So you’ve just upgraded your computers, signed up for the fastest internet package, and purchased the best wireless router money can buy. But for some reason, your webpages aren’t loading as quickly as you expected them to. You tried to watch a YouTube video on your lunch break and it won’t stop buffering. And worst of all, that email with all of the attachments is taking forever to send. But did you know that all of these issues could have been avoided if you were using a wired connection? In this article, we’re going to talk about some of the reasons wired internet connections are superior to Wi-Fi.

 

Signal Range

 

Wi-Fi signals don’t have an unlimited range. This means that the further you are from the router, the worse your connection will be. The term for this is “signal degradation”. But distance alone isn’t the only contributing factor to signal degradation.

 

Walls, microwaves, radio signals, and other Wi-Fi networks can all impede a Wi-Fi signal—and the end result is a slower internet connection. Wired internet connections, however, are unaffected by these interferences as they have a direct route to your computer.

 

Packet Loss

 

Data is transmitted from the router to your computer in the form of a “packet”. But these packets don’t always find the way to their final destination. When this happens it’s called “packet loss”. Wi-Fi, however, is more susceptible to packet loss by design.

 

When using Wi-Fi, the router has a slight delay when sending packets. They do this to reduce the risk of packet loss. But the downside to that is that there’s a bit of latency as it waits to send the packet. When using a wired connection, the router is able to tell if any data is being transmitted already. And in effect, the wired connection mitigates packet loss by only sending data to your computer after confirming the path is clear.

 

Sending and Receiving Data

 

When using the internet, you’re constantly sending and receiving information simultaneously. All of these transmissions are sent and received by the router. But when using a wireless router, the antennae is only capable of either sending or receiving data at any given time. On the other hand, when you’re using a wired connection, one of the wires in the cable is dedicated to sending data, and the other is dedicated to receiving data. This ensures for a smoother connection because it’s able to do everything simultaneously.

 

For some more information on Wi-Fi versus wired internet connections for your clinic, just check out the video below:

 

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