"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
I ran out of ports on my old four-port wired Netgear router, so, instead of
buying a switch and adding it on, I bought a wired Linksys eight-port
router. Ran a speed test immediately afterwards and noticed to my delight a
20% uptick in download speed. My old Netgear router was about five years
old, I guess, and the Linksys router I bought was introduced two years ago,
I was told.

Interestingly, the number of wired routers available is down substantially
since the advent of WiFi. I suppose almost everyone is going wireless in
the home, but I still think wired is mo' betta. When we built this house,
I connected several rooms with Cat5e cable. I do use wireless at the
kitchen table sometimes, and it works just fine, but it is not nearly as
fast as wired.

The new router is a BEFSR81. Well under $100, if you're shopping for one.


You are right wireless is slower than cat5. The trade off being the wiring.
I have an older house and used cat 5 for my office, where the router and my
pc's are. But my wife wanted to be able to use her laptop in the living
room, screened porch, basement... wireless is the way to go for portability.
If you build a new house, absolutely you should wire it with cat 5 minimum.
If adding a network to your existing house and need multiple drops, wireless
is the way to go.