Sarah Haines

Why would you use network cables rather than a wireless network?

In this article we look at the pros and cons of using traditional cabling rather than wireless technology. We see wireless everywhere these days but is network cabling a thing of the past?

As wireless networking becomes more common more devices are being built enabled for wireless connectivity. Does data cabling have a future or is the former industry standard doomed? Will you be switching to a wireless network?

There is much to be said for wireless networking, but data cabling still has plenty of key benefits.

Traditional data cabling is far more secure. Gaining unauthorized access to a wireless network is far easier. Of course there are security controls with wireless but it is essentially open to attack.

Another big issue for wireless networks is interference from other radio sources. With properly installed, shielded network data cabling, this interference is significantly reduced.

Those with a physical network can be confident of a constant connection. Wireless is prone to momentary lapses in signal, or interference from outside frequencies as mentioned above. This can prove highly inconvenient, especially while data transfer is being performed, potentially severing download connections. It can also affect data transfer rates and can lead to unacceptable corruption of files. There are few things worse than waiting hours for a large file to transfer, only to find that you cant open it because your connection dipped out for a moment half way through. A physical network will eliminate this sort of issue.

You will get better speeds using cabling than wireless. While not all networks will offer the same high speeds, newer forms of twisted pair data cabling can transfer data at rates of up to 10 gigabits. You can also use fiber optic cables which transmit data as light which is of course incredibly fast.

Where wireless networking really comes into its own is in mobility. Moving a portable device with a wireless connection is easy, it can go anywhere. Of course you are still limited to somewhere within range of the transmitter.

It remains a fairly straight forward process to expand your network using cabling. Just plug in another router and cable the machines to the new router. You will be able to run around 250 machines from a single hub or router.

When we take into accounts its features it is clear that there are still a lot of advantages of network cabling. It provides a much more reliable service and offers far more secure data transfer over the sometimes-temperamental wireless alternative.

Article Tags: Data Tran

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