Wired vs Wireless Technology

At Taylored Systems the other morning, I had a discussion on wired vs. wireless technology with Bill and Dean Reskevich, our Vice President of Installations. Bill had thought that five to ten years ago wireless would have become more prevalent than wired, but he was wrong.

Even though wireless is a convenient way of accessing a network, or “the Internet,” allowing you the freedom to work anywhere, sometimes the use of an Ethernet cable makes more sense. With wireless you still have cables at the access points, there is a limited range of signal and speed decreases depending on your distance from the main source. Your signal can also be intercepted (low security), and signals are affected by other signals and radio waves.

However with a wired network the signals can’t be intercepted down the wire (high security), and have immensely high speeds depending on the cable and hardware. You can plug and play without messing around with settings, and most people feel they are in a comfort zone with the use of a wired solution over a wireless.

Dean stated that structured wiring (cabling) has come a long way from the use of locations with (4) cables (quads) to single runs which can support data & voice with VoIP Technology and from the migration from Cat-5 to Cat-5e to Cat-6 all the way to Augmented Cat-6 (Cat-6a) which gives you 10 Gig technology to your desktop. With the VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) technology, being wired is more cost effective than using wireless and a whole lot safer. Also with the PoE Switches (Power Over Ethernet) life just keeps getting better being wired instead of wireless.

Taylored Systems, a communications technology company based out of Noblesville, Indiana, uses a wired solution along with several wireless access points for laptop capability around the building. However , even though he uses a wireless laptop, Bill sometimes has to plug it in due to reliability issues.

Wireless can be indispensable when you need to locate a networked device in an area where running cable is not practical such as older homes, but a wired solution is still your best bet for more speed, reliability, security and less interference from other sources. Wireless Technology is being used more in Manufacturing and Warehousing as way to keep track of inventory and mobile employees. To me having an Ethernet cable to plug my computer into makes more sense especially if I am somewhere on vacation and the wireless keeps dropping my signal giving me a major headache, and not letting me get connected to my world.

Mary Couch’s conversation with Bill Taylor & Dean Reskevich