Plugable USB 2.0 OTG Micro-B to 10/100 Ethernet Adapter
$15.95 USD
SKU: USB2-OTGE100Amazon Rating : (2148 Reviews)
Features
- Fast Ethernet—Add a fast wired network interface through the Micro-B USB OTG port on your Windows tablet and Raspberry Pi Zero with Raspberry Pi OS. Supports Windows 11, 10, 8.x tablets. Faster than most wireless connections
- Installation—Most Windows 11, 10 and 8.x tablets supported, and include a built-in device driver for this Ethernet adapter, and there is no need to install any additional driver. Full 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet performance over USB 2.0's 480Mbps bus
- Compatibility—Limited Android compatibility. Please confirm if your Android phone or tablet is compatible before purchase. The latest compatibility details are located below. Raspberry Pi OS may need to be updated and upgraded for driver configuration
- Incompatibility—Not compatible with all Android devices. Check our compatibility information below for more detail. Not compatible with Windows phones, devices by Amazon, LG, or Apple iOS devices (iPhone/iPad)
- 2 Year Warranty—We love our Plugable products, and hope you will too. All of our products are backed with a 2-year limited parts and labor warranty as well as Seattle-based email support
An Ethernet Adapter for Phones, Tablets, and Tiny Computers
The Plugable USB 2.0 OTG Micro-B to 10/100 Fast Ethernet Adapter (USB2-OTGE100) combines the compact external design and wide compatibility of our popular USB2-E100 adapter, with an OTG Micro-B connector.
This makes it a great choice for easy connection to compatible tablets, smartphones, and small computers like the Raspberry Pi Zero that support the ASIX AX88772A chipset.
Wired Ethernet via this adapter can provide fast and reliable streaming, networking, internet browsing and more.
Some common uses include:
- Replacing or adding a wired Ethernet connection
- Connecting a compatible tablet or smartphone directly to a network through an Ethernet cable when Wi-Fi is unavailable or a hard-wired connection is preferred
- Improve connection speed and reliability for devices compared to most Wi-Fi networks
- Add wired network capability to tablets, phones, and other compatible devices that have only wireless built-in
Not all Android devices are compatible with this adapter. For Android devices, please confirm if your phone or tablet is compatible with the ASIX AX88772A chipset before purchase. You can find the latest compatibility details in the compatibility tab on this product page.
Chipset
This adapter features an ASIX AX88772A chipset for fast 10/100Mbps network speeds and maximum compatibility with devices using a Micro-B USB 2.0 port.
Compatibility
In the Box
Note: A driver CD is not included as tablets and phones do not have a CD drive.
Compatibility
- Compatible with all Windows 11, 10, and 8.x tablets that have a Micro USB port. The device driver is built into Windows 11, 10, and 8.x
- Android compatibility is on a case basis, and is determined by the device manufacturer. Please see our Device Compatibility Chart below
- A good fit for Raspberry Pi Zero, and compatible with Raspberry Pi OS. (We test the adapter on the official Raspberry Pi OS, and cannot confirm compatibility with other operating systems or physical hardware add on items like hats, and other secondary boards)
- NOT compatible with Apple (iPhone/iPad), Amazon, HTC, or LG devices
Some Android versions don't show any external indication of a successful connection through Ethernet. The only way to know for sure is to go into Airplane mode, then try to check email or view a webpage. If you are successful, the Ethernet connection is functioning properly.
Performance
- Full 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet performance over the USB 2.0 480Mbps bus
- Uses standard 8P8C Wired Ethernet Connection
- Compact size and portability
- Great for travel
Note: If your computer or tablet has a full-sized USB port but no Micro-B USB port, use Plugable's USB2-E100 Ethernet adapter instead.
Please note, this adapter is NOT a solution for connecting USB devices like printers, hard drives, etc. to a network. This adapter cannot be used to share Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or data between multiple devices.
A note about Android compatibility:
Please view the compatibility chart below to see if your device is listed. If your device isn't listed, we haven't had the chance to test it, and haven't received any reports from other customers.
We cannot guarantee compatibility for devices we haven't tested, or received reports on. (Even if a device is listed as, "Yes", we would still suggest checking with the manufacturer for official information.)
The capability to use wired Ethernet, and compatibility with the ASIX AX88772A chipset we use in our adapter is entirely up to each manufacturer, and is subject to change. Checking with the manufacturer of your device for official information is a best practice.
Feel free to reach out to us directly at: support@plugable.com with any questions, concerns, or to report compatibility information.
