Wireless vs. Connected Network Speeds

[UnderDogs]

I'm a pretty technical person but I not too familiar with network speeds. I've been using my Wireless for my PS3 since I bought it but I've read some people say you should have it directly connected to your router for faster speeds.

Tested it tonight and this is what it came up with.

Wireless:
Connection Speed Download - 1.6 Mbps
Connection Speed Upload - 668.6 kbps

Connected:
Connection Speed Download - 1.5 Mbps
Connection Speed Upload - 745.0 kbps

Are these connection speeds good and is it a myth that connected is better than wireless?

[Common]

I finally had to get with the program and get wireless. I've never used it except on people's laptops. I've always had a desktop and kept it connected, even used a 50ft ethernet cord at my last house. Had to get a damn router and usb wireless adapter today. So far so good.

[Beezy]

Pretty sure the router speed is going to be faster than the internet itself so it really shouldn't slow you down. Tho the further away you get it gets shakey. Me and my wife have 5 mobile devices on our network. I can use it on my porch and all 4 floors. I am no nerd tho. They will be 'round shortly.

[BrewMeister Jeff]

An internet based speed test will not differ that much from Wireless to Wired connections as it is testing the connection from the WAN IP (Internet Provider) to the Testing facility's Server and back.

Those speeds are typical of DSL connections and are fine for most Internet things (viewing movies, Downloading Music, emails, etc).

The Router Speed of a wired connection (Gigabit, Megabit, or sometimes labelled 1000/100/10) is always faster than a Wireless connection (54Mbits/sec or now the 300Megabits/sec connections). Hope that doesn't geek it up too much.

[Beezy]

Ugg DSL gives me nightmares. I had the bright idea to save some money and swap our cable for DSL and that was a long ass year or so. Finally we got back on cable. So much better. I couldn't stream youtube on DSL. My 3G connection was faster.

Anyway yeah from within the network the line is faster. Didn't think about that. But you don't know that chances are you don't care either.

[UnderDogs]

Final verdict and from what a Network wiz told me is that the myth is full of shit.

You Wireless and Wired connection can only handle as much as you router and service provider can provide. Unless you are paying an arm and a leg for speed you should be fine/the same either way.

Thanks for the feedback...now back to wireless.

[Lerxst]

Are these connection speeds good and is it a myth that connected is better than wireless?

It depends but in general, it's not a myth if you know what you're comparing.

There are several flavors of wired and wireless Ethernet:
Wired is generally 10, 100 or 1000 Mbps
Wireless is generally 11, 54 or 600 Mbps

However, your internet connection is like a kink in a hose....the water can only go so fast as a result and that's really what your speed tests show.

WIFI has a lot more pitfalls in the forms of possible interference/signal strength and latency that can make it slower than plugging in to the same piece of equipment. Wired Ethernet is usually going to be much more consistent since you don't have many things that can impact your performance.

[zoebisch01]

To actually get a proper test you really need to do a battery of tests and then average them. All the important stuff has been said here. That all being said, wireless networking has come along way and for most things in your local network (not including the internet) wireless is perfectly fine unless you are always moving around really big files and then there are many other things to factor in.

[blacklab]

Ugg DSL gives me nightmares. I had the bright idea to save some money and swap our cable for DSL and that was a long ass year or so. Finally we got back on cable. So much better. I couldn't stream youtube on DSL. My 3G connection was faster.

Anyway yeah from within the network the line is faster. Didn't think about that. But you don't know that chances are you don't care either.

I just dumped Wimax for DSL and it's like a breath of fresh air, most especially when streaming. Wimax operated in bursts, so I would always be getting buffering or changes in quality. DSL is a constant connection so you get a smooth rate and better streaming performance.

[Beezy]

I just dumped Wimax for DSL and it's like a breath of fresh air, most especially when streaming. Wimax operated in bursts, so I would always be getting buffering or changes in quality. DSL is a constant connection so you get a smooth rate and better streaming performance.

Your lucky. Verizon DSL was terrible for me. I have Xfinity now and it's way more than I need.

[BlindLemonLars]

DSL quality/reliability is all about the distance to your central office. It worked great for me when I lived a few blocks away from the CO, but sucked big time (same company, same equipment) when I moved to my current home eleven years ago. I got really tired of looking at the blinking "lost sync" light on the modem so I switched to cable and it's been rock solid for ten years. I had to swap out the modem twice (free) during that time, but otherwise smooth sailing and a consistently fast connection. With each swap the modem halved in size, from a great big thing the size of a toaster to the pocket-sized one I've got now!

[Beezy]

Not sure how far it is but I am in the frickin city how far could I be?

[BlindLemonLars]

Not sure how far it is but I am in the frickin city how far could I be?

DSL Reports used to have a great tool that would tell you the distance...in feet! Now they have this tool (http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo) that I don't like as much. Still, it should tell you the CO location for any given number.

[Beezy]

Doesn't matter anymore I am keeping the cable for the forseasble future. Thanks anyway.

[Lerxst]

Dsl is today's version of dial up :)

[Beezy]

Could you imagine dial up now? I remember jerking off on those thumb nail sites. It would take a minute or two to load up a shitty jpg. By the time it renders the good shit your limp. Good old days.

[Lerxst]

http://lazylaces.com/56kmodem/

Memories....

I actually still use these at work

[Ron]

I'm on phoneline dsl sometimes it's fine and other time's the suck factor reaches that of my dial up days.

[zoebisch01]

I have a DSL connection because (aside from satellite which really isn't an "option") it's the only thing available. Before the turn of this year, it was a very solid service and my "speeds" were always good. Well new year came, they oversold subscriptions and now I am getting the lovely rush hour traffic again. The routers get congested and cannot handle all of those people who just went online. So it's a lose-lose for everyone on those paths. Sucks. I had conferred with the Verizon Direct forum on DSL reports and they helped me by moving me off the trouble router. About a few weeks ago on my cellphone is a message, went something like this:

"Sir, we have moved you to a less congested router...blah blah". Ironically them being proactive actually defeated all that work.

[Lerxst]

That's all backbone/infrastructure related that could happen with any service fwiw.

[PseudoChef]

My old roommate setup Clear and it was so agonizingly slow.

When I moved I got the second tier of U-verse and it is unbelievably fast.

[zoebisch01]

That's all backbone/infrastructure related that could happen with any service fwiw. Indeed, but in this specific case, Verizon has overloaded their routers...grrrrr.....