And beyond range it would also improve network stability by reducing interference through the stronger signal.

But to be fair you could've moved the original dongle away from the host as well, with a simple USB-A extension cable - which was actually recommended for many as newer host devices would only come with USB3, and the 5GHz operation (as well as Intel's weird obsession with 2.4GHz CPU clocks in the lower end range) would interfere with the signal, which was alleviated by the USB2 physical limitation + distancing from the interference source.