So you need speed from your internet connection, but you’re trying to decide if you can get away with WIFI or you need to run cables.
Wired ethernet is faster than WIFI most of the time. Modern WIFI routers boast impressive throughputs, but these are during ideal conditions. Interference from other signals, obstacles blocking line of sight to the router, & the number of connections to the router negatively impact WIFI speeds.
Wired ethernet connections do not have these limitations; therefore, the throughput is more consistent and typically higher in volume.
Why is ethernet usually faster than WIFI?
Ethernet is typically faster than WIFI simply because you can design your ethernet network for a certain speed and maintain that speed without any degradation. So if you pick an ethernet card for your computer that is 1 GB, you choose a suitable cable for 1 GB, and your router has 1 GB ports, you’re going to be able to get 1 GB speeds consistently.
Of course, that’s assuming no one else is using the same router to perform some other high bandwidth-consuming activity that is bogging down the router.
On the other hand, WIFI speed is significantly impacted by environmental influences. First and foremost, other WIFI signals. If you live in an apartment where everyone has a WIFI router, you may not be able to use your WIFI much at all.
That’s because the WIFI wireless protocol that everyone else is using can only tolerate a limited number of signals before it’s incapable of operating. So it basically gets crowded out amongst the noise.
In addition to that, WIFI is on the same public frequencies used in a number of products. Kids toys, baby monitors, or garage door openers. Plus many other wireless devices. Depending on which wireless items are in use in your general area, your WIFI may be affected.
The manufacturer’s specifications in your router promotional materials were measured in a lab under ideal conditions. Typically with no physical barriers impeding the signal. However, if your router is in the next room or happens to be located on a different floor, the barrier will reduce your signal, and the speed will likely be affected.
And on top of all that, if there are numerous WIFI-capable devices on your network all sharing the same WIFI signal, the bandwidth needs to be shared amongst all of them. Once the signal is shared amongst too many devices, the data speeds experienced by each device will be reduced accordingly.
In addition to this, they are all-consuming the available bandwidth your router can provide. There is only so much to go around, and once all of the available bandwidth is being consumed, the router has to ration it amongst all users. The splitting reduces the perceived data speed on each device accordingly.
How do I know how my WIFI is performing?
To do this, you will need the right tool. There are several different tools, but the tool that I like the best for home use is MetaGeek’s Signifi Personal. It simplifies the process of fixing WIFI enough that it’s accessible for most computer users.
It’s priced well for what it is, and it has a free trial. However, you really need to have an account to get the most out of the free trial. It will let you run the agent without it, but you can’t do a scan as a guest, and that’s where all the magic is.
Once you have an account set up and have confirmed your email, you need to activate your free trial. I signed into the app, and from there, I could start the free trial by clicking ‘scan’ and then clicking ‘activate free trial.’ It takes you to their website, where you enter the email address associated with your account.
Now, sign out of the app and sign back in. Voila! You’re able to do scans! The tool itself is pretty self-explanatory, and if it finds any issues, it takes you to your account with MetaGeek to explain all the findings and potential solutions.
Something you will want to do right at the beginning is adjusting notifications. If your WIFI is struggling for some reason, you will repeatedly get little pop-up notifications that can get annoying in the interim.
When one pops up, hover your mouse over it and click the three dots near the X. Go to the settings page and make any adjustments you may want to.
Why I always choose wired ethernet over WIFI
My reasoning is, I want fast, reliable internet. I also want to set it up and have it work without any fuss. Depending on where you live, that can sometimes be easy to do with WIFI but sometimes not.
In my previous home, the WIFI environment was pretty clean, but I still opted for a wired connection wherever I could, just out of habit and to have that reassurance. I didn’t even have the Signifi agent on my laptop. It was that good.
However, for whatever reason, whenever I set up a fairly involved WIFI network I seem to invite troubles.
Here’s an example:
At the moment, I just changed jobs, and I’m between houses, so I’m in an apartment. That means I’m kind of forced into more WIFI. There are over 200 WIFI signals within the range of my laptop. No joke! That’s a lot! And my options for running cables are pretty slim. Not without creating unsightly tripping hazards.
To top it off, just this month, we had many people in our wing move out with new people moving in. They must have a lot of WIFI or 2.4GHz devices because our WIFI has become so bad, it’s unusable. So I downloaded the Signifi agent and put it to work.
It turns out the 2.4GHz band is so crowded. It’s almost impossible to have reasonable wireless speeds. As expected. What I didn’t expect was that the recommendation from Signifi was that I needed a new router. Apparently, the newer WIFI technologies do better in wirelessly crowded environments.
I did a bit of digging and found that my router needed an update, so I applied that. I re-ran the test and saw an immediate improvement, but it still was lagging a bit.
I also found that my router has the newer technology that Signifi recommended but that the manufacturer only included it on the less crowded 5GHz band. However, the WIFI tested flawlessly once I switched all my devices over to the 5GHz signal and re-ran the test!
I could have avoided all of this if I could have just used a wired network which leads me to prefer wired connections if given the option. However, the Signifi app made optimizing my wireless easy, so I guess I don’t have much to complain about in this particular case.