[SOLVED] Question about Wired Connection vs Wireless

[briansalinasssss]

I recently got a 80ft ethernet cable. After multiple test I noticed my wireless connection was a bit faster on download speeds but the latency was lower. Is it always better to keep my pc wired for gaming or should I go for the slightly higher download speed? I have a very small knowledge about connections so sorry if the question seems dumb lmao.

 

[bill001g]

You have something very wrong if wifi is better in any way that ethernet. The latency should be less than 1ms and you should get close to gbit transfer speeds on ethernet no wifi connection will come even close to that.

Gaming will always be better on ethernet. Wifi is subject to random interference which causes data to be re transmitted. For most traffic this is invisible but for games you will see lag and studdering since the latency is how the game keeps the player client synced with the server.

Be very sure the cable you have is a quality cable. It should NOT be CCA or that flat or thin cable. Ethernet cable must be pure copper cable with wire size 22-24

 

[Yogi2367]

If conditions are perfect, 802.11AC is unquestionably faster than CAT5e. However, in the real world, perfect conditions are very rare.
I would suspect in your case, since both technologies are quite similar, it would come down to reliability. Hardwired CAT5e is more reliable than the radio waves of 802.11AC. You could, if you were so inclined, use your CAT5e for gaming, and when you need to download something, switch to your 802.11AC connection.
Caveat: if the technologies you are using are anything different than CAT5e or 802.11AC, you have some very serious problems somewhere along the line.

 

[USAFRet]

If conditions are perfect, 802.11AC is unquestionably faster than CAT5e. However, in the real world, perfect conditions are very rare.
I would suspect in your case, since both technologies are quite similar, it would come down to reliability. Hardwired CAT5e is more reliable than the radio waves of 802.11AC. You could, if you were so inclined, use your CAT5e for gaming, and when you need to download something, switch to your 802.11AC connection.
Caveat: if the technologies you are using are anything different than CAT5e or 802.11AC, you have some very serious problems somewhere along the line.

Switching between 802.11ac and ethernet has zero to do with overall internet speed, unless he has a gigabit connection to the house.
And as we have no actual numbers of his performance, other than "a bit faster on download ", I'm suspecting a crappy ethernet cable.

 

[Yogi2367]

Agreed internet speed is irrelevant out of context. The typical household might control 1/100th of a percent of their internet speed internally. The rest is up to the network beyond the household.
However OP is asking about gaming where latency (ping) is generally king of the hill. Without purchasing anything new or additional, his best choice in the moment is to use his ethernet cable for gaming (lower ping) and his wireless connection for downloading (faster download). Given the limited information provided by the OP, that is the best answer he can expect from any of us.
I do wholeheartedly agree with you that he does indeed likely have a poor ethernet cable, and probably should invest in something of considerably better quality. Generally speaking though, unless you are literally sitting right next to your 802.11AC router, a wired connection will win out every time, especially with superior quality CAT5e (or better) cable.
FWIW: Like yourself, I also enjoy a fibre DTH connection, and mine is a 1Gb up and down connection. The downside of my 0 to 1 ms connection to Fortnite is I get banned for cheating quite regularly. Apparently other players don't like it when you are light years ahead of them ... LOL