For Speed, Reliability and Security, Wi-Fi is Good. Ethernet is MUCH Better.

When we built our house in 1996 I took the opportunity to install all the “low-voltage” wiring myself. Before the insulation and sheetrock went up on the walls, I ran speaker wire for the living room surround sound and five other audio zones, additional phone cable for IR pickups in each zone and Cat5 Ethernet cabling everywhere I thought I might need it. Of course, now there’s wiring in the walls I’ll never use and I’ve had to run a couple of others to places my original plan didn’t include. Cloudy crystal ball aside, I’m glad I spent the money and made the effort. Especially on the Ethernet cabling. Wi-Fi technology has progressed geometrically over the past twenty years with theoretical speeds exceeding gigabit levels, but even the latest and greatest Wi-Fi gear can’t approach the real-world performance of a good, old copper wire.

So, why spend the time and effort to point this out? Because this concept has been lost on today’s PC consumers. Wi-Fi has gotten so much faster and so easy to set up that it’s good enough for most users. It has effectively replaced Ethernet as the default networking method. So much so that Apple no longer includes built-in Ethernet on any portable machine it sells

Click to read more ...