which is actually quicker - wire or wireless?

Question

I have 8mb broadband provided by virgin media on adsl (phoneline not cable).

I know that i may not get the maximum 8mb and seem to be getting just 7.4mb - which is still pretty good as they can only gaurantee 'up to 8mb'.

I currently use a wired thompson usb modem which gives me the 7.4mb connection speed, its on a usb 1.0 connection and seems to go pretty well, its also using a 15 metre adsl cable i bought for £16

If i use a wireless router and usb adaptor (which would still be on usb 1.0 so no faster there) it would be connected at 54mps instead of 7.4, but surely this is just the connection to the router and not the connection to the adsl which would still be 7.4???

so which is going to make programs on the PC perform faster - usb modem or wireless router and adaptor??

Answer 1

wired is quicker and safer but wirless is more convenent.

Answer 2

Well the problem with asdsl is that when you are further away form the Central office your connection is going to speed down. So if your connection from the modem to your computer is kind of far away you should consider wireless, besides wireless is more convenient because you can add more computers to your network.

If you use wire (USB) i don;t really know what kind of bandwidth it has, but if you use ethernet cable CAT 5 or more you will have at least 100 mbps but as you said you only need 7.1 or 8 with the overhead. So in my opinion wired or wireless will work for you because in either of them you will be using the whole bandwidth. But of you are doing a lot of internal networking, like sharing printer and files, or if you have an active directory server, and/or you are doing remote back ups I suggest you to use wired.

Answer 3

Fundamentally, "wire" is faster than "wireless" because the wire medium is more physical...in the sense that the molecules in the material (in this caes the copper wire or whatever the wire is made from) are closely packed together. This means that there is far greater conductivity of the electric signal (in this case the data and/or power signal) to move along more efficiently.

In wireless, the medium is air where gas molecules (although can conduct the radio signal...another form of electric power for data and or power) are further apart and thus require more power for the data/power signal to move along. Or if extra power won't be added, then efficiency is reduced (signals will still get across).

Look at it this way: which would you find easier to walk briskly across:
a). A brigde made of a sturdy board of metal or wood.
b). A bridge made of wobbly but tough rope?

Which would require more effort from you to cross and which would also take more of your energy and time.

Answer 4

Aparently its wirless that is SLOWER .... but Im okay with it. I have been using it for ages now and it's great, fast and convient. Better than staying at one place at a time ^-^ It's a very nig thing to considdor. And is there really that MUCH OF A BIG diiference in speed ?? I dont think so =] It's better to get ridof the wires if you have a laptop.

I heard on the news something about people saying that wireless electromagnetic rediation ( a big word.... means the energy paricles of the data connecting you to the net ) are aparently a health risk of thngs like cancer. SCARY!! But I dont think that has been prooved ;[ Worth keeping in mind though.

But 'cos of the convience.... .... ..


WIRELESS ROCKS =]

Answer 5

your programs on the PC are not affected by your network speed - only by the amount of RAM that you have.

Wired is faster but as you have something physically connecting you to your router you can only move around so far. If you do want to use wireless my best tip would be to buy a decent one and make sure it's encrypted that way no one else can use your internet. Obviously if you use wired no one can access your internet as they physically need to be in the room.

TO be honest i have no problems with my wireless connection except at time it can be slow.

It's your choice.

Answer 6

I always prefer wired environment, despite they require cables and a few more external components.. technically, wired will be faster because they will transfer 010101010101 through physical cables, so there's less error bits that will be sent through, on the other hand, wired has alot of error bits being transferred through air.. as well as noise, unnecessary disturbtions will create wireless modem to do more correctness, and continunity can be usually conflicted..

but i always prefer using cables shorter than 10m, coz they longer the cable, the more possiblities you may transmit errors...

hope this helps

Answer 7

a wired connection will be faster because the signal strength is always 100% with no interference
also if your routers top speed is 8.0mbps the wireless connection won't and can't operate at speeds over 8.0mbps

Answer 8

I'd say wired ! Wireless connection are more of a convenience since you have no wires going all over the place but wireless are also less stable depending on conditions.

Answer 9

Technically wired is faster, but I would say that your speed is only as fast as your weakest link. For example, if you have a super fast computer with a 1000mb network card, but you only have a 100mb cable, then you are only going to get 100mb. If you put in 1000mb cable, and your switch or router only supports 100mb, then you are only going to get the 100mb. If you have 1000mb all the way then you are going to get 1000mb, but only to the modem that goes out. There you are only limited to the speed of your ISP.

Answer 10

the network connection will be UP TO 54mbps, depending upon how far away from the router etc you are.

the internet will still be 7.4mbps

the speed of the network is the speed that you can transfer files across the network, print to network printers, etc etc.

Answer 11

earlier you think approximately paying for a cable component, you ought to call virgin and get somebody over to restoration it, this is commonly unfastened! I had an identical concern, and after calling customer provider an engineer fastened the undertaking freed from charge!!