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Re: Wired vs Wireless

bacevedo
Community Manager

Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

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Wired vs Wireless.

 

The Debate.

 

This has been the debate of gamers since the beginning of wireless computing... and wired has traditionally won. Let’s take a couple minutes to examine why you would choose either, and which set up is best for you.

 

Usually the normal wired set-up is: modem or gateway, wired to router, wired to your PC or console. Most wired ports are capable of speeds up to 1 gigabit, which is a marked improvement over 100MB ports of the past.

 

As WiFi has improved, however, its speeds are now capable of a blistering 7Gb per second, which rivals, and surpasses, wired. However, although speed is important to gaming, we know that it’s not everything.

 

There has been an obsession with speed for gaming when gaming traffic hasn’t changed much over the years. Gaming traffic is relatively small compared to 4K streaming content of movies or TV. The difference is with streaming content like videos, it’s not catastrophic when the spinning buffering icon appears, whereas with gaming, any major lag spikes could be the difference between winning or losing.

 

Speed vs Stability

 

Gaming traffic is like a long conveyor belt of information. It carries small little packets of information in a constant stream. If any of those small packets are bumped or fall off the conveyor belt, it is a loss of information, and that translates as missing a shot, zigging where you should have zagged, or any of the other problems that happen when there is loss of information. What you need, therefore, is stability. As long as the gaming packets move in an uninterrupted, orderly fashion, speed isn’t a major factor because the size of the information is very small.

 

Because it uses frequency waves, wireless connectivity is subject to environmental issues. Thick concrete walls, your distance from the signal source, interference from other radio emitting devices like microwaves, etc., can all foul up that WiFi signal no matter how good or how fast it is at sending signals. This is the source of why many believe wired is better than wireless… but is this the end of the argument?

 

Times they are a changing?

 

We conducted a poll of over a 1000 respondents, gamers and streamers, and the results were startling to the story of wired vs wireless. 46% of those we polled say they now choose to set up their gaming device wirelessly.

 

Of that group, 34% said it was for convenience, and 27% because they hated seeing wires. And 13% chose wireless due to difficult installations prohibiting wired.

 

The good news for gamers is we have listened to all of their needs, with both the Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 and the XR700, and have provided the very best in both wired and wireless connectivity.

 

The XR500 has 4 ports each at 1 gigabit speed. It moves 2.6 Gb/per second wirelessly with a fantastic range. The XR700 has 8 ports, with the capability to go up to 10 Gb with an adapter on one port, allowing you to connect at incredible speeds wired. It also throws an insane 7.2 Gb/per second wirelessly. 

 

If range is an issue, add the Nighthawk Mesh X6S Tri-Band WiFi Mesh Extender. With push button WPS, the X6S works seamlessly and more importantly painless set-up with the XR500 and XR700 routers. You can reach those WiFi deadspots in your house and connect up to 4 devices to the ethernet ports on the back. Mesh extenders are a continuance of your WiFi network not a separate network like the extenders of old, allowing you to roam anywhere in your location and not have to re-log in to use the internet in another part of the house.

 

Conclusions

 

So, no matter where you lie on the wired vs wireless debate, Nighthawk Pro Gaming has you covered with a reliable, solid connection through Ethernet wired ports or through our router’s incredible best-of-class WiFi, so that you can game knowing your connection won’t falter and you can concentrate on what matters, your gaming.

 

 

Model: XR500| Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router, XR700| Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 1 of 20
BretD
Admin

Re: Wired vs Wireless

Nice write-up Ben, thanks! I was very surprised to see how many people using Wireless in their setup for their main gaming/work computer.

 

Message 2 of 20
alvinwood
Aspirant

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

Hi bacevedo, thank for the articles..

I agree..Tips for Gamers: just focus to the game, what ever the connection type is (wired or wireless) as long you are using Nighthawk Pro Gaming.

Model: XR500| Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 3 of 20
Pogba45
Tutor

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

Agree, But Still, I see much Difference between wired and wireless internet speed, Wired Internet Packets are much reliable and have no other environment resistance between them. While Wireless does have Environment resistance and also the distance of connectivity impact on it. 

Message 4 of 20

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

I allways go for cable I try to ditch the wifi due to the lack of brute performances!!!

I prefer not to be x-rayed by wifi signals!!

