i have mitv 4a pro. it already comes with LAN, but it have 10/100 port, i want to change to 10/100/1000 port , it supports only usb 2.0 can i buy the first one tp link or any other suggestions please tell to me
It won't be helpful to achieve full gigabit speed, however still an improvement over the inbuilt 10/100M Ethernet port.
Still trying to get a RJ45 to USB adapter. Thanks to you all for the info.
Do any of these work for tvs? I have a new tcl Roku TV without a lan port. My house is wired for internet. I'm looking to have the TV wired with internet instead of wifi.To many phones and tablets are using up my wifi.
It depends, mostly on the TV stick's firmware.
If there's inbuilt driver, most probably it will work.
You should try with any cheap RTL8153 based usb to ethernet adapter.
the TP-Link TL-UE300 does NOT work with Android as clearly stated in its product description on amazon.
May be,
But it's working fine with my phone, running Lineage OS Oreo, using the
cdc_etherdriver.Thanks for listing individual products and the supported OS.
A little info for you, the Belkin type c adapter, works really good on windows 10.