Any Hope for Monoprice USB Wifi Devices? (Ralink, Realtek)

I have 3 Monoprice 802.11n USB adapters that I got as a side effect of another transaction. For all 3 devices, the packaging declares Linux as a supported OS on both the front and back, as do the paper instruction manual and CD, but after numerous sessions trying to get them working, none of the 3 is useful. I've tried with Debian 6, several live distros, and periodically with Debian testing weekly ISOs, in a room with ~2 meters clear line of sight separation. Monoprice product #5333 was sold as being Ralink 3070 based Monoprice product #6147 was sold as being Realtek RTL8191SU based Monoprice product #6148 was sold as being Realtek RTL8188SU based The 5333 (148f:3070) seems to load its firmware successfully and responds to iwconfig/ifconfig/iwlist/iw as you'd expect, but fails in various ways: sometimes simply failing to associate, but usually establishing a successful connection and then dropping it within a few minutes. Logs vary with each version of distro and kernel, for example "No probe response from AP" or "disassociating by local choice (reason=3)". Sometimes data transfer begins with a surge for a second or 2, but then stalls for minutes at a time until the connection drops. I experienced what others have noticed, that the USB-ID changes for the Realtek devices. Initially the 6147 was 0bda:8172 and the 6148 was 0bda:8171, but now both identify as 0bda:8192 Both Realtek devices will not even load firmware, so there's not much to test with them. kern.log says rtl819xU:EEPROM ID is invalid(is 0x0(should be 0x8129) Also, usb 4-2: not running at top speed; connect to a high speed hub (mass storage devices as well as the 5333 do connect at high speed) I've tried various workarounds for the firmware problem (including following instructions on the net for modifying udev rules), but haven't found one that works. Other than the USB-ID, is there a way to determine what chip is actually being used in each device? Why would the ID change? If anyone knows how to get these devices working with Debian (and hopefully other Free systems), I'd appreciate your advice. BTW, the 2 Realteks have wps buttons: Do these function with Linux drivers? Thanks.

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