 

Message 5 of 20
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

Though wireless has improved greatly over the years, wireless is still suseptible to radio interferences, building materials and environment. Even thought wireless does have the conveience factor, it's not that hard to implement wired installations for wired support. I think people just don't know that it's not that hard to have wired support put in and have it be hidden. Even in existing homes with out wired support. 

 

Users can chose the best connections due to the flexibility of wired and wireless support. Over all, wire will always have the best performances over wireless. Wireless does have its place though and works well in good working conditions. 

Message 6 of 20
MyWebs
Aspirant

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

Each has its on benefits and negative aspects for sure. But since this post mentions gaming why was there no mention of the inherent added lag from WiFi signals? Most everyone I know who games uses a wired connection if at all possible to eliminate as much lag as they can.

Message 7 of 20

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

And when I move a few Tb using LAN it is fasttter and more efficient using a good old fashioned cat 6 eth cable!!!

Message 8 of 20
theonlyway
Aspirant

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

I have the XR700 and currently my wireless is faster than my ethernet. Its a bit disappointing considering the ac1900 was faster in both regards

Message 9 of 20
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

What FIrmware version is currently loaded?

What are your results wireless vs wired? 

What devices are you using to test wireless vs wired? 

What speeds do you pay for from your ISP?

 


@theonlyway wrote:

I have the XR700 and currently my wireless is faster than my ethernet. Its a bit disappointing considering the ac1900 was faster in both regards


 

Message 10 of 20
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

In addition to the above questions what type of ethernet cables are you using?
Message 11 of 20
schumaku
Guru

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

The OP must be seriously blinded by concatenated ACxxxxxx and ADxxxxxxxx marketing numbers, and has obviously no clue about wireless technology. No single 802.11ac does reach a speed (and high reliability, and low latency) of a simple Gigbit Ethernet link.

 

What scares me - this looks like a "paid" post.

Message 12 of 20
bacevedo
Community Manager

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

Not sure what you mean? The numbers on wired vs wireless were based on a survey we conducted with XR500 owners. There are a lot more gamers moving to wireless solutions than wired. 

 

B

Message 13 of 20
schumaku
Guru

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

The move to wireless is for commodity, not for performance reasons. Not interested in a war here. Weigthing Gigabit Ethernet vs. ACxxxxx or ADyyyyy and trying to sell this as better ... tsk tsk tsk.

Message 14 of 20
bacevedo
Community Manager

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

We have always said if you want to most stable connection, you should use wired connection. BUT, some people don't want wires or have limitations in their installation and wireless is the solution for them. No war here. We are presenting solutions for both camps.

Message 15 of 20
schumaku
Guru

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

"The XR500 has 4 ports each at 1 gigabit speed. It moves 2.6 Gb/per second wirelessly with a fantastic range. The XR700 has 8 ports, with the capability to go up to 10 Gb with an adapter on one port, allowing you to connect at incredible speeds wired. It also throws an insane 7.2 Gb/per second wirelessly. "

 

Both insane marketing lies.

 

This started with whoever started adding the maximum theoretical link rates of all radio interfaces.

 

802.11ad was and is brilliant for those having such a client and a direct line of sight to the router - for all others it's obsolete. People who understand wireless mentioned several times that Netgear should give much less marketing push to AD and the hype numbers. Does Netgerar have 0.1% of XR700 users actively using 802.11ad interface at all?

 

I just had to calm down an up set RAX120 test user who nagged that the performance is the same as for his old AC1900.

Message 16 of 20
bacevedo
Community Manager

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

Message 17 of 20
schumaku
Guru

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

I don't deny the routers perform nicely and within the wireless standards reasonable fast, and have their market for both wired and wireless gaming and general users. All I'm complaining about is this faux marketing ref wireless (hype numbers, ways of reality) vs wired capabilities in the original post. 

Message 18 of 20
bacevedo
Community Manager

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

I think you may have misinterpreted me. I will always say, if you can go wired. I play wired with my Xbox and PC. My Switch is wireless but it's mainly downloading games so it's not as crucial. Our position is to try to wire up your gaming devices and power eveything else in the house on wireless. They have great speeds for media, email, phones, smart devices...everything else you need to get internet to. 

 

I hope this clarifies.

Message 19 of 20
schumaku
Guru

Re: Wired vs Wireless: The answer may surprise you!

No. I am just fighting against marketing lies. What you wrote in the original does contain at least two of these. 

Message 20 of 20
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