I'm surprised his #1 is still TBD. To me, ethernet lines have become more important in the last 5 years as competitive gaming/esports has completely taken off. Latency is a far more prevalent in gamers minds today, I'd argue moreso than bandwidth and the first networking related advice a gamer receives to make sure you are on ethernet.
Exactly. I have a suspicion that a large part of people complaining about "Internet issues" are faced with WiFi issues. Apparently many struggle with the concept of separate links that make up a connection (LAN vs WAN).
But the reverse mix-up also happens: Hotels, restaurants and the similar businesses like to boast their "included free WiFi" when they really mean complimentary Internet access, provided with an AP.
I'd take that as a given for 99% of cases. As fibre takes over from piggybacking off copper, IME actual internet issues seem to be pretty rare: [UK and] I haven't noticed that kind of service issue for a few years now, whereas used to be relatively common.
Happy to keep the pretence up though -- what else is a as neutral and widely understood as "internet issues"? Whoops, seems as if my connection has dropped out! Yes, I was very interested in that discussion over sales targets that's been going on for the past half an hour, please email me a summary! Bloody internet, always dropping out!
I always laugh when I see Comcast commercials for "fastest in-home Wifi". An 802.11ac router isn't going to help anything when you can only get 10/10 bandwidth on a good day.
I love cables while I'm using them. I hate cables while I'm cleaning. It seems almost impossible to have a clean cable setup that doesn't become a rats nest behind the desk.
My cable management is based on velcro strips nailed to the desk's edges and undersides in order to keep cables off the ground. It keeps the cables off the ground (and also mostly off the desk surface) and looks reasonably clean from eye level: https://imgur.com/a/tRamJ65
I use a set of G.hn ethernet over powerline adapters in my (small, rented 2 bed) flat. I can get 200 Mbps with no latency, packet loss or drop outs from the modem in the living room to the office upstairs.
This is a distance of about 10 meters with 2 brick Victorian internal walls in-between. No matter how much you spend on WiFi equipment you can't get more than 20 Mbps with high packet loss here.
Even downstairs, with no walls to worry about, only 5 Ghz is usable. 2.4 GHz is completely occupied by neighbours, and the lower 5 Ghz channels are all crowded out because of compatibility too.
I hate high rate data links over power lines. Power lines are not impedance controlled. At every bend, every approach to some metal in the building, they are going to radiate interference and accept/receive interference from their environment. Using powerline networking is irresponsible and rude. The fact that any are approved by the FCC at all is entirely due to contrived testing setups that are never replicated in real building wiring.
If you use real transmission line like ethernet cable (~70 ohm twisted pairs) or coax the impedance remains constant and they might even have a bit of shielding. You'll get faster, more reliable speeds and pollute the radio spectrum significantly less.
- It's fiddly and ugly compared to hidden cables. I wouldn't do that in my own home, I'd run them in the walls.
- It's disruptive and time consuming. It would likely take me a whole day
- I don't see why I should invest further in improving the property when I will likely move out in 1-2 years time and won't reap the long-term benefits. I've done that already in other areas.
- It's hassle. My landlord could protest that I've done a shitty job when I move out, or, even if I haven't, make me remove it.
- I need multiple WiFi adapters anyway to cover both upstairs and downstairs effectively.
- It's not as flexible (in terms of moving things around) as plugging an adapter in to any electrical outlet.
- I needed a quick solution when I moved in so I could work.
Your country almost certainly has rules about emissions in the HF frequency ranges too. Even milliwatts of radiated interference at these low frequencies will bounce around the world and interfere with everyone.
I have four adapters in my house, I have one TL-WPA7510 and three TL-PA7010. They are sold as pairs so when I wanted the version with an access point built-in, I had to buy another wired version. But, you can add them individually to an already existing network. The Homeplug protocol is a standard so as long as you buy the right versions, you get max performance. These things are great. I have one in the basement for the Verizon router to plug into, one on the second floor for my PS4, the AP version behind the 4K TV in the family room, and another at a desk in the guest room. The Verizon router has a lot of interference nearby so quality is poor in some spots in the house. Quality is good, it sometimes reaches gigabit speeds but it's way more robust than wifi extenders. The apartment I lived in previously was built like a brick shithouse so wifi dropped off pretty fast once you got to the other end.
Video calls too. I just got back from visiting my in laws since everyone is now vaccinated and one of my projects while I was there was running ethernet lines to their work areas. They're both on daily video calls now and poor wifi performance was driving them crazy.
