In terminal, sudo apt install libusb-dev, reboot, and then give it another speed test. That package helps with USB's that aren't playing well. Not a cure-all but, might help. I've had to use that package to get other USB's working on my side many times; usually cheaper devices.. But, give that a try
And also since it's USB, what does lsusb output; and is that the right version for the adapter, r8188eu?
But, from other searches - looks like Ubuntu 12 was being used, like fully supported.. If libusb-dev didn't provide anything useful, you may need to try the linked driver, or another one. Which, seemed to be pretty vast - the one I linked (maybe..) was the newest but, also stopped support in 2019 looks like.
Is the adapter you're using have both Bluetooth and WiFi? I saw some posts about a combined adapter with the same name, 8188eu.
No worries - so, open the link in the post to the GitHub page, click the green code button at the top right of the title, select 'download .zip' at the bottom. After the download completes, open the file manager to Downloads, then extract the new rtl8188eu-master.zip file (right click, 'Extract Here') - once that's completed, open a terminal and navigate to the new folder:
cd Downloads/rtl8188eu-master
Then to make and install:
make
sudo make install
sudo modprobe -v 8188eu (may be different like rtl8188eu, or rt8188eu)
A successful modprobe will return nothing in terminal - just fyi..
May want to check ls /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/ to see if any .bins are already there before trying the downloaded firmware - you may hide them temporarily to test the downloaded driver; just rename the file with .filename.bin format. If the new driver doesn't work or isn't exhibiting desired results, you can remove the downloaded driver with sudo modprobe -r rt8188eu (or what the .bin is named in /lib/firmware/rtlwifi), un-hide the old drivers, rerun modprobe -v rt8188eu and that will load the last firmware version of that device. You can use terminal to rename the files like:
Do this: remove all the downloaded zip and extracted folders, cd to your Downloads folder, then run git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git - cd into rtl8188eu, then try the make commands again.. Haven't had to do this much myself but, the first line after modprobe -v says only the 'git clone' method is supported; didn't see that bit! You won't have to extract this time using git clone either.
Are you copying / pasting the whole text from 'make' to 'modprobe' from my earlier post? Each line would be a separate command entered after finishing the previous one.
So,
make - thensudo make install - modprobe may or may not be needed, from a guide I just found it doesn't appear to be needed..
But, since it is in fact working without having to install extra drivers - are you able to achieve any higher speeds by just swapping to a different USB port?
And the found article, has some steps:
Just follow where it starts from the 'make' section at number 6.