Solved Wireless vs Ethernet

[Mike Lynch]

It appears in the not-too-distant past, Somehow, all my PCs now connect via Wireless vs Ethernet. I am not way to Tech savvy to accomplish this nor do I want it. I pay for the Faster Ethernet and choose to use it. I called Spectrum twice, on different days and spoke to two different Agents. I ask how this be corrected and was told by the first Agent, "for some reason Microsoft has decided that that is the best way for your Systems to run". She further said Spectrum cannot help me. The second Agent just left it with, "well, it's working, and you have internet access". I'm at a loss! I'm hoping that some Forum Member can help me get back to Ethernet vs Wireless. On Monday, August 19, 2024, I'll give it my best shot. I'll open up the Tower and remove the "suspected" Wireless Card / Adapter in one of my PCs. This "might" force the O/S to use the Ethernet Adapter. If not, I'll put it back in and hopefully it will work again. If any Member has "any" other solution, PLEASE let me know how to reverse this situation PLEASE!

 

[townsbg]

Try this: How to change the network connection priority in Windows 7 - Microsoft Support

You can disable the wifi card from adapter settings if you won't be using it at all. Just right click and select disable or if this is a laptop there might be an on/off switch or hot key. You can also edit the passwords to remove the wireless one. How to find the wireless password on Windows 7/8/10 if my wireless network is already generated | TP-Link

 

[Digital Life]

My mum got fast internet a few years ago, It was months later that I noticed that they used wifi to connect i was not happy either.

The reason in her case was that for the person installing the router it was just easier.

An other reason could be that the installer would have to drill holes in the wall or threw the floor and the person is not qualified to do that type of work.

 

[michael diemer]

My mum got fast internet a few years ago, It was months later that I noticed that they used wifi to connect i was not happy either.

The reason in her case was that for the person installing the router it was just easier.

An other reason could be that the installer would have to drill holes in the wall or threw the floor and the person is not qualified to do that type of work.

Very good point. I have drilled or enlarged holes in my home so I can use ethernet vs wifi. Best paces are where pipes come up for water, registers etc. I bought a 50 foot ethernet cable once at home Depot for 20.00. Much better than wifi. you plug it in, it works.

 

[samuria]

Wireless is now faster than cable for a lot of people if you have old network cables and good wifi it can be faster 802.11ac transmits at a top speed of 1300 Mbps, almost three times faster than the 450 Mbps of 802.11n.

 

[MisterEd]

Wireless is now faster than cable for a lot of people if you have old network cables and good wifi it can be faster 802.11ac transmits at a top speed of 1300 Mbps, almost three times faster than the 450 Mbps of 802.11n.

That is only a theoretical speed for 802.11ac. In the lab you might see 700Mbps. I doubt you will ever see that speed in real world use.
I have an Internet plan with 1200/200 Mbps. Here are the speeds I get with three of my laptops.

Laptop #1: 802.11ax (5GHz)



Laptop #2: 802.11ac (5GHz)



Laptop #3: 802.11n (2.4GHz)

 

[townsbg]

That is only a theoretical speed for 802.11ac. In the lab you might see 700Mbps. I doubt you will ever see that speed in real world use.

Plus you still have an outgoing of either cable or ethernet unless you get a fiber modem with wifi. If you use your own router at all the best you can usually hope for is a 1 gbps ethernet port. You'd have to specifically find one with a 10 gig ethernet outbound port to take full advantage of that speed. For home use that's just a gimmick. The last time I had to buy a home router they advertised those speeds for wireless but those routers still only had a 1 gig outbound ethernet port so I didn't even bother. If you have cable that's not worth it. Only fiber would be worth those speeds and even then you have to read the fine print since ISPs can throttle the speed.

I found an article with different 10 gig home routers here: Best 10Gbps Routers and mesh systems: : The True Top Five Lists | Dong Knows Tech They range from $350+. That's nothing compared to commercial routers.

 

[MisterEd]

Plus you still have an outgoing of either cable or ethernet unless you get a fiber modem with wifi. If you use your own router at all the best you can usually hope for is a 1 gbps ethernet port. You'd have to specifically find one with a 10 gig ethernet outbound port to take full advantage of that speed. For home use that's just a gimmick. The last time I had to buy a home router they advertised those speeds for wireless but those routers still only had a 1 gig outbound ethernet port so I didn't even bother. If you have cable that's not worth it. Only fiber would be worth those speeds and even then you have to read the fine print since ISPs can throttle the speed.

I found an article with different 10 gig home routers here: Best 10Gbps Routers and mesh systems: : The True Top Five Lists | Dong Knows Tech They range from $350+. That's nothing compared to commercial routers.

Where I live I have a choice of four major Internet providers including two that are all Fiber. I haven't gone with one with Fiber because they only provide streaming TV instead of the traditional cable TV.

Right now I have a 2000/200 Internet plan from my cable provider. I am using the ISP provided Gateway which is tri-band and supports WiFi 6E. Note one of Gateway's Ethernet ports is 2.5Gbps.

BTW, that is fastest cable Internet plan my ISP has. It may have faster Internet plans but they are Fiber. I don't know if my ISP offers Fiber at my address although they do in some parts of my city.

The two Fiber Internet plans are definitely offered at my address because I saw them run the Fiber on my street. Google Fiber offers 1/1 Gbps, 2/1 Gbps, and 5/5G bps Fiber plans. AT&T Fiber offers 300/300 Mbps, 500/500 Mbps, and 1/1 Gbps Fiber plans.

None of my devices support 6E although two support WiFi 6. None of my computers have an Ethernet port faster than 1Gbps. For now that is fast enough. I will reevaluate that in the future when I upgrade my computers and/or phones which will probably support Ethernet 2.5Gbps and/or WiFi 6E. Some of the higher end motherboards do support 10Gbps Ethernet. By that time they will probably support WiFi7 also.

 

[Malneb]

It appears in the not-too-distant past, Somehow, all my PCs now connect via Wireless vs Ethernet. I am not way to Tech savvy to accomplish this nor do I want it. I pay for the Faster Ethernet and choose to use it. I called Spectrum....

This is pretty poor service like usual for the ISP to say that. Do post 1 and disable the Wifi adapter while leaving the Ethernet adapter turned on.

- - - Updated - - -

The rest has to many factors

Roughly

wifi 5 - 6k mbps
wifi 6e - 10k mbps
wifi 7 - 20k mbps

Majority of consumer plans are gigabit connections so they top out at 1000mbps or 1gbps that would be 1% of wifi6e's potential

Bandwidth is also not just throughput it has to manage multiple streams so when you are paying for a fast plan then its also about multiple computers sharing that bandwidth, people get stuck on speeds but its just as important to think about saturation across devices because bandwidth is those 2 main areas not just 1.

Unless you have 10GBE connectivity in the home then you are subject to slower speeds across devices. Wifi 7 is still not really here yet so for now technically Ethernet cable is still faster if you have the right setup.

I would also say majority of the internet is still heavily shaping traffic so these high internet speeds don't really mean anything other than you can have more computers surfing online at once. Each of those computers can max out any given load it needs defined by what ever it is connecting to, a website is only going to let any given user download at X speed and not their pipes full potential. The internet wouldn't be unusable if everyone could be online at their full potential.