On my Win7 machine, I have BOTH a USB wireless stick AND an ethernet cable to a router plugged in at the same time. They are clearly both recognized as active in Sharing Center. But which one is actually being used? One is connected to a 5 GHz port in my router, and the other is connected to the 2.4 GHz port.
HI
usually Ethernet takes preceedence...
however you can change this,
your Router control panel will give you options,(type 192.168.0.1 into your browser and then the Hub password to open)
dissable either connection
select preffered band
rename the wifi
you can also change them within the OS>>>NetWork options or Device manager
dissable/set preferred band-WIFI if dual band
and lots more
the choice is yours
Desktop
Ethernet is more stable...
Laptop
Wifi for mobility
note
there is no such thing as a 2.4ghz port on a comp.... USB ports are either type 2/3 the driver for the dongle is then used to select the band(2.4/5.0)....IF available
It's all on the network metric and in Windows your Ethernet cable will be what's used first before WiFi, and with good reason... Your Internet speed is probably slower on the WiFi route than it is on the Ethernet route. Windows' metric determines metric cost via network speed. So a slower speed, a higher metric cost, the lower metric wins, thus Ethernet is what you're probably using now and not WiFi.
Metric cost can also be defined for hop count or time, not just network sped.
If you think all are being used, they are not. It may look like that though. In order to utilize more than one adapter you have to use network teaming (there are other words that describe it). pfSense or its cousin OPNSense can do that. Multi WAN — OPNsense documentation
Metrics (networking) - Wikipedia
The Automatic Metric feature for IPv4 routes - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn
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Tip for WiFi. If you are using 802.11ac, only use channels 36-48. Why? Because weather radar shares frequencies "channels" with 5 GHz WiFi. If your router detects weather radar it's mandated in the router's firmware to temp shut down and find a new channel. You also wanna stay on the lower 5 GHz channels if at all possible. More on that below.
If the router has the option for bandwidth on this ac WiFi channel chose the highest. Probably 80 MHz. Some may have a massive 160 MHz option. If you use more than one router in a business environment you have to do things differently however... At home it should be fine.
This same rule of bandwidth applies for 802.11n/g. Chose the highest bandwidth. Also, chose channels 1, 6, or 11 and ONLY those channels. Those are non-overlapping channels so you'll have less interference, more throughput, etc. Ideally, if your router has a built in feature to see what other WiFi networks are around you and their channels and signal strength then use that. Pick channels 1, 6 or 11 based on least popularity and/or signal strength from your neighbor. You want to use the channel where everyone else's signal strength is lower than yours. Again, only channels 1, 6, or 11.
Tibit #234:
802.11n describes the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. 802.11ac is 5 GHZ only. 802.11b/g is 2.4 GHz only. Latest version is 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 - Wikipedia
Note, 5 GHz is absolute crap in a large house without repeaters placed between the router and you. That's because 5 GHz likes to bounce off of objects like a jack russell terrier high on crack cocaine. In an apartment it will work great. Especially in a crowded WiFi environment like an apartment building. Don't believe me? The wavelength distance peak to peak in a 5 GHz signal is only a little over 2" inches (~5cm) wide. That very small wavelength is like a spring so to speak. The wavelength often times denotes antenna type. Thus small antennas will probably use a high frequency. (And I just thought of a funny joke)... LOL
Last edited by file3456; 11 Dec 2022 at 08:45.
Still confused. (I am NOT a Windows guy, by the way, I'm researching this for someone else.)
Access to this new Xfinity router is 10.0.0.1, and that reports that both are connected, but doesn't say which one is being used, and doesn't appear to offer a choice in the matter.
OS>>>NetWork options or Device manager? Wherefore art thou? I don't see them in the Control Panel/Network and Internet.
I accept that Ethernet is probably being used if both are connected, but you'd think it would tell me that somewhere.
I am allowed to select the WAN Network, as in "Auto", "DOCSIS", or "Ethernet". That's the only selection I can locate with regard to Ethernet.
I already answered this in a very technical way. In layman's terms, your Ethernet connection is going to be used if both your WiFi adapter and Ethernet are used at the same time in the computer. YOU WILL NOT find which is being used in the router. There's no facility for that in those crap Xfinity router/modem units.
It's clear you're not a very technical person, so I need to describe this to you as best I can.
When you see WiFi and Ethernet in the router it just means that's a local connection between your computer/device and the router/modem. This doesn't mean an Internet connection. If you one day see the yellow exclamation mark in your network adapter icon in the task bar indicating no Internet but still have an Ethernet or WiFi connection, that's because you have a local connection only and no Internet.
So again, just because you see both Ethernet and WiFi in the router/modem you're not using both at the same time for Internet at all. They just appear because it's a local connection between the router/modem and you, your computer or device/s.
Let me give you an example.
Ever play telephone with a string and tin cans? Lets use that analogy. You and say someone named "Bob" are using both tin cans and you want to relay a message to "Alice" who's your messenger, but in order to do that you have to send a message to Bob. You send a message to Bob and then Bob sends that message to Alice. Now Alice sends you a message by way of Bob and thus to you.
