Product Review

Connect your Arduino to the Internet with this fine new FCC-certified WiFi module from Atmel. This 802.11bgn-capable WiFi module is the best new thing for networking your devices, with SSL support and rock solid performance - running our adafruit.io MQTT demo for a full weekend straight with no hiccups (it would have run longer but we had to go to work, so we unplugged it). We like these so much, they've completely replaced the CC3000 module on all our projects.

The Adafruit ATWINC1500 WiFi Breakout uses SPI to communicate, so with about 6 wires, you can get your wired up and ready to go. Right now the Atmel-supplied library works great with Arduino Zero, and seems to work OK on Uno but may not work on other Arduinos. You can clock it as fast as 12MHz for speedy, reliable packet streaming. And scanning/connecting to networks is very fast, a few seconds.

This module works with 802.11b, g, or n networks & supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption. The datasheet says it can do Soft-AP mode but we don't have any code to actually use that.

Since this is our new favoritest SPI-protocol WiFi module we've decided to make a little breakout for it. The breakout comes with level shifting on all the input pins so you can use it with 3V or 5V logic. A 3.3V voltage regulator that can handle the 300mA spikes lets you power from 3-5.5VDC. There's also 3 LEDs that you can control over the SPI interface (part of the library code) or you can have controlled by the Arduino library. They'll light up when connected to an SSID, or transmitting data.