Wired vs. Wireless

With 802.11n Draft 2.0 routers and wireless network adapters becoming both ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive and with 802.11n media center extenders finally reaching the market, you might be wondering if building an old-fashioned wired network is worth the trouble and expense.

There is no question that stringing wires around your house is a royal pain, especially if it lacks a crawl space or attic, and if you’re going to bother with a wired network at all, you’ll need to invest in a gigabit switch. You’ll also need to buy bulk Cat5e cable, RJ45 jacks, mud rings, wall plates, and perhaps a few new tools.

Now, this post is to compare the deployment cost, convenience, and performance of a wireless network powered by a high-end Wi-Fi router with that of a wired network controlled by a high-quality gigabit switch in four usage scenarios.

Connecting to the Internet is the one scenario in which the speed of your local network really doesn’t matter. The typical DSL connection will provide bandwidth of less than 6Mb/s; cable modem connections are usually faster, but not enough to outstrip the performance of even an 802.11g Wi-Fi router. Since you won’t gain anything by using a wired connection to browse the web, you might as well enjoy the freedom a wireless connection has to offer. Just be sure to use the best wireless security that your equipment supports.

Building out a wired network takes a lot of elbow grease, but it is certainly not a costly proposition if you do the work yourself. And an 802.11n Draft 2.0 router with a gigabit switch is only marginally more expensive than lesser hardware. You’ll never regret the commitment to having wired network