Wireless Internet VS Ethernet Internet in college
Posted February 20th, 2009. Categorized under College, Internet. 12 Comments
One thing I’ve been loving lately about my college is that we have wireless Internet at most places on campus. This has shown to be intensely useful, whether for casually browsing Facebook while in class or as a tool to study somewhere other than my room.
Back home, we only use wireless Internet, and I’ve grown very fond of moving my laptop from room to room, rather than limiting me to one desk in the house. Using wireless Internet is great.
However, I’ve found that there are some trade-offs when I choose wireless over Ethernet:
Ethernet Internet is superior here, but it limits you to your desk.
- Slower speeds. After testing my connection on SpeedTest, I’ve learned that Ethernet has a speed of about 5800kbs down and 2429 up. The wireless network reaches about 4500 down and 2000 up. Although this difference isn’t significant, the speeds of the wireless network vary a lot more widely. During peak usage hours, the speed dwindles. Typical browsing is fine, but downloading large files over the wireless is very inefficient.
- No Steam. “Steam” is the software used to play many games online. Many other games and programs that require open ports — such as Halo, uTorrent, and SoulSeek — also will not function while on the wireless network.
- No local Apache server. I run an Apache server on my computer. I don’t have any large projects there, but I do use it as a quick way to send files to other people and as a way to develop anything for Xatal. On the wireless network, I can only access the server via localhost.
- Frequent disconnections. The wireless Internet will occasionally disconnect for seemingly no reason at all. This can be a bit frustrating and annoying, depending on what you were doing online when you were disconnected. The Ethernet connection has thus far been surprisingly reliable, more reliable even than the Comcast Internet we have back home.
Because both have their perks, I’ve reached a pretty solid balance between the two. The majority of the time, I’m using my computer at my desk, and therefore I use the Ethernet. But when I want to browse anywhere else, such as my bed, the library, outside, or in class, I change over to wireless Internet. Switching between the two is fast, taking only about 20 seconds. I’m pretty happy to have good signal at most places on campus.
Which do you prefer at your college or home?
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1. Adjustable Beds
February 20th, 2009 4:16 pm
What type of wireless were you using at your home? They’ve made some nice improvements with 802.11N. Much faster speeds over G networks and further ranges. However…me being a gamer, I never use my wireless on my main machine. I also run a few servers out of my home, so connecting that via wireless would just be a bad idea. But yeah, if you’re looking for better wireless and you weren’t using 802.11n already, then you should check it out.