| Some devices are better off without wireless This is great and all, but I hope it doesn't spawn wireless in every conceivable device, especially those that are better off without it. IMHO, we're already in a situation like that, where many devices that rightfully should be on a wired network come with wireless when it's an inferior solution.
For example, I have a Samsung Blu-ray player with Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and Blockbuster. It has an Ethernet port, but Samsung also pushes their wireless dongle for it, which is going to have a harder time streaming HD video than wired. And the Roku player has wireless built right in. And the Wii is the worst. It has wireless but no wired. You have to buy a dongle to get that.
My beef here is that these are all devices that, more often than not, remain stationary most of the time, and they actually work better on wired connections. I understand that wireless can be simpler to set up because there are no wires, but HPNA is extremely easy to set up, a connection is as close as the nearest AC outlet, and it doesn't use up wireless spectrum, which is getting more and more crowded. An even better solution would be to simply wire new homes and apartments with Ethernet. It's common practice in offices, and with all these new networked devices, it ought to be just as common in homes.
Use wired for stationary devices, and leave wireless for mobile devices. |
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deadzonedPremium
join:2005-04-13
Baton Rouge, LA | Man I totally agree with you 100%! I use a wired connection for everything I can and a wireless connection as a last resort or for convenience on my laptop.
My ROKU, Wii, etc... all use wired connections and I would venture to say that everything is faster and more stable than anything I do wirelessly. |
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| Definitely more stable on wired. Often times, you don't notice that when you're surfing, since data only flows when you're getting a page, so you don't see the occasional dropped packets, but I guarantee you notice tham when you're doing any kind of real-time stuff, such as streaming audio or video, especially in bi-directional apps like distance education classes, where you may be having a voice discussion while the professor is pushing PowerPoint slides to you.
I can't count the number of times I've had a DE student ask me to troubleshoot a malfunctioning client where it turned out they were on wireless. They'd think that, just because their connection was fast, it would work. Had them switch to wired, and their problems went away. After a while, I started to ask them about their connection as soon as they told me they had a problem. That saved me tons of troubleshooting. |
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 nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | reply to ISurfTooMuch
said by ISurfTooMuch:An even better solution would be to simply wire new homes and apartments with Ethernet. It's common practice in offices, and with all these new networked devices, it ought to be just as common in homes. Couple problems with this:
- fails to account for existing construction
- fails to account for longevity of physical plant
You might say "tough" on existing housing. Whatever: I'll buy that.
The real problem comes in with longevity of physical plant. It wasn't too many years ago that I wired my house for 100Mbps Ethernet. Now, I would need to rewire everything to 1Gbps. In a few years, I'd need to rerewire everything as 10Gbps (etc.). With wireless, I just pop in the next generation of WiFi and my network is running at a higher speed - no rewiring necessary. It's likely to be in this area that wifi will prove a far better consumer solution.
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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 Noah VailSon made my AvatarPremium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
kudos:1
 ·Bright House
 ·Sprint Mobile Br..
| reply to ISurfTooMuch
said by ISurfTooMuch:I understand that wireless can be simpler to set up because there are no wires, but HPNA is extremely easy to set up, a connection is as close as the nearest AC outlet, I was under the impression that the HomePNA standard relied on existing phone lines and coax cables. I haven't read where it used AC wiring.
If so, it doesn't eliminate the need for home WiFi as most homes aren't going to have a telco or Coax jack, everyplace the owner needs network access.
NV
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In my perfect religion, a giant hole appears and sucks up all the lousy people.
I call it the Crapture. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | reply to nixen
said by nixen:The real problem comes in with longevity of physical plant. It wasn't too many years ago that I wired my house for 100Mbps Ethernet. Now, I would need to rewire everything to 1Gbps. In a few years, I'd need to rerewire everything as 10Gbps (etc.). With wireless, I just pop in the next generation of WiFi and my network is running at a higher speed - no rewiring necessary. It's likely to be in this area that wifi will prove a far better consumer solution. "next generation" of wifi is the last generation of wired. New products will always be developed on a 2 CPU Quad core Xeon machine with a 10 gigabit PCIE ethernet card. Its fast on that so execs greenlight it, but its crap when you take into the real world.
It took 7 years to get 100mbit ethernet over wireless. How many years will it take to reach 1 gigabit? By then all desktops will have 10 gigabit. Gotta stream Quad Digital Cinema. |
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| reply to Noah Vail
OOps, you got me. I was actually referring to the Ethernet over powerline adapters, which use your electrical wiring to distribute your network traffic. Guess that's what I get for rapidly typing away at work. |
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nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | reply to patcat88
said by patcat88:"next generation" of wifi is the last generation of wired. New products will always be developed on a 2 CPU Quad core Xeon machine with a 10 gigabit PCIE ethernet card. Its fast on that so execs greenlight it, but its crap when you take into the real world. It took 7 years to get 100mbit ethernet over wireless. How many years will it take to reach 1 gigabit? By then all desktops will have 10 gigabit. Gotta stream Quad Digital Cinema. And that's fine for the people that own their homes and want to rewire things every X years as a DIY project. Most homeowners, however, aren't going to want to do it - especially if they have to pay for labor on top of the physical media. And for apartment dwellers (a large segment of the population), rewiring is simply out of the question. So, regardless how far WiFi lags wired, WiFi is going to be the more popular solution.
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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