THE TRUTH ABOUT WIRELESS SPEEDS

Wi-Fi is a lot more convenient than wired Ethernet cables sure, but as far as advantages of Ethernet cable and wired connections are concerned, Ethernet definitely offers more in form of lower latency, faster speed and no interference problems like wireless.

Of course you can’t connect your tablet and smart phone to Ethernet cable, but for business purposes or dealing with game consoles, laptops at desks, desktop PCs, TV streaming boxes and other devices, Ethernet is the best option.

Why?

Ethernet happens to be much faster than Wi-Fi and over the past few years, Wi-Fi has gotten considerably better and is faster than it used to be but advertised wireless speeds are very rarely reached. A wired connection offers up to 10GBs if you happen to have a properly installed network and the right equipment. The type of Ethernet cable you use, and the equipment powering it determines the exact maximum speed of your network.

Main Differences

The key differences that set Ethernet and wireless network apart are;

Convenience: If you look back a few years, the choice between Wi-Fi and Ethernet was pretty basic. Ethernet provide more speed but as it required cabling, one was limited in where to place your desktop or laptop in relation to your router. You could not move once you had chosen a spot.

Wi-Fi in comparison was slower but it provide you the ease of using internet within 150 feet of the router and Wi-Fi hotspots were quite popular as well. That was the choice, speed vs convenience and both of them are seen as complementary rather opposing technologies.

Speed: When Wi-Fi became popular, it was largely due to 802.11 standard and according to it, it provided maximum theoretical speeds of 54Mbps but far less in practice. The performance was only satisfactory for using Internet on mobile devices but as far as performance was concerned, Wi-Fi fell short of service by Ethernet which could give speeds anywhere from 100 Mbps to 1000 Mbps (gigabit) and beyond. Now according to the latest Wi-Fi standard 802.11 ac it offers theoretical speeds up to 3200 Mbps but provides less than half of the speed in real world scenarios.

Reliability: All speeds happen to be theoretical but wireless network connections are vulnerable to environmental factors that is the main reason that the wireless speed one often hears about in advertisements, is not achieved more than often. Radio waves are blocked by floors, doors and walls and other wireless devices also impact and interfere with the signals. These include cordless phones and microwaves as well and nearby routers that use the same channel. The atmosphere tends to cause problems in performance.

A fixed Ethernet connection in not only secure, it is fast, stable and delivers consistently in form of constant speeds which you witness for yourself while downloading large files or streaming HD videos.

The main issue with Wi-Fi speed is that quite often, it delivers inconsistently. As you move around your office or home, you will see the strength of your Wi-Fi signal fading away or fluctuate which affects the speed. Getting a wired network connection is the best way to get the optimum speed, security & reliability.