The AR5B22 is not a free software friendly card and I'd highly discourage it.
We have lots of people streaming 1080p video with the TPE-N150USB. It's definitely not an issue with the adapter/firmware/etc. It may be a defect in the particular adapter you received or a similar type of issue related to the network configuration or USB ports/or USB controller. A newer kernel may resolve the issue or it may not. The issue may be partial support for the USB ports. Apparently there isn't full support for some USB controllers and that's causing problems with a lot of devices so despite things seeming to work with some devices other devices won't work or won't work properly.
