As you know, Wi-Fi is a more convenient option as compared to the Ethernet cables. However, Ethernet provides a lot of advantages. If you are considering these options, you should first look at the pros and cons of wireless and wired connections.
Although you will not be connecting an Ethernet cable to your phone any time soon, it is worth running these cables to devices that matter. Some of the examples include gaming, media PCs, backup devices, and set-up boxes.
Faster Speeds
Ethernet is faster as compared to Wi-Fi. However, the differences are quite smaller than you think. Over the last few years, Wi-Fi has become considerably faster because of the new standards that provide the maximum speeds of 150 Mb/s. On the other hand, Ethernet has a maximum speed of 10 Gb/s theoretically. Although that is the maximum speed for the wireless devices to share, Wi-Fi can handle most of our daily tasks. The exact speed of Ethernet depends on the type of cable.
Lower Latency
You should note that connection quality and speed are not only about raw bandwidth. Instead, latency is an important factor. Latency can be defined as the delay it takes for traffic to get from a single device to another. It is commonly known as ping in the online gaming worlds and networking. If you want to get lower latency as possible for your gaming endeavors, you should go off with a wired Ethernet connection. If you are only streaming videos, browsing the web, or listening to music, latency does not matter much for you.
Connection Reliability
You should note that Ethernet provides a more reliable connection as compared to Wi-Fi. That is because Wi-Fi is subjected to a lot more interference as compared to a wired connection. The layout of the home, objects blocking the signal, and interference from the electrical device are some of the things that make Wi-Fi less reliable. Interference is likely to cause different problems, such as:
Dropped Signals
Ideally, Wi-Fi will lose the signal and reacquire it occasionally. Although that is not a huge deal for streaming video or browsing as re-acquisition happens quickly. However, if you are playing online games, it can be quite irritating.
High Latency
As a result of increased interference, it means you have higher latency. That can be a problem for some of the reasons highlighted in this post.
Lower Speeds
Also, interference results in lower signal quality that results in reduced connection speeds.