Alfa awus036h is a really wireless usb adapter.It gained its popularity due it cross platform driver compatibility.Moreover the driver allows the device to run in promiscuous mode.This mode allows the wireless NIC to listen to responses in the wireless spectrum even ones that are not destined to it.

Its basically turns the device into a microphone that listens to all the traffic in the air.

So two weeks ago I decided to order one from souq.I received the device within a week.I was really happy to receive the order.The packaging was clean and nothing really stood out.But the minute I opened the box to take a look at the contents, I was shocked.The label behind the alfa card was mispelled.The alfa card mentioned it supported wireless N.This was really weird as the ALFA awus036h doesnt support the wireless n network.Nevertheless I plugged in the device into a linux machine.The device was detected and it tried to connect to one of the networks and asked me for the password.

Even though the device was fake, It seems to work and connect to the network.I then went through the box to find a mini cd which should contain the drivers for the card.I inserted the card into the CD drive and It had a version a of ralink 2080 driver.The original alfa is supposed to have RTL8187L(Realtek).I tried the wireless card for a couple of days and I was facing a lot of issues with the wireless range.

It was not able to detect a lot of the wireless clients in promiscuous mode.This was a huge let down as this was the primary reason for me to buy the device in the first place.

FullSizeRender-3

Notice the 8002.11 WTF