Possible to connect to two WiFi routers at once?

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I need to connect to two WiFi routers at once. Here's why. I have a little Drone made by a company called Parrot. It provides a WiFi hub on 192.168.2.1, and once I connect to it I can send command packets and have it do stuff. But for the project I'm working on I also need a second WiFi connection so I can stream real-time video to the internet and let people control my drone remotely. Cool huh? (I wrote something that exposes the Drone's command packets and provides them as REST calls to the outside world.)

On a Windows 7 box I was able to plug in a little WiFi USB adapter and see both networks and it all worked.

Does the Mac allow two WiFi connections at once? I've tried to use the same WiFi USB on the Mac. And while it is recognized, it doesn't appear to function.

On the Mac, (About This Mac / System Report / Hardware ) I can see the USB NIC:
802.11n WLAN NIC:
Product ID: 0x8179
Vendor ID: 0x0bda (Realtek Semiconductor Corp.)
Version: 0.00
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Realtek
Location ID: 0x14200000 / 9
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 500
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

But on the Network/WiFi tab it only shows the AirPort Extreme:
Software Versions:
CoreWLAN: 11.0 (1200.25.1)
CoreWLANKit: 12.0 (1200.25.1)
Menu Extra: 12.0 (1200.41)
System Information: 12.0 (1200.3)
IO80211 Family: 12.0 (1200.12.2)
Diagnostics: 7.0 (700.5)
AirPort Utility: 6.3.7 (637.5)
Interfaces:
en0:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x152)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.171.68.1a5)
MAC Address: ac:bc:32:c1:65:37
Locale: FCC
Country Code: X0
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 144, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
Wake On Wireless: Supported
AirDrop: Supported
AirDrop Channel: 149
Auto Unlock: Supported
Status: Connected

And in the System Preferences / Network it only shows the one network adapter available:
wifi connection.png
 

Raz0rEdge

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Only one WiFi connection at a time. You can use Ethernet to get a second network going and as long as they are on different IP address ranges, they won't fight each other..
 
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Only one WiFi connection at a time. You can use Ethernet to get a second network going and as long as they are on different IP address ranges, they won't fight each other..

Even though I have a separate WiFi dongle for the second network? Is this some Apple limitation?

And yes, the first ip is on the 192.168.2.x network. The second is on the 158.85.x.x network. Completely different networks.
 

Raz0rEdge

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When you plug in the WiFi dongle, does it show up as a separate entity under Networks? If so..then it might work..
 
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When you plug in the WiFi dongle, does it show up as a separate entity under Networks? If so..then it might work..

Right, so, in my initial question posting I said that my current dongle does not show up under networks. So, is there some limitation on the Mac that prevents multiple WiFi adapters? Or do I need to purchase a Mac specific WiFi dongle? And if I do that, can I get two WiFi connections working simultaneously?
 

Raz0rEdge

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With the WiFi dongle plugged in, can you click on the + icon and create new WiFi service and in Advanced see if you can associate it with the dongle as opposed to the built-in Airport?
 
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With the WiFi dongle plugged in, can you click on the + icon and create new WiFi service and in Advanced see if you can associate it with the dongle as opposed to the built-in Airport?

I cannot. I suspect the dongle is not supported on MacOS.
 

Raz0rEdge

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You are likely right..if the device was properly recognized, you could assign it a new name and use it simultaneously..
 

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