In this example your tin can connection between you and Bob is your local connection (LAN) between the computer and router/modem. Both are established and remain so. Your Internet connection (WAN) outside of your local connection is Alice. Sometimes if Alice isn't there that means you have no Internet connection but Bob remains because that's local. A local connection between the modem and computer or device.
So what you are probably thinking is that there is a Bob and a Bob Jr, when there can only be one Bob at a time. And thus Bob talks to you and Alice the Internet. Bob might use Ethernet or WiFi. It all depends on that technical crap I talked about called a metric.
And yes, this will absolutely apply to Network Shares you may have between computers or what ever. Only one connection, WiFi or Ethernet will be used at once. How do you know which? You should see straight away in your Windows taskbar an icon indicating a WiFi connection or an Ethernet connection. It's quite obvious for a WiFi connection because it'll have an icon with signal strength bars. And like I said, your Ethernet connection will most likely be first in line and thus is what you're probably using now. All on that metric thing I talked about. Remember, Bob can use Ethernet or WiFi, but not both at the same time. To do that requires network teaming and what have you.
This is the best way I can describe it without getting super technical. If you're seeing WiFi network activity in the router/modem it's more than likely simple probe requests and whatnot that all WiFi devices do. It's like constantly saying, "hey! Mr. Computer, are you still there?" "Yes, Mr. Router, I'm still here." And does this all the damn time.
Remember that old Verizon TV commercial, you know the one where dude is constantly saying, "can you hear me now?" Most people don't understand, but that's kinda like a probe request in cellphones. But what they are mimicking in the commercial are the vans that drive around with cellphone testing equipment having the equipment say, "can you hear me now?" to the towers as they drive around testing the surrounding signal quality to create a better product.
Just so you know, I have Comcast. Have had Comcast so long I'm like a gold member or what ever they call it. I ditched the asinine modem and its accompanying $14/month lease fee and went with a Motorola modem compatible with Comcast. It's a model MG7550 and works quite well. I actually bought it brand new at a yard sale for $10. They can be had on eBay. Getting it setup requires a call to Comcast and it'll probably take 30 minutes. It did in my case which was annoying. I didn't think it take that long to sync and whatnot.
The BS part was latter on they sent a letter or email (don't remember which. Think it was an email) stating I had "router performance issues" or some utter crap and we should get THEIR modem. Nothing could be further from the truth and I checked everything, I experienced no issues with my new modem and checked my speed at several websites one of which is speed.cloudflare.com which gives you other information like jitter and packet loss. All were good. I even looked in the modem at the SNR and what have you. Comcast is very good at marketing. I see it all the time and I know about that stuff. It's shyster BS is what it is. My town has fiber now and I may go with them for a massive symmetric upload and download to the tune of 1,000 Mbps. Comcast can't do that on the upload side, only on the download side and they are rolling out 1Gb now. For me, the upload speed is just as important to the download speed. For others probably not.
If you have TV you can stream Comcast without their cable box. Thus you save a fee on that too. You're always better off talking to someone at the Comcast store directly.
Thinking of "cutting the cord?" Read the following:
List of streaming media services - Wikipedia
Streaming television - Wikipedia
So people are going Hulu or whatever but still paying Comcast et al. LOL!
If technical or anyone reading this is, check out Jelllyfin an NVIDIA shield and free IPTV M3U streams. GitHub - iptv-org/awesome-iptv: A curated list of resources related to IPTV
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Useless fact.
Ben Franklin is burned a few blocks from Comcast's headquarters. LOL!
I kind of find it pathetic there's a stupid kiosk in the cemetery selling little rolled up Constitutions and whatnot.
Thank you. The short answer (in a very long post) is that there is no way to tell which is being used, BUT ...
I see the wifi indicator in the taskbar, but that doesn't tell me clearly that wifi is being used. It says to me that it's available. If I pull the wifi hub, that disappears. If I pull the ethernet cable it stays. So I guess that indicator does implicitly tell me which is being used. If both are connected, that indicator remains, though I am being told here that if both are connected, ethernet is being used. Mysteriously obscure.
I am a technical guy. I'm an aerospace engineer. A good support person doesn't insult the person he's trying to help. But do come to me if you ever have a propulsion control processor issue.
Hi
not sure if this will help but from Admain command mode run
ipconfig /all
i am confused about the Icon comment you made
Ethernet icon is a "roughly" square shaped and wifi is wave like
Runarp -ain cmd prompt. You'll see the MAC address for your current router along with the IP you're using... Wireshark . OUI Lookup Tool
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It looks like a signal strength indicator like I said. https://www.sevenforums.com/attachme...suwireless.jpg
Same thing, different geometry. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Tp0Qz2Wlw9M/maxresdefault.jpg
It's based on RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) A none standardized logarithmic indicator in dBm or mW...
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