Insignia™ - USB 3.0-to-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter - White

There is a driver incompatability that rendered all networking functions on two different MacBooks that I own inoperable, including the wifi adapters on both machines. I followed the driver installation instructions precisely, using drivers that I downloaded for the product from the Insignia website. My machines are a late 2016 Macbook Pro with touch bar, running OSX High Sierra, and a 2015 Macbook Air with OSX Sierra. I ended up having to boot both machines into recovery mode and having to reinstall the operating systems on both machines in order to remove the Insignia (Realtek) adapter drivers and restore any networking functionality back to both machines. This is unacceptable to me, and this incident led to an extremely stressful day, considering one of the two of us in my household works from home and relies on conducting video conference trainings as part of her career. I am concerned that people who are not as competent with computer diagnostics and repair as I am will purchase this product and end up with non-functional machines. I whole-heartedly feel that continuing to sell this product as-is, and without any disclaimer whatsoever, is completely negligent behavior on the behalf of Insignia/Best Buy, and is also a prime example of false advertising, deliberately misleading consumers such as me. It is safe to say that neither my partner, nor I, will unfortunately never purchase or recommend any Insignia branded product again as a result of this experience. I hope that in the future you do more to protect your customers from potentially damaging their equipment by using your misleading products and advertising.

Consumers seem to be forcing computer makers to make laptops thinner to the point that they may look like a folded piece of paper in a few more years. That endless quest for thinness has resulted in the loss of many legacy connections. This dongle is a result of one of those losses. After getting my $1300 laptop home I was looking forward to improvement in performance not reduced performance. Imagine my dismay when I tried to plug my 100 Mb up/100 Mb down Ethernet cable into my brand new i7 Kaby Lake powerhouse and found that that the computer had been limited to slow Wi-Fi speeds because eliminating the Ethernet plug allowed them to shave a few mm off of the thickness. THAT'S NOT PROGRESS! The good news is that this USB3.0 to Gigabit dongle brings high speed internet back to my crippled laptop. It says in the dongle's included instruction manual that it only works with older Microsoft Operating Systems, but you can install the required software to Windows 10. Of course my new supposedly high performance laptop could not easily install the app software BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HAVE AN OPTICAL DRIVE so it can be THIN! You can buy another dongle to connect your less capable but THIN laptop to an external DVD drive to install the software. I don't blame this USB3.0 to Gigabit dongle for any of my problems. IT IS THE SOLUTION. It works perfectly and gives the high internet speeds that older laptops are able to achieve out of the box.

I bought this to use for my Macbook air because the wifi where I go to school at is so slow. I didn't realize I had to install with a disc, but then that wasn't a problem because you can go online to download the software instead. I got it downloaded to my Macbook, and the first week it worked pretty well. After the first week I had to reinstall the software before I used it each time, if my laptop even moved a certain way it would disconnect from the Ethernet adapter, so it was making me have to sit my Macbook completely still. After about 2 weeks the adapter would not reinstall anymore. The light will be green when I plug it in, but the download will not re-download anymore and work. This may work better for others who buy it, but my experience with this is very unpleasant, especially since I bought this and a Ethernet cord to do my school work with to have faster internet, and it has not done me much use. It is also expensive for this and the Ethernet cord considering I paid around $50 for both, and I can't use the cord without the adapter. So my money has went to waste. I now just have to connect my Macbook to my hotspot on my phone to have faster internet. This may work for others, but if you have a Macbook Air, you may want to hold on to your receipt for a few weeks just in case it stops working.

MAC BUYERS BEWARE! The required driver for this adapter (which is included on a CD in the box) will crash Macs with a kernel panic. This is a KNOWN problem -- google "mac panic realtek driver" for more information (Insignia supplies a realtek driver on their installation disc). It happened to me two hours after installing the adapter. I removed the adapter, but the driver is still installed on my computer. An uninstaller is NOT included on the installation CD. I contacted Insignia tech support Insignia Tech Support for instructions on how to uninstall the driver and after requesting TONS of information on the problem, they were beyond useless. They simply instructed me to contact Apple support for instructions on how to remove the driver, and washed their hands of it! This is not an Apple problem -- it's an Insignia problem which THEY ARE AWARE OF -- and they can't provide you with a method to remove their corrupt driver from your Mac. UNACCEPTABLE!

At first, I plugged in and everything worked fine, then I decided to add the driver, and my MacBook Pro freaked out. I couldn't connect to the internet. Apparently the driver that comes with it is incomplete. Went to the RealTek website and downloaded the correct and complete driver. Now, everything works perfectly! https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/network-interface-controllers-10-100-1000m-gigabit-ethernet-usb-3-0-software If link doesn't work then, go to Realtek.com (may appear Chinese, click in the corner and change language to English) Click the menu button (3 lines icon), Download, Communications Network ICs, then scroll down to RTL8153 Download the software (may need to download on another computer and transfer to a drive) Uninstall and reinstall...should work perfectly

I lost ALL networking capabilities when I Installed the driver for this on my 2015 MacBook Pro running MacOS High Sierra. Wifi wouldn't work, ethernet wouldn't work. Complete loss of connectivity. After I got it yesterday morning, I spent the rest of the day trying to recover from the driver installation. What a terrible way to spend a Saturday. The Geek Squad technician at my local Best Buy spent over an hour trying to fix the problem. Nothing she did would work. I had to reinstall the operating system to get my networking back. Save yourself the pain and get something else!

Everything is to be sacrificed to the world of form-function, thin-ness, and wireless-ness. Notebooks are becoming thinner and thinner, and with that, are losing out on older features such as cd drives (lol), better cooling tech (inb4 watercool a Macbook like Linus), and in this case, ethernet ports. We're getting to the point where our devices will be as thick as a USB type-A port, (and that's just till type-C becomes more popular), and for those of us who still need a laptop for on-the-go usage, being able to directly plug into an ethernet jack and not have to deal with the difficulties wi-fi speeds can present can directly determine the success of a "Netflix-and-chill" session, especially in the likes of cruddy college dorm wi-fi. Thankfully, devices such as these exist, and ensure that as we stream the latest episode of Mahou Shoujo Ball Z, that I won't have to transform into a pretty SSJ12 sailor at the consistent "buffering" symbol of rage.

After two months of using this adapter, it seems to work a-ok. I bought this after my desktop's built-in ethernet jack bit the dust. Bought this one since it was the cheapest at the store. For some odd reason, mine came in a box that claimed that this unit was capable of 10Gbps. I do need to note that I purchased an open box unit for the reduced price, so maybe it just got put in the incorrect box. I don't have the hardware to test whether or not it is capable of the 'advertised' speed. I didn't use the driver CD to install the drivers, I just downloaded them from the internet beforehand. They are posted on the Insignia site for the product, very convenient (driver zip has Windows/Mac/Linux drivers in it). Aside from the iffy marketing on the box, this product gets two thumbs up from me.