Our Picks for Top Raspberry Pi Wireless Adapter / Dongles

Getting a Raspberry Pi talking to a wireless network is a straight forward process with a few minor hurdles. I use mine mainly with XBMC / Kodi to stream movies and watch my favorite TV shows.
 
There is a few things to watch for though, one being that the 5 volts DC a wireless USB adapter needs to run is not well supplied on Raspberry Pi. While it does supply some voltage the amps are so low that a USB adapter will need to have a low power draw.
 
One way to fix this, and the easiest, is to use a USB hub that supplies its own power.
 
Another way is to supply the 5 Volts by splicing a USB cable and using a battery pack, or old phone charger.
 
There are adapters that don’t need extra power to run and work good with a Raspberry Pi.
 
The next thing to look for is the chipset a USB adapter / dongle uses.
 
The chipset built into a USB wifi adapter is what makes it compatible with a Raspberry Pi.
 
Wireless Chipsets known to work with a Raspberry Pi.
RTL8188CUS
Ralink rt2800usb
Ralink RT3070
Realtek 8187L
Broadcom BCM43143
USB adapters / Dongles for the Raspberry Pi 2015.
Wi-Pi Raspberry Pi 802.11n Wireless Adapter

One of the better small WiFi Dongles for the Raspberry Pi.
It also has a nice blue LED on it to show when its connected and working, many dongles don’t have a light. This helps if you leave your Pi powered up for long periods of time.
 
 
 
Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter, Nano Size Lets You Plug it and Forget it, Ideal for Raspberry Pi / Pi2, Supports Windows, Mac OS, Linux (Black/Gold)

Small and cheap the Edimax EW-7811Un is a wireless-N adapter that works well with the RasPi.
 
 
5 GHz WiFi adapter / dongle for Raspberry Pi
 
 
Tenda 300Mbps Dual Band Wireless N USB Adapter (W522U)