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Understanding and Troubleshooting Network Performance
Computer networking is a complex topic. In this article, we'll be taking a deep dive on the nuances of network performance for those who need some additional explanation while striving to be concise, and to educate users of various experience levels relating computer hardware and computer networking.
If you just need to know how to perform a network performance test/benchmark, jump down to configuring iPerf.
Core Network Concepts
LAN vs WAN
With regards to network performance, it is crucial to first separate whether an issue is with Wide Area Network (WAN) performance, or if the issue is with Local Area Network (LAN) performance.
Your LAN is essentially the network inside your home or business. Many homes use a combination modem/router device provided by their Internet Service Provider (ISP). In some cases, especially in businesses, you may have a separate modem and router, along with other equipment connecting to the router such as a network switch.
Your modem, and the connection it establishes to your ISP—whether through coaxial cable, fiber, phone lines, or long-range wireless—essentially marks the point between the WAN and the LAN. The connection your modem makes to your ISP is the WAN, and any devices you connect through your router behind that modem belong to the LAN.
Link Rate
Almost every type of connection your computer makes to any piece of hardware will have a link rate of some kind. The link rate establishes how fast data can possibly be transferred across any given connection, but it does not guarantee how fast the hardware on either end of the connection will actually transfer data.
The concept of link rates, and their related bottlenecks, is likely best conveyed by giving an example of what connections might be involved in transferring a file from one computer on your LAN to another.
- 800Mbps—The file source is a USB 3.0 thumb drive capable of 100MB/s (800Mbps) read/write.
- 480Mbps—The USB 3.0 thumb drive is plugged into a USB 2.0 port on the PC, which has a maximum throughput of 480Mbps
- 1000Mbps—PC1's Ethernet connection establishes 1Gbps (1000Mbps) link to the router via Ethernet
- 300Mbps—The router connects to a second PC (we'll refer to this as PC2) via Wi-Fi, and it has established a 300Mbps link to the Wi-Fi adapter on PC2
- 480Mbps—The Wi-Fi adapter on PC2 is connected via a USB 2.0 port. The link rate of the USB connection to PC2 is at 480Mbps
- 6000Mbps—PC2 is going to store the file on an internal hard drive with a link rate of 6Gbps
- 1600Mbps—File Destination: SATA hard drive capable of 200MB/s (1600Mbps) read/write.
Following this chain, we see that 300Mbps is the slowest link rate established. This means that, regardless of the link rates established elsewhere, the absolute maximum the data can possibly be transferred is 300Mbps.
if we were to change the Wi-Fi connection to a wired Ethernet connection capable of 1Gbps, our performance bottleneck would then become the USB 2.0 connection to the USB drive where the file is stored.
Ports and Interfaces
Interfaces
A network interface represents connections, whether wired or wireless, that are made to form a network between devices.
Ports
Some may refer to physical hardware connections as "ports". For the purposes of networking, ports are logical constructs that can also be referred to as "network ports". Each network interface has 65,535 of these logical ports. Each port on a network interface is a separate data connection.
Benchmarking Network Adapter Performance
To properly benchmark network adapter performance, we need to:
- Use a simple LAN configuration
- Eliminate bottlenecks, especially link rate bottlenecks
Websites like speedtest.net, fast.com, and other performance tools in your web browser are going to use your WAN connection, and are not appropriate for determining if a network adapter is working well.
Transferring files from one computer to another on your LAN is typically not the best way to benchmark a network adapter. File transfers are bottlenecked by a number of things, including performance limitations of the disk the data is on, and often times a lack of establishing parallel network connections to perform the task.
One of the most accurate ways to benchmark network performance on a LAN is by using iPerf . To more effectively benchmark network adapter performance, it is best to establish a point-to-point connection between two PCs, rather than connecting through a router or switch.
Configuring iPerf
To test a connection using iPerf, you'll need at least two network interfaces, and preferably two computers. You'll also need to know the IP (Internet Protocol) address assigned to each network interface . One network interface will function as an iPerf server, and the other network interface will function as an iPerf client. Lastly, you'll need to download the version of iPerf 3.x that's appropriate for your computer's operating system and extract/install it .
Windows
- Make sure the drivers for both network interfaces involved in the test are using up-to-date drivers. Drivers for Plugable products can be found here.
