Multi-network PCIe WiFi card do they exist?

I'm looking for a PCIe WiFi card that will allow me to connect to 2 separate WiFi networks simultaneously.

I've tried searching but keywords like dual network, dual band, dual SSID etc etc but they mostly relate to 2.4 / 5G or MIMO rather that what I am looking for!

Does anyone know of a card that allows that or what that feature might be called to aid with the search?

I'd ideally like to avoid taking up 2 slots with cards and USB adapters are just a pain.

Solution 1:

No, a Wi-Fi adapter with two radios does not exist¹. You need two radios to connect to two different channels.

If you know for certain that both networks you connect to will always be on the same channel, one radio is enough.

There are PCIe-to-M.2 adapter cards—even with multiple slots—but those are designed for SSDs. They do not offer the required antenna connectivity. It could also not work at all due to missing features on the M.2 slots, interference and whatnot.

And then there’s also the software issue mentioned in comments and other answers: With Linux this all is “easy”. On Windows, it probably isn’t. I was not able to find conclusive evidence that Windows supports multiple Wi-Fi adapters properly. So even if you use multiple USB adapters, you may be out of luck.

1: Even your “simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi router” will have two complete Wi-Fi chipsets installed to provide both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks at the same time.