Xjyuk

I would like to start off by saying I am new to linux (been about 2-3 weeks). I purchased a Maxesla Mini WiFi Adapter 1200M 802.11ac Dual Band 2.4/5GHz AC1200 Wireless Network Adapter usb dongle and installed the rtl88x2bu driver updated for current kernels driver (I followed the DKMS installation).

I get the full 450-500mbps speeds when using an ethernet cable on my laptop (or wifi on my cell phone), but about 200 mbps when using this dongle. I am using Kubuntu 18.4 LTS and the build-in wifi (2.4g) is enabled as I don't know how to disable it (don't know if that makes a difference).

Thank you in advance!

sudo lshw -class network

 *-network 
 description: Wireless interface
 product: QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
 vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
 physical id: 0
 bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
 logical name: wlp1s0
 version: 01
 serial: 18:cf:5e:35:79:cb
 width: 64 bits
 clock: 33MHz
 capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical wireless
 configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=4.18.0-22-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
 resources: irq:39 memory:f0c00000-f0c7ffff memory:f0c80000-f0c8ffff *-network
 description: Ethernet interface
 product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
 vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
 physical id: 0
 bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
 logical name: enp2s0
 version: 0c
 serial: c4:54:44:98:86:bf
 size: 10Mbit/s
 capacity: 1Gbit/s
 width: 64 bits
 clock: 33MHz
 capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
 configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8168g-2_0.0.1 02/06/13 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
 resources: irq:31 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:f0b00000-f0b00fff memory:f0800000-f0803fff *-network
 description: Wireless interface
 physical id: 1
 bus info: usb@1:1.1
 logical name: wlx1cbfce387297
 serial: 1c:bf:ce:38:72:97
 capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
 configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl88x2bu ip=192.168.0.159 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11AC

lsusb

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0438:7900 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 06cb:2970 Synaptics, Inc. touchpad
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b469 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0bda:b812 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0438:7900 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 04e8:6860 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Galaxy (MTP)
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1566
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R3 Graphics]
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio
00:02.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 156b
00:02.3 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1
00:02.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1
00:08.0 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1537
00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 40)
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 39)
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 39)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller (rev 02)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 11)
00:14.7 SD Host controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SD Flash Controller (rev 01)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1580
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1581
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1582
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1583
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1584
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1585
01:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)

rfkill list all

0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: acer-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
4: phy2: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

EDIT 1:
iwconfig

wlx1cbfce387297 IEEE 802.11AC ESSID:"Shabana_BETTER" Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
 Mode:Managed Frequency:5.745 GHz Access Point: B8:EC:A3:31:29:71 
 Bit Rate:867 Mb/s Sensitivity:0/0 
 Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
 Power Management:off
 Link Quality=78/100 Signal level=53/100 Noise level=0/100
 Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

enp2s0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

wlp1s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any 
 Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=17 dBm 
 Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
 Power Management:off

I get the full 450-500mbps speeds when using an ethernet cable on my laptop (or wifi on my cell phone), but about 200 mbps when using this dongle.

It has a tiny antenna, which gives it very poor reception. It has a cheap chipset. I'm actually surprised that you get this good speeds from this.

Furthermore, it does not mention USB3, which makes me suspect it's USB2. USB2 maxes out at 480Mb/s, in practice I've noticed gigabit NIC's connected to USB2 ports tends to give around 200-250Mb/s.

So in short. You're getting way better speed than I would expect. You will probably not get any more out of that device. Get one with USB3 and a better antenna.

In addition wireless gives approximately half of advertised rate at best. When my NIC announces 867Mb/s, I get around 450Mb/s under good conditions. This is a Intel 7265 on PCIe.