WiFi is so fast these days. It’s hard to believe that there was ever a time when we had to use an Ethernet cable. And, in fact, it is faster in certain circumstances. For instance, if you’re in a densely populated area and you’re trying to access a WiFi network, then the WiFi signal might be too crowded for any web browsing or video watching. With that being said, there are still many reasons why an Ethernet cable is slower than Wi-Fi. Here are the top 5 reasons why an Ethernet cable is slower than WiFi.
The Length of the Cable
The length of the cable can have a significant impact on how fast your internet is. The further you are from the Wi-Fi hub, the slower your internet will be. One of the most obvious reasons why an Ethernet cable is slower than WiFi is that it has less power or signal strength, so if you’re 10 ft. away from your router, your internet speed will be drastically different than if you were sitting right next to it.
The Distance Between Your Device and the Router
One of the biggest factors in speed is distance. This is because your device would have to connect to a WiFi router, then that router would have to relay the data. That means there is a lot of time spent communicating with the router before any information reaches your device. If you’re in a densely populated area and you want a WiFi signal, you might be too far from a WiFi router. In this case, an Ethernet cable might be faster than Wi-Fi because it doesn’t rely on other devices for connectivity.
The Speed of Your Internet Connection
This may seem like an obvious reason, but people often forget about the speed of their internet connection. If your internet connection is slow then the Ethernet cable will be slower than WiFi. It doesn’t matter how good your WiFi signal is if you’re still using a slow internet connection. All that matters is the speed of your internet connection. If your WiFi signal is fast enough for watching videos or browsing, then you’ll see no difference between Wi-Fi and an Ethernet cable at all!
Encryption
One reason why an Ethernet cable is slower than WiFi is because of the encryption. There is a lot of sensitive information that can be stolen with Wi-Fi, so companies take precautions to protect their data. This includes encrypting it and making it difficult for hackers to get into the network. When you’re on Wi-Fi, your data will be encrypted and protected from all intruders.
Ethernet cables do not have this protection and are therefore not as secure as Wi-Fi. You can’t guarantee that no one has access to what you’re looking at when using an Ethernet cable and it’s near impossible to decrypt your data if someone does manage to break in.
What You’re Doing Online
The majority of people use Wi-Fi for casual web browsing. The truth is that the average person spends very little time online. So, if you’re doing anything complexes like downloading large files or streaming video, then your Ethernet cable is actually much slower than your WiFi connection.
