SteveR wrote:
We're building a new house and I have to decide whether to put an ethernet port in my den. My question is whether the ethernet would cause my MacPro to run faster. I currently have a download speed of 400 mps. I don't download movies, etc. We've made decisions on the rest of the house, but could save some money if I skip the den.
Also, would an ethernet connection for smart tv's be better than wifi?
I know these are technologically ignorant questions. My son has told me as much. I do know that ethernet is "faster," but since I don't do gaming or download a lot of movies, etc., would I have some good use for it? Thanks!!
We're building a new house and I have to decide wh... (
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I have a four year old Netgear R7000 NightHawk router. It is connected to a 100Mbps download / 10 Mbps upload cable Internet service. So even if the WiFi can run faster, the speed limiting factor is the signal coming into or going out of the house. We're at the mercy of Spectrum, and their ancient copper distribution network.
We run our Samsung Smart TVs on 5 GHz WiFi. So long as the cable Internet service is stable, the picture on Netflix, Prime, YouTube, etc. is pristine. My son has an old Xbox he uses to watch Netflix. It's on WiFi. We have an iMac, a Mac Mini, two iPads, and four iPhones on WiFi as well.
We hard wired my wife's work PC, because that needs to be secure to meet her company's standards for VPN connections. We hard wired our printer because it sits next to the router. And we hard wired our T-Mobile Hot Spot, for stability on calls. However, most of the time, our phones are using WiFi Calling...
If you're not doing super-sensitive work, WiFi is secure enough, provided you use the right encryption and keep router firmware up to date. We turn on OS firewalls and router firewalls, and use McAfee anti-malware software from Spectrum.
The world is going wireless... We now live in a sea of RF!
As for the MacPro, wired Ethernet CAN be faster on your local network, provided all connected devices run at 1Gb/second (or 10Gb per second if you have that option installed in the new Mac Pro). If you are using a fiber network service, speeds of 1Gbps are not uncommon, so that may be of benefit.
For watching movies, phone calls, and casual web surfing with the occasional file upload, reliable 100 Mbps cable Internet service with a decent, recent router is all you need.