A dedicated Wi-Fi 6 dongle would greatly improve your wireless VR experience.
A software engineer going by ItsKaitlyn03 on Twitter was digging through Meta’s Oculus PC driver and stumbled across an interesting line of code for a device called “VR Air Bridge.” According to the code provided, the mysterious device could be used to wirelessly tether your Quest headset to your PC through a dedicated Wi-Fi 6 network.
You’re currently able to wirelessly tether your Quest headset to your PC via Air Link, but having a dedicated device such as the VR Air Bridge would greatly improve your VR experience with better frame rates and improved graphics, resulting in higher-quality gameplay. No need to worry about how far you travel from a router or solid objects getting in the way of your connectivity, which was a concern when Air Link launched in April of 2021.
During that launch, Consulting CTO for (then) Oculus John Carmack, talked with UploadVR about that specific issue, saying “Perhaps in the future, we will make an additional Wi-Fi dongle, or have some kind of partnership with different firmware for something that might allow us to improve performance under overloaded conditions.”
Obviously, this remained a constant concern for Meta, who understood that many typical home routers might not be compatible with Air Link, and saw wireless VR to PC through a dongle as a solution to really amazing tetherless VR experiences.
The device, uncovered by ItsKaitlyn03, who greeted the line of code with “Well hello there, VR Air Bridge!”, is listed on the D-Link website as “DWA-X1850 AX1800 Wi-Fi USB Adapter”. According to the description, the device can plug directly into your computer to deliver blazing-fast Wi-Fi 6 connectivity (up to 1800 Mbps) along with WPA3 encryption for network security. Other interesting specs include:
- Next-generation Wi-Fi 6 USB dongle for an instant PC or Laptop upgrade
- AX1800 Speeds up to 600 Mbps (2.4 GHz) / 1200 Mbps (5 GHz)
- OFDMA and MU-MIMO technologies ensure a fast and efficient Wi-Fi connection
- The latest WPA3™ Wi-Fi security helps protect your network from attacks
- Auto installation driver for Windows 10
There are some other options for wireless PCVR solutions out there that you could use, but having the “VR Air Bridge” would surely improve that experience.
While poking around themselves, UploadVR found an additional line of code referring to a “VR Air Bridge Setup” interface that would be used to essentially get you up and running with the dongle. For more information on D-Link’s VR Air Bridge, click here or check out ItsKaitlyn03’s Twitter thread to be part of that conversation.
Image Credit: D-Link