- Download and extract iPerf for Windows
- Open Command Prompt
- Press Windows Key + R or + R, then enter
cmdin the window that appears - Search the Start Menu for
Command Prompt, and open it
- Press Windows Key + R or + R, then enter
- Navigate Command Prompt to the directory the directory where iPerf is located
- The
cdcommand is for 'change directory'- If you have a folder named 'iperf' on your Windows desktop, you can reach it in command prompt with the command
cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\iperf
- If you have a folder named 'iperf' on your Windows desktop, you can reach it in command prompt with the command
- The
- Run iperf in server mode via Command Prompt
iperf3.exe -s
macOS
- Usually it is best to install iperf on macOS using brew in Terminal
- Make sure the drivers for both network interfaces involved in the test are using up-to-date drivers
- Open Terminal
- Run iPerf in server mode
iperf3 -s
Linux
- Usually it is best to install iperf using the package manager in your Linux distro. For example, in Ubuntu, use
apt: sudo apt install iperf3
- Make sure the drivers for both network interfaces involved in the test are using up-to-date Drivers
- Open Terminal
- Run iPerf in server mode
iperf3 -s
Next, you'll need to run iPerf in client mode, targeting the IP address of the server/interface where iPerf is running in server mode. Additionally, we'll run the test for 30 seconds using -t 30 and with four parallel connections using -P 4. Running 4 parallel connections is optimal for saturating a network link.
Windows
- Open Command Prompt
- Press Windows Key + R or + R, then enter
cmdin the window that appears - Search the Start Menu for
Command Prompt, and open it
- Press Windows Key + R or + R, then enter
- Navigate Command Prompt to the directory the directory where iPerf is located
- The
cdcommand is for 'change directory'- If you have a folder named 'iperf' on your Windows desktop, you can reach it in command prompt with the command
cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\iperf
- If you have a folder named 'iperf' on your Windows desktop, you can reach it in command prompt with the command
- The
- Run iperf in client mode via Command Prompt (replace 192.168.0.200 with the IP address of the server/interface where iPerf is running in server mode)
iperf3.exe -c 192.168.0.200 -t 30 -P 4
macOS / Linux
- Open Terminal
- Run iPerf in client mode (replace 192.168.0.200 with the IP address of the server/interface where iPerf is running in server mode)
iperf3 -c 192.168.0.200 -t 30 -P 4
iPerf should start performing a network performance test. If the test fails to start, make sure that iPerf is not being blocked by your PC's/Mac's firewall.
Why iPerf is Ideal for Benchmarking
Unlike a file transfer, iPerf runs in memory on the PC and generates data to send using the CPU directly. This alleviates potential bottlenecks generated by storage devices, and allows you to explicitly control how many parallel connections are being used to transfer data rather than being unsure if parallel network connections are being used by other means.
Conclusion
There's a lot more to networking that isn't covered in this article, but we hope this helps explain enough to get an accurate measure of your network performance.
If you need assistance with your Plugable product that features network connectivity, please contact us for further assistance.
Installing Plugable USB-Ethernet Drivers in Windows 10
**This is a legacy article from 2015. Please see notes for important information on changes.
Update: A Windows 10 driver now exists for the USB2-E1000. However, it will not appear in the CD that comes with the adapter until the next lot of adapters is shipped. The updated driver can be downloaded from this link: Windows 10/8/8.1, 7, Vista, and XP drivers for USB2-E1000.
If you are not able to connect to the Internet without installing the driver, you can download it onto a flash drive on another computer and use that to install it.
In testing Plugable’s USB-Ethernet adapters with Windows 10, we were happy to discover they all work successfully when their drivers are properly installed. However, an installation problem could cause issues with the USB2-E1000.
Drivers are already built into Windows 10 for: the ASIX AX88772 chip in our:
- The ASIX AX88772 chip in our USB2-E100 and USB2-OTGE100 adapters
- The ASIX AX88179 chip in our USB3-E1000, USBC-E1000, and USB3-HUB3ME*.
*Note In 2017, our USB3-HUB3ME was redesigned to include a Realtek RTL8153 chipset and drivers. Windows 10 should automatically configure these drivers when you plug the adapter in.) When you insert these adapters into a USB port, the drivers should automatically install with no need for an internet connection.
However, the driver for the ASIX AX88178 chip in our USB2-E1000 is not pre-installed in Windows 10, and we have discovered a problem with the downloadable driver that keeps it from installing. If this happens, the adapter will show up in Device Manager as “AX88178” with a Code 28 error: “”Drivers for this device are not installed.”
There are several ways to work around this issue, depending on the scenario:
1. Upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1: If you have already installed the driver for the USB2-E1000 in Windows 7 or 8.1 and upgrade directly from that version to Windows 10, the currently installed driver will be available to Windows 10, and your adapter should work without any further effort. If you haven’t yet installed this driver, please install it before upgrading.
