This is not true. I do not know why people are making false claims like this.
First, the adapters do work fine, as I've been using one personally for a
long time without issue, and so have thousands of other customers now. We
also have a number of other employees also using the TPE-N150USB adapter
every day. The handful of people who have had a problem are users with
systems that are problematic. They are few and far between. We will replace
any wifi adapter that fails within a year, however we recommend selecting a
different adapter if you encounter this problem. Upgrading your kernel may
also solve the problem of failing adapters. The adapter is not the problem
and newer kernels include code that solves issues with the USB controllers on
many machines. We've seen far fewer users have a problem with failing
adapters that were using newer kernels.
Second, we do sell batteries, AC adapters, and other parts.
Third. If there is a problem with something not being up to your expectations
send us an email. We'd love to get that feedback. Simply bashing us on a
forum that I nor anybody else at ThinkPenguin may ever read is not the way to
get issues fixed. I happen to read the forums because I care about helping
people with free software related issues. That doesn't mean I always have
time for it though.
Lastly we've recently dropped the prices on many items by more than half. You
can't find a similar adapter for a lower price that is of better quality.
While this was our intent all along (drop prices) the reason we did this
sooner than later was because of the complaints. I don't feel they are valid
given nobody else is even attempting to fix the problems of non-free software
and there is already inadequate funding for free software projects. While
Rubén Rodríguez isn't going to say it I will. There is NOT enough money to
continue many free software projects and complaints don't help. You won't be
getting an 802.11ac adapter any time soon if there is no money to make that
happen. Buying a TP-Link adapter with the same chipset we helped get the code
released for is only self-defeating.
The reason we were able to drop prices is because of a significant amount of
support within the community and other efforts I've been undertaking to try
and scale operations. Despite that the price was fair and reasonable and
competitive to retail pricing. Now the prices are more competitive to lower
online pricing.
