The Hardwired vs WiFi Dilemma

I've had the pleasure to work with a lot of great builder's over years, and the people buying their homes. Working in the field of technology carrys with it challenges of its own as, just when you think you've learned something about a product, something new is always coming down the pike. There is one thing I do want to address in this article however that I am hearing almost on a weekly basis on the subject of WiFi vs Hardwired Internet.

There seems to be a prevalent opinion I hear from a lot of people that assumes, because we all have WiFi, hardwired connections are no longer important, but this simply isn't true. It's unfortunate too, because so many times I have seen customers opt out of installing a proper Hardwired system for the one fact they believe WiFi is good enough. The sad thing is many times I've gone back to these same houses to help the customer address an Internet problem that is almost always exclusively poor Internet to no Internet signal at all. The most common complaint is, when watching a movie, the movie freezes, pixelates, or always seems to be buffering.

In a March 2014 article on techomebuilder.com, Joshua Roberson of OnQ made the following statement when comparing Hardwired to WiFi:

“Wireless is like a pie, and you can only slice it up into so many pieces. Netflix and other video and entertainment streaming services take up to 80 percent of the bandwidth [or the size of that pie, that pipe, whatever you want to call it] in your home.”

This is not even taking into account the many things that interfere with your WiFi signal in the home. Have you ever heard someone refer to having a “dead zone” in their house where they get little to no WiFi signal, sure you have, we all have. There are so many things in your home that interfere with good WiFi signal. Here's a few:

• Piping in Walls (expecially bad if you have a heat pump)
• Microwave ovens
• Baby monitors
• Christmas lights
• Cordless phone

It always seems that these dead zones show up in areas where you need the connection the most. Factor into this that 4K or UHDTV (Ultra High Definition TV) seems to be extablishing it will be the next video standard, don't believe me, check out just how many of the TV's on display at Best Buy are 4K and you'll see what I'm saying. This new TV resolution requires a constant stream of 15 to 20mbps in order to display the full resolution uninterrupted. Most homes that I've been in have WiFi routers that would be fortunate to do 20 to 30mbps tops! Now what if in a few years you have three 4K TV's in your home, you see where this is going.

Yet it's more than that, as the saying goes, you're only as good as your weakest link. Even if you have a decent WiFi router you can't assume that the TV you're buying has a wireless network card that can reach the router. Television manufacturers typically put most of their money into the screen, not the WiFi card, but they all make provision for a hardwired network connection. A piece of Cat5e networking cable is good for up to 1000mbps and Cat6 is good for up to 10,000mbps in most homes, far beyond the requirements of your 4K Televisions. Not only that hardwired connections are more stable and less likely to be interupted throughout the entire home.

The best setup for most new home buyers is a home that is a good mixture of both Hardwired and WiFi connection points. At Wilsons Smart Connect the rule of thumb is that if it's stationary it's hardwired and if it's mobile it's WiFi. This means that devices like Wall TV's, Apple TV's, Gaming Consolses, Roku boxes, etc, are all Hardwired and the WiFi is left for devices like iPads and Android devices.

Think of it like this, Hardwired connections are Interstate Highways and WiFi is like the secondary roads that run off these highways. It's true that you could drive to most destinations using secondary roads, but there's a price to pay for that...lack of speed! If you really want to get to where you're going you take the highway. Have you ever been heading home from work after there's been an accident on the highway and every bit of traffic is trying to get to their destination on the secondary road, gridlock! That's exactly what it's like when you try to get your WiFi system to do everything, it bottle necks and you start having problems. For the best experience use Hardwired connections for your stationary devices and WiFi for the mobile devices, it makes for a much better user experience. Don't be disappointed on your new home build, make sure you have ample hardwired Internet connections.

For more information on technology for your home contact me at [email protected] or (902) 453-3388