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Wired or Wireless for my Home Network?

Wired or Wireless Network

Having trouble deciding if you need Wired or Wireless for your Home Network? Or do you just go with what is the easiest? If you like things easy, you will opt to just plug the network cable in and be done with it.

If you do not have a neatly installed network outlet in your room, you can use the wireless adapter on your device. To make an option on what choice to pick, you need to consider a few things. Those things you will need to consider are Location, Security and Bandwidth.

Find the Right Location

The Location of the device will dictate if you will need to set up a wired connection or a wireless. The devices work best west they are close to the wireless routers. The farther away, the weaker the signal. Also, building material can interfere with the connection. A brick wall for example may block signals between the router and the device. A wired connection is not going to have an issue sending the signals through a brick wall. The cable is routed through and around walls, within a 100 ft length. Although, the wall will not weaken the signal strength, the cable does have a limit to how far you can run a line before you will need to add a repeat to strengthen the signal.

Think about Security

Now Security is the next item to consider. The wifi connections can be secured with a few options when it comes to wifi-security, but your data is still being transmitted across the airwaves. This means, someone can “sniff” the airwaves and copy the data being sent to and from your device. They will have to decipher the transmission. A wired connection does not send data through the airwaves, but through the cables connected from the router to the device. In order for anyone to capture the data, they would need to physically be connected to the same network.

Watch your Bandwidth

Then we consider the Bandwidth. The cables have been rated at 100MBps where wireless is  54MBps. No matter what way you slice it, a wired connection is always better. Unless your stuck in a basement office without a window!

In conclusion, you should think about what you are going to be doing before locking in on a particular setup. If you are an avid Gamer or do a lot of Video Production, then you may want to invest in some quality cables from your router, to the device. If you are more the social media master, then the mobility of wifi is what you are going to be focusing on. I prefer to use a combination of both. I chose devices that are stable, like the smart TV, printers or an XBOX and keep those connected to the network with a wired cable. The other devices like laptops and smart phones are placed on the wireless side of the house.

One more thing…Network Limitation

I almost, forgot another thing to consider. Limitation! Some ISPs that provide routers usually limit the number of devices you can connect to a network. One ISP in particular limits the devices on their routers to 16 devices. Imagine a family of 4 with laptops, smartphones, a printer, thermostat, two smart tv’s, iPads and more devices that can connect to the Internet of Things (IOT). Sooner than later, you run up to that 16 limit very quickly.

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