Will switching from wireless to wired improve my speed?

J

jasfa131

The Lone Deranger
If I switch from using a wireless connection to a wired connection improve my connection speed?

Thanks, I've been wondering.
 
Simply put, yes. :)

And if you want the long version.... ;)

Consider that you're talking about 11 Mbps (802.11b) and a nominal 54 Mbps (802.11g) with wireless compared to a steady 100 Mbps connection with wired Ethernet (most ethernet cards in computers can now do 1 Gbps, but that speed would require a switch that supports Gigabit Ethernet, or GigE). Also, Ethernet is less prone to interference compared to wireless.

And while 802.11n is basically here, it's not a final ratification so there's no standard. And it's still affected by interference do to environmental factors just like 802.11b/g.

Either way, not matter what you use, your only going to move data as fast as your slowest link. In a home network, you're limited to the speed of the slowest network card which acts as a bottleneck (sure even though a switch can maintain a GigE connection, the other computer on your network that's not using GigE is only going to go as fast as it can transfer). When talking about Internet, the bottleneck is going to be your broadband connection.

Hope this clarifies things a bit.
 
Thanks. When I switch from wireless to a wired connection, will I have to adjust anything? (my router has inputs for a wired connection as well and the wireless antenna)
 
Mario8672 said:
Thanks. When I switch from wireless to a wired connection, will I have to adjust anything? (my router has inputs for a wired connection as well and the wireless antenna)
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If you had it set to DHCP before, the only thing you would have to do is make sure that the Ethernet connection's configuration on said computer that is being wired is also set to DHCP. ALso, make sure you disable the wireless interface on the computer, otherwise the computer will get confused as to which network interface to use.
 
Just to make _this_ clear as well: If you're talking about your _internet_ connection, it probably _won't_ be faster, as it would quite probably not be capped by the speed of your WiFi connection.
 
fryke said:
Just to make _this_ clear as well: If you're talking about your _internet_ connection, it probably _won't_ be faster, as it would quite probably not be capped by the speed of your WiFi connection.
Click to expand...

I actually had to read this a few time to understand it properly. :p Basically in regards to your Internet connection, moving from a wireless to a wired setup will not increase the speed of your internet connection (because the connection from your ISP is almost always slower to some degree). However, it will increase the nominal speed of data transfers between computers that are on your internal network when moving from wireless to wired on both computers.

And this is before my morning coffee. :D
 
Yep, that's what I meant. And basically said - without the local network part, because that had been covered above my post already. Sorry that you came across it before your morning coffee. :P
 
Oh, so you mean my internet speed/download speed on my mac wont be faster than before?

(my mac is upstairs)
(My pc is downstairs with my internet source and router)
 
Nope. Since your internet connection would be your slowest link, the best any of the computers can download is the fastest speed that you're provided by your ISP. However, for sharing files from one computer to another on your network, going wired is definitely faster than over wireless.
 
nixgeek said:
Nope. Since your internet connection would be your slowest link, the best any of the computers can download is the fastest speed that you're provided by your ISP. However, for sharing files from one computer to another on your network, going wired is definitely faster than over wireless.
Click to expand...


Basicly you speed will not increase for internet connections (unless your internet connection speed is above 11mbit or 54mbit, whichever speed your wireless connection can use maximal).

Effectively because the wired communication is in general a lot more stable as wireless connection, a minor difference (due to the latency in the network) might occur (e.g. the package send by the router to your computer arrive twice as fast for 100mbit as for 54mbit, thus you gain a milisecond or so. But when multiple wireless users are using the network, the gain might be more considerable as the 11mbit or 54mbit is the top speed and only made on optimal conditions, mostly the effective speed is lower).

Thus you will not notice any difference under normal conditions (as they are to small to notice).


Good luck, Kees
 
I do notice a slight difference on VOIP calls though, as the more consistent wired connection gives slightly better sound quality, but i have a huge number of devices accessing my access point,
 
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