The easiest way is to establish an internet connection, either wirelessly or through another Ethernet port, then plug in the USB2-E1000. Windows Update should see it and automatically download the correct driver. You can also download and install the driver from our website or from the disk that came with your adapter.
2. Doing a clean install of Windows 10 or using the USB2-E1000 on a new Windows 10 computer: Since the previous Windows 7 or 8.1 driver will not be carried over to a clean install of Windows 10, it must be freshly installed. The only way to accomplish this is to have an internet connection available when you first plug in the USB2-E1000.
That will allow Windows Update to download and install the driver. If you are in a situation where this is not possible, we recommend delaying the update until an internet connection is available, or until this issue has been fixed. Currently, the driver on the Plugable and ASIX websites is not working with Windows 10.
If you’re a user of a Plugable USB-Ethernet adapter and are experiencing issues, we’re here to help! If support is needed, please run our PlugDebug tool found HERE to collect system logs, and send the resulting file to support@plugable.com along with a description of the behavior you’re experiencing and any additional details you feel are relevant.
How to add wired Ethernet to Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with Plugable's USB2-OTGE100 Ethernet adapter
The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is a versatile single board computer that can be used for a variety of projects, and by people of varying skill levels. The compact form factor and ability to use open source operating systems and software makes for a great learning tool, and we were able to pick one up!
This guide will show you how to set up a headless wired Ethernet connection on your new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (and legacy Raspberry Pi Zero) computers with our Plugable USB2-OTGE100 wired Ethernet adapter.
Why use Wired Ethernet?
Adding a wired Ethernet adapter may help improve data transfer speeds, should improve device connection stability, and can reduce wireless traffic. Whatever the goal, our 10/100mbps USB2-OTGE100 adapter can provide wired Ethernet access to Raspberry Pi Zero boards via USB Micro. The adapter uses an ASIX AX88772A chipset with drivers that are included in Raspberry Pi OS which can make the setup process easier. With that said, we still need to do a little work to get things going, so let's get started!
Step 1 - Download the operating system image
First, we need to download the Raspberry Pi OS image, which you can get from this link: Raspberry Pi Operating system images. We're going to use the Raspberry Pi OS Lite version for these steps, but, you can also use the full Desktop versions as well. Download the image and get ready for the next step.
Step 2 - Flash the image onto the card
Now, we need flash the image to the Micro SD Card. Let's use Etcher, which is an open source tool for creating bootable drives and is available on Windows, Mac and Linux! You can get official information and download Etcher from this link: Official Etcher information and Download.
After you've installed Etcher
- Open Etcher and click Flash from file, which will open a file explorer window.
- Then, click on the operating system image that you downloaded, and then click Open to move on.
- Now, we can see that we have the image picked and ready to be flashed onto the SD Card, so go ahead and click Flash! to begin.
-
Flash Complete! Great, now let's close out of Etcher, and get ready for the next step.
Step 3 - Create the SSH file, and copy it to the card
Now that we've finished flashing the image to the card we need to give the Raspberry Pi instructions to use SSH (Secure Shell) automatically when it boots up.
Secure Shell is a network protocol that will allow us to remotely access the Raspberry Pi Command Line Interface (CLI). This is very helpful for our initial setup, and can be used to access the Pi on a regular basis without having to set the Pi up with a mouse, keyboard and monitor.
We'll be using PowerShell here as the program is likely already installed on your Windows computer.
- Open Windows PowerShell, and enter
New-Item .\Desktop\sshinto the terminal. This will create a blank file named "ssh", on your Desktop view which we'll copy over to the card.
- Copy the file on to the card, which will run on boot up and enable SSH automatically.
Step 4 - Edit the cmdline.txt file on the Micro SDCard
The next thing that we need to do is to edit the cmdline.txt file on the Micro SDCard itself. This will let us create a special IP address for the Raspberry Pi to make setup easier. Here's how:
- Open up the SD Card, and right click on the cmdline.txt file and choose Open. This will open up your default text editing program where we can edit the file. For this example, we're using NotePad on Windows.
- You'll see a string of text at the top which we should leave as it is. Go down to the next line, and type in ip=raspberrypi.local. Then, save and close the document.
Step 5 - SSH into the Raspberry Pi
Now, we are ready to communicate with the Raspbery Pi using ssh! We're going to use PowerShell on Windows, and the default terminal on macOS and Linux to get this job done. There are many other ssh clients available such as PuTTY and Termius, and more. You may want to take some time later to find the best program for you.
