kernel upgrade today and noticed network manager was reporting a 1MB connection again and only 33% signal.
Tried reinstaling the driver @peteh100 suggested but made no difference. Uninstalled that driver, rebooted and noticed that the rtl8192eu still keeps a connection . . . so it seems the latest kernel has had some support added to it (or at least some support that works on my system). Reverting to the 4.4.49 kernel and reinstalling the driver gets me a 300MB connection back.
How might I get the driver that @peteh100 suggested to work with kernel 4.4.57 ?