Broadband Guide

Cable vs wireless connections:
Broadband speeds compared

Updated: Tuesday 22 January, 2011

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Slow broadband speeds getting you down? It might be time to move back to a wired internet connection - we investigate your options.

Wireless broadband offers loads of benefits, allowing you to connect multiple PCs, laptops and smartphones anywhere in your home without having to run cables all over the house.

However, using a wi-fi connection can slow you down, with research by broadband analysts Epitiro showing that consumers are losing, on average, 30% of their download speed simply by going wireless.

The benefits of a wi-fi connection

Two-thirds of home broadband users go online with a wireless router, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom (Communications Market Report, 2010).

However, researchers at Epitiro also found that although speeds did drop over wi-fi, many consumers were happy to trade some speed for the freedom of a wi-fi connection.

Epitiro said that while bandwidth-hungry applications like internet TV, online gaming, downloads and internet phone services like Skype would not work as well with slower speeds, everyday activities wouldn’t be impacted.

“Most of us do emailing and web surfing, and for these things there is precious little difference between the 50Mb services and an 8Mb service,” explained Iain Wood, Epitirio’s vice president.

A wi-fi broadband connection lets you:

• Connect to the internet wirelessly, allowing you to go online anywhere within range of the signal
• Go online with multiple devices, including laptops, smartphones and tablet PCs at the same time
• Connect wireless-only devices that do not have an ethernet or USB port to go online, such as smartphones

The benefits of a cabled connection

Although you might not notice a drop in speed if you've got a relatively fast connection to start with, anyone suffering from slow broadband speeds could soon start to struggle once they go wireless.

Connecting your computer to your router using an ethernet cable is one of the best ways to make the most of every Mb.

Although using an ethernet cable won’t improve the speed you receive at your modem or router - if you live far from the exchange for example - it will stop you from losing even more speed around your home.

Data travels faster over wires than through the air, and because obstacles like doors, walls and furniture can also interfere with your wi-fi connection, an ethernet cable could be the answer when you want a fast, stable connection.

But this doesn’t mean that you have to ditch your wi-fi altogether. You can easily use a mix of wireless and ethernet connections depending on the kind of activities you want to do.

For example, you might want to connect your main PC using a wire when you want to catch-up on your favourite BBC iPlayer shows, or your games console want you want to play Call of Duty.

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