- Open PowerShell, and enter
ssh pi@raspberrypi.localinto the terminal. - A message will pop up stating that the authenticity of the host can't be established. This is normal when you try to make a new connection, and will happen the first time you connect to the Raspberry Pi.
- You'll be asked if you want to continue connecting. Type yes into the terminal, and press enter. This will add the Raspberry Pi to the list of known hosts for your computer.
- Finally, type the default password in which is
raspberryand press enter to login. (NOTE - the password won't actually show up here for security)
Start using your Raspberry Pi
Now that you're logged in you can start using your Raspberry Pi! Here's a few suggestions of things you'll likely want to do to complete your setup:
-
Change your password. Enter
passwdinto the terminal (no, that's not a typo!). This command will let us change our password. NOTE - by default, you will not see the password characters as you type.- You'll be asked to enter the current password, which is
raspberry - Then, enter a new password, you'll have to re-type it to make sure it matches. Once you have a match you'll have successfully changed the password
- You'll be asked to enter the current password, which is
-
Use the Raspi-Config tool for further system setup. Enter
sudo raspi-configinto the terminal and you will be taken to the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool menu.
-
Edit the cmdline.txt file if you'd like so you can use an actual IP address. Enter
sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txtinto the terminal. Delete the line that says ip=raspberrypi.local, or comment it out by putting a # before the line, like this,#ip=raspberrypi.localThis will change the color of the text and comment it out, or essentially disabling it without having to delete. Then, press Ctrl and x at the same time to save and exit the file.
-
Set a static IP address. You may want to set a static IP address that doesn't change, which will make it easy to identify your Raspberry Pi. Enter
sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.confinto the terminal which will open the configuration file for our Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) settings. Follow the sample instructions in the file to create static information for your Raspberry Pi.
Testing the network performance
An Iperf test will help us test the network throughput of the connection to see where our speeds rate. We see an average of 94.5mbps for download speeds, and 94mbps for upload speeds. These results were taken from a 2-minute test registering the speed at every second, which is definitely on target for 10/100mbps! Here's a handy chart for visualization.
If you'd like more information on setting up an Iperf test of your own please see our blog post about Understanding and Troubleshooting Network Performance.
We hope this was helpful, and fun! Feel free to reach out to us directly at support@plugable.com. We'd love to see what Raspberry Pi projects you're working on!
My Plugable product with wired Ethernet is no longer working on macOS. What can I do?
Please Note
The below guide is an advanced troubleshooting step, and we do not recommend doing so unless you are comfortable manually altering files on your Apple product running macOS. You may not be able to perform the below troubleshooting step if you are unable to execute administrative credentials on your laptop. Please reach out to our support first if you do not wish to attempt the below instructions. You can do so at Plugable.com/Support
How to delete a specific Ethernet adapter from your Network devices on macOS
- Click on the Apple logo in the top left corner of your primary monitor, and select ‘System Preferences’
- Next select ‘Network’ in the ‘System Preferences' window.
- In the now visible list, please select the Plugable Ethernet, or Thunderbolt Ethernet device that may not be working as expected.
- Once selected click on the minus button in the bottom left of the network window.
- Click on Apply in the bottom right.
- Next click on the plus button in the bottom left of the network window, and add the previously removed device.
- Click on Apply in the bottom right.
- Test to see if this has resolved the unexpected behavior, and assure that your Ethernet is now working.
- If this does not resolve the problem, please proceed to the next section (As noted previously the next section is for advanced users only!)
Manually erase your macOS Network Settings to fully reset the Network configuration
(Advanced! Click to reveal)
- Open the ‘Finder’ app, then in the ‘Go’ menu at the top of your screen select ‘Computer’
- Click on ‘Macintosh HD’ then Library, Preferences, SystemConfiguration
- Copy the file named ‘NetworkInterfaces.plist’ to your desktop as a backup of your current configuration.
- Delete the original version of the ‘NetworkInterfaces.plist’ located in the SystemConfiguration directory.
- Restart your Mac
- Login to your Mac, and return to System Preferences → Network
- If the list is now empty, please re-add the Plugable or Thunderbolt network adapter by clicking on the plus button in the bottom left of the Network window. Once done click on 'Apply'.
- Test to see if this has resolved the unexpected network behavior
I am still unable to get my Ethernet connection working on my Mac
If this is the case please reach out to our support team. When you do please include a diagnostic log gathered using our PlugDebug tool (instructions are provided on the PlugDebug page). If you are not able to gather the PlugDebug diagnostics do not worry we are still here to help! Please reach out to our support team at support@plugable.com or Plugable.com/Support with a detailed description of your problem, and the model of Plugable product you are using.
