WIFI vs Ethernet

[Mike 702]

Not sure what to expect with my connection.

I have a good broadband connection, 320MB.

If I hard wire the Ethernet cable to my pc I get 320MB connection, no issues.

When I use WIFI I get around 180MB.

Now I know it doesn't really make much difference, unless I am downloading large files - which I only really do when installing new games - but I would like to get the most I can.

My question is though, what sort of drop off should I expect from a WIFI connection?

I am using the WIFI that is built into my MB - an MSI 450 Pro Carbon, so it does have an aerial that sticks out of the back of the MB.

My router is only about 20 metres from my PC, although is in a different room.

Thanks in advance.

 

[robj20]

WiFi is slow, the posted speeds are theoretical max speeds you probably won't even get them with the devices so close they're touching.
Depends on so many things as well.

 

[EsaT]

If wanting guaranteed speed, use wired connections.
Unless using line of sight point to point links, speed of wireless depends on horoscopes, positions of planets etc.

WiFi is slow like promises of economical/political elite...

Now it's correct.

 

[james.miller]

180Mb? That's six times faster than my home broadband.

WiFi is slow

Now Im sad.

 

[Semple]

My question is though, what sort of drop off should I expect from a WIFI connection?

This is not an answerable question due to the many factors involved that could influence your speed over a wifi connection.

Unless you're willing to run a series of tests in order to identify some of the bigger factors, running ethernet is just the easiest way to go.

 

[darael]

If you can, use ethernet. Perhaps speed isn't the issue when gaming, but reliability is. I can't imagine anything worse than losing a wifi connection while enjoying a game.

Even though my router is close to my computer, I use Cat 7 cable to benefit from it's shielding as I want to minimise any interference from nearby electrical cables that are near my PC.

 

[Deleted member 209350]

Wireless technology simply isn't good enough compared with wired at the moment.

I think once 5G gets more popular, wireless tech will in general get a lot better than what it is.

But for the moment, if you want the maximum speeds, ethernet is the only way

 

[Jimmy Weirdarms]

We have a tall thin house, with the router at the bottom and the computers two floors up. WiFi is just unreliable, we tried the ethernet-over-power things but in the end they weren't up to the job either and had to be reset every so often to keep the speeds up. I ended up fitting cat-6a into the house between the rooms where it's needed. It's the only really fast, reliable way at the moment.

Wifi is good enough for casual net use and whatever I do on the laptop/phone but to max out the Virgin 350Mbit connection it just has to be ethernet.

 

[Avalon]

Wifi is for IoT, mobiles/tablets and devices that lack the physical capability to connect via a wired connection. Everything else should be wired, anything else is a technically inferior compromise. In terms of drop, it depends on LoS, what's in the fresnel zone, the construction of any obstructions, the hardware on each end and any external sources of interference, basically we can't tell you the answer.

 

[Mike 702]

Thanks all, will look to hard wire the PC in.

 

[Semple]

Wireless technology simply isn't good enough compared with wired at the moment.

I think once 5G gets more popular, wireless tech will in general get a lot better than what it is.

But for the moment, if you want the maximum speeds, ethernet is the only way

Hmm i don't think it'll ever be on the same scale as wired. 10 years ago people only had a handful of wireless devices in their homes. In another 10 years, it'll be every other device will require some sort of connection to the internet. This just ends up cluttering the airwaves.