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There are multiple wifi networks available on campus. I have noticed that on the primary network, certain important websites (Google) have extremely long load times. This can be resolved to switching to separate networks. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, except that the key server for certain software licenses provided by the school only works on the primary network. So it is a hassle to do a google search and use the software, because this requires manually going back and forth between networks.

If I were to get a USB WiFi adapter and plug it in to my computer, could I be simultaneously connected to multiple separate WiFi networks?

Is this supported by Windows 10 / MacOS / Linux / Unix?

These related questions focus on multiple network adapters for bandwidth, which is not the purpose of this question, and these don't answer my question. Using two wireless NICs at the same time on Windows 10 desktop PC Connect multiple WiFi networks simultaneously

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  • should work! You can definitly connect to multiple networks at once, but the question becomes how the OS deals with it. It may still try to access google through the slow one or look for software keys on the secondary one. Not sure about that last part though
    – Blaine
    Commented Dec 3, 2017 at 3:27
  • also, while most adapters work for windows and linux flawlessly, all the ones i've used fail to work with macos, so check compatibility first
    – Blaine
    Commented Dec 3, 2017 at 3:27
  • Make sure you set the correct routes (ip route) so the correct WLAN adapter is used, based on the destionation IP address. If the key server is on the internal network, it should belong to a certain address range, so you'll need to know this range.
    – dirkt
    Commented Dec 3, 2017 at 20:25

2 Answers 2

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Yep, you can do that, and barring any problems you might experience with cheap USB wifi dongles, it will work fine. You will probably want to disable the default gateway on the primary network, though, so that your computer won't try to route through to the Internet on that network.

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WiFi adapter can simultaneously connect to different Wifi. Some adapters may require different Wifi in same channel.

Besides, have you try improve speed to google by changing DNS, writing google IP into hosts file? (google has so many IPs) Or even using proxy, or use google mirror instead.

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  • most "regular" WiFi adapters can only connect to one WiFi at a given time. what adapters are you talking about?
    – Albin
    Commented Nov 10, 2018 at 10:54
  • @Albin see this
    – Bob Johnson
    Commented Nov 11, 2018 at 2:55

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