Can Wi-Fi really replace network cables? You will understand the difference after reading this!

In this era of "wireless is better than wired", many people have started to have the same question: Wi-Fi is so convenient, why do we still need network cables?

"It's Wi-Fi 6 now, the network speed is so fast!"

"Plugging in a network cable is too primitive, I haven't touched it in a few years."

"Mobile phones, tablets, and laptops are all wireless, who still uses cables?"

It sounds irrefutable, but is the truth really that simple? The gap between Wi-Fi and network cables may be greater than you think.

1. Wi-Fi and network cable
1. Latency and stability
Latency is the most important indicator for gamers and remote workers. Take yesterday for example, when Shenchang was playing CSGO and it was a one-on-two game, he was about to show off his skills to the other player, but the Wi-Fi went haywire, the ping rate soared, and I was disconnected in a second and someone killed me. I was so angry that I got up and connected the network cable.

How low is the latency of the network cable?

The latency of a wired network is generally between 1 and 3ms, which is very stable.

Wi-Fi has a delay of 5~50ms or even higher due to interference, signal strength, router quality, etc.
Especially when playing games or video conferences, Wi-Fi may suddenly fluctuate, voice jams or character teleportation are common phenomena.

2. Anti-interference ability
Wi-Fi uses the 2.4GHz and 5GHz (or 6GHz) frequency bands, which have a large number of interference sources:

Microwave ovens (2.4GHz killer)

Bluetooth device
Neighbor's router (especially in densely populated apartment areas)
Wired networks are not affected by electromagnetic waves, plug and play, and unimpeded.

3. Security
Although the Wi-Fi encryption protocol has been updated to WPA3, but:

Many old devices still use WPA or WPA2, which can be easily cracked.

Wired networks are inherently "physically isolated", making it much more difficult to eavesdrop.
For internal company, important data or banking systems, network cables are still the first choice.

4. Deployment and usage costs

2. Is Wi-Fi really faster?

Data from the source network, for reference only

From the above table, it can be seen that the theoretical speed of Wi-Fi is getting higher and higher, but the stability and consistency are far inferior to network cables. Especially when there is a high load, long distance or multiple devices online at the same time, the problem of "speed drop" of Wi-Fi is very common.

3. Use according to different situations

4. Lastly: Wi-Fi is the future, but network cables are the bottom line
Wi-Fi technology continues to evolve, and it has indeed made our lives more convenient. But in terms of speed, stability, and security, wired networks are still irreplaceable infrastructure.


You can think of Wi-Fi as a "high-speed bus" that is convenient and flexible, but cable TV is the "exclusive subway line" that, once established, is stable and efficient and will not go wrong.

So, if you are a heavy netizen, live streamer, programmer, or if you are renovating your home, please remember: don't forget to leave a few network cable ports, the future will than