How much you lose in speed using Wi-Fi vs Ethernet

Topic

New Reply

https://www.ookla.com/articles/improve-wi-fi-in-the-home-q1-2023

Key messages

Wi-Fi woes continue. Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data shows Wi-Fi performance continues to lag behind ethernet performance within home networks in many advanced fixed broadband markets, with Wi-Fi speeds typically ranging from between 30-40% of ethernet speeds during Q1 2023.

Developed Asian and North American markets lead the charge to Wi-Fi 6/6E. Wi-Fi 4 and 5 remain the dominant Wi-Fi access technologies globally, accounting for a combined 89% of Speedtest® samples during Q1 2023. However, a number of advanced fixed broadband markets are rapidly migrating to Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, with China, Hong Kong (SAR), Singapore, Canada, and the U.S. leading the charge.

Growing Wi-Fi 6/6E adoption helps narrow the gap in Wi-Fi performance. In markets such as Canada, France, Germany, Singapore, Sweden, and the U.S., where the transition to fiber is more advanced, and where ISPs are actively driving adoption of Wi-Fi 6/6E routers, we see Wi-Fi performance closing the gap to ethernet. However, more needs to be done in other markets, where migration to more advanced fixed access networks is exposing the limitations of the installed base of Wi-Fi routers.

Router vendors pushing the envelope with Wi-Fi 7 capable launches. ASUS leads the market for Wi-Fi 6/6E routers among Speedtest samples, and both ASUS and other leading router vendors have been quick to launch Wi-Fi 7 capable routers. Despite this, Wi-Fi 6 and 6E remain the growing component of their installed bases. ASUS leads the market according to Speedtest Intelligence with 39% of its routers we sampled supporting Wi-Fi 6/6E during Q1 2023, well ahead of second placed NETGEAR with 26%.

Smartphone device support indicates Wi-Fi 6/6E should remain the immediate focus for ISPs. With the two largest smartphone vendors globally, Samsung and Apple, currently shunning Wi-Fi 7, ISPs waiting to see if they can leapfrog Wi-Fi 6E to Wi-Fi 7 should stay their hands. The fact that China still needs to allocate the 6 GHz spectrum band — key for Wi-Fi 6E and 7 — for unlicensed use is also significant, and appears to have weighed on the Wi-Fi 6E adoption among China’s leading Android smartphone manufacturers…

2 users thanked author for this post.

Fred, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

Replies

Hey Y’all,

I was surprised to come across this post this evening as I had just run some tests due to a discussion I had with a friend.

Here are the results for you to make your own assessment.

Wired connection using 1gb router & switch hardware with appropriate cabling.

Same computer with Ethernet disabled and 2G Wi-Fi w/no external antenna.

Using a Surface Pro 4 with a 5G radio.

Note: Spectrum advertises that our community is supposed to get 300Mb download speed.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Fred

Reply | Quote

Below is from the linked article and can often be why wired (ethernet) is faster as well as more reliable (and more secure):

“Median Wi-Fi performance as measured by Speedtest will tend to lag behind median ethernet performance, depending on distance of the end-user device from the router, including any obstacles and signal interference the Wi-Fi signal needs to traverse to reach the device.“

1 user thanked author for this post.

Fred

Reply | Quote

Who needs more than 50Mb/s download speed at home? You can stream a couple of high res movies at that speed.

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

That is about the internet speed I have right now, on the download side (60, in my case). The upstream side is way less, 5Mb/s.

It’s painfully slow for downloading large files, e.g. for gamers, where a new game could take hours to download. Other large files, like various installer .isos, are also slow, and it can take a while for my OS updates to complete. Yes, I can use the system while they are installing, then reboot and be ready to go with no extra delay (it’s wonderful, that), but just getting it done now would be better still.

Having internet this slow also reduces the feasibility of “cloud” backup services like Backblaze for those of us who really fill up our drives (my daily-use PCs have 2 and 3 TB of storage, respectively), and who would be inclined to back everything up (encrypted locally first, of course) rather than just selecting the most important things.

I am pretty fanatical about backups, but I don’t have one that is off-site (my house being the site). Having everything in one place is not the best practice if you really want to keep your data. While this is one of the things that often tends to get lumped into the “enterprise” needs category, it is something that I, as a home user, have been waiting for, for quite some time.

It’s also just nice to have something that is a luxury sometimes. I don’t need faster internet, but I sure would like it. My neighborhood should be getting gigabit fiber soon, and it will cost less than I am paying now for 60Mb/s down, 5MB/s up. If I go for a slower speed than full gigabit, it will cost a lot less, and still be about an order of magnitude faster or more than what I have now.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

2 users thanked author for this post.

F A Kramer, Alex5723

Reply | Quote

50Mbps is more than enough for streaming from Netflix, Prime Video and other streaming platforms but may not be fast enough to stream 1080p Bluray remuxes. Bitrates can be as high as 80Mbps so buffering can occur.

4K remuxed content requires larger bandwidth still with 150-200Mbps recommended for a smooth viewing experience.

Reply | Quote

Where do you get a blueray remux stream? Is it legit?

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

Those who stream from a NAS or Plex.

Sony’s new Bravia Core streaming service requires a min bandwidth of 115 Mbps.

Reply | Quote

You should have no issue with an internal speed of several hundred Mbps. Mine is currently > 800Mbps on the 5GHz band.

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

Tested speed to fast.com (Netflix servers) both my 1Gb/s fiber Ethernet router
and my iPhone 14 Pro Max 5G wi-fi connection to the same router.
I sit just 20cm from the router.

Connection made to Netflix servers in Palermo, Italy (thousand KM away from me).

Reply | Quote

My in-house WiFi network tests as follows on a three old Samsung Galaxy tablet. The connection to the world is a fiber/optic landline with a nominal 1 Gb internet connection. The telephone uses this same fiber line.

Download:  620 to 660 Mbps in repeated tests.

Upload: 314 to 620 Mbps. Quite variable for no apparent reason.

Ping: 14 to 16 ms.

Surely this is fast enough for any reasonable application. I see no need to have cables strung across the floor to connect to the computers and printer.

Reply | Quote