Wired or Wireless?*
This networking question was submitted by a reader recently.
Q: Paul, I am hoping for some guidance. I will soon be moving, and will have to set up a new network. I have three computers, a laser jet printer and a photo printer. My old network was wired and 
worked well, but I have heard that the new wireless is faster.
Which is better these days, wired or wireless?
A: I hate ambiguous answers, but in this situation I really must answer, “that depends”. And I must also say that it really isn’t a case of one being “better” than the other.
In my experience, a “blended” network (both wired and wireless) is the most common.
Consideration #1: Mega-bits-per-second:
1) Wire “speed” is typically either 10/100, or 1,000(Gigabit).
2) Wireless “speed” is either 54 (g) or 270 (n).
… and your Internet is coming into your home at.. 1.5? 3? 6 Mbps?
(My point here is that, as far as sharing your Internet is concerned, even a very old 10 Mbps network is “fast” enough.)
Consideration #2: Stringing cable:
Most newer homes are built with Ethernet wiring, and so your network is already there (to a large degree), but for older homes a very real concern — should you choose to go Gigabit wired — is 
where will the wires go? How will you get them upstairs?
This is not an insurmountable issue (and, you could hire a professional) but it may be that wireless is the best for you.
General advice:
* Networking gear defaults to the speed of the slowest component.
What that means is, let’s say you go and buy a brand-new Wireless -N router (technically, a “WAP”) that runs at 270 Mbps, and the wireless adaptor on your 2 year-old laptop is a “G”, your connection will be at 54 Mbps – the G speed.
And if the port on your Desktop is Gigabit, and your cable is Cat 5e or better (Gigabit capable), but there’s no Gigabit port on your router.. your LAN can only run at 100 Mbps.
The trick is to make sure everything ‘matches’. For instance, in the first example (laptop), buying a Wireless-N PCMCIA card, or USB dongle, will now give you the 270 you bought the fast router for. And for the Gigabit example, a new router that has Gigabit ports will make things ‘match’ and give you a Gigabit LAN.
Last bit of advice: Buy the fastest gear you can afford. You may not get full advantage of it today, but it won’t be a bottleneck tomorrow.
Today’s free link: In today’s article I mentioned that there are alternatives to drilling holes in your wall/floor/ceiling, and one method is EoP (Ethernet over Power lines). This uses the electrical wires already in your home to send your 1’s and 0’s from device to device. Fellow Tech Blogger Bill Mullins has a very informative article on this topic, here — http://billmullins.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/your-electric-wiring-is-a-wi-fi-network-alternative/
* Orig post 11/16/08
Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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[…] additional information checkout “Wired or Wireless?” by fellow Tech Blogger TechPaul. Tags: Alternative, Bill Mullins, build, computers, connect, […]
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[…] Wired or Wireless?* – Tech-for Everyone […]
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Hi,
Help, can you please help me to resolve my problems?
Who would you recommend I call to handle all of the below tasks? I currently have an iPhone which is my only means of Internet access. I dont have a landline or cable but would like to do the following. Hook up my old home dial up system with copier, printer & scanner along with my new digital camera, laptop and new copier, printer scanner and fax all in one? I would like to have one account & provider that will enable me to utilize all of the above, but am unsure as to who I should call and one I can trust? Any ideas?? You can eml me at: [deleted].
Thank you
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Tabitha,
I suspect that your local phone company is going to be your best bet if you do in fact desire a “bundled” package, as you describe.
In my area, that is AT&T, and AT&T is able to provide me with TV, wireless, landline, Internet, fax, an 800 number.
However, I suggest you visit BroadbandReports.com and plug your zip code into their Search tool. It will produce a report of the providers in your area and the services they provide (as well as reviews of those providers).
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[…] additional information checkout “Wired or Wireless?” by fellow Tech Blogger TechPaul. As well, a TechPaul reader asks – why upgrading to Gigabit […]
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please remove me and all profile and any other info. you”ve collected.Also this email i”m replying toyou with is my accurate email,You change myemail and password,telling me it”s already taken. It is, by me.You send a ex-family members nameto my email,so yes I triedto answer it, as unresolved issues currently are inprogress.The only thing I”m recieving from you is the determination requestfor credit cards,bank accounts,etc.I prefer to keep those particulars to myself. As you keep trying to get me to believe there are actions being taken and invested against me.I”m a firm believer of those whom steal identity,hack computers,access bank accounts,mail fraud, need I go on? With your sight (I would think you of all would understand this.)See I have already been through this.My car,banks,my very being was ripped out from under me.It”s been 5 plus years that I have been enduring the living hell this puts a person through.STILL TRYING TO HEAL FROM THIS SO PLEASE REMOVE ALL OF ME.THANK YOU
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lu ann harris,
I have never heard of you, and I have no idea what you are referring to, but I urge you to talk to your doctor about this.
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please cancel my membership
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thank you,you just saved me.
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Sir or Ms,
Thank you for taking the time to let me know I helped.
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mylife.com what a scam
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Sir or Ms,
I had to turn off Comments on my Just Say No To MyLife.com article as too many people were leaving comments demanding their money back. (And I am not MyLife.com… )
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I do random google searches once in a while to see what if any of my personal information is listed on the internet. I do not join websites and i have never listed my real age, address, or name for that matter anywhere online. Until today i have never seen anything about me doing a general search of my first & last name then the State i live in …. MyLife had a profile with my name, my town, my age, etc. All correct info – I will not join like they want me to so i can “control my account and what other people see”
How do i get them to remove this info? I have never given any authorization to be listed on the internet as i have always been a very private person and again, i don’t ever use my real name even on disposable email addresses that i have owned. I am so pissed there might as well be a darn map to my house and it is just wrong. I do not live like this and i would rather be ” off the grid ” if you will…. Can you help at all short of all the other posts i have read here like Account Killer, etc. They all want money to remove you from lists and websites that i never have given my info to in the first place. MyLife having listed my info is NOT RIGHT!
And where the heck did they get it. Once again i have never listed where i live, town or state, and MyLife even was able to go back to 1990 showing each place i have lived. And it is all correct. I don’t even understand how this is even possible. I wish i never even searched the internet for basic info about places i would like to travel or what ever., . We have pretty much all searched something online at one time or another but it doesn’t mean we gave out our life history for MyLife to post for all to see. Thank you for your time. Sorry if i repeated myself but i am very upset. Kind Regards…
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Ian,
Welcome to the Information Age. Isn’t it great!
Okay, to your question(s). No I do not provide a service along those lines, and so cannot help you. But I can suggest that the information contained in the three articles referenced here, How To Remove Your Name From Search Engines and Social Networking Sites is the “How To” procedures for self help. (And, no, they don’t all cost money.)
You can start applying the described methods to MyLife, by contacting them and demanding they remove your info.
Then work your way through the others…
(If your time is valuable, you can see why a service may be worth the fee..)
Of course, if any site actually does remove your info, odds are they’ll not delete it from their database, (it’s worth money, after all) but simple make it not visible to queries. Which is better than nothing.
If you don’t mind, I am going to post your comment/question as an article. Your (our) disgust is justified. It’s also too late.
(And too, too many folks simply don’t care. And they tell us privacy is a dead concept.)
Sorry, almost forgot. They obtain the info from “public records”, like tax assessors/realty sales, county records, telephone directories, newspapers.. etc., etc..
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Thank you for your response. I do not mind if you use my email to you as an article. Could you possibly send me a link to where ever you do re-locate it? Just an FYI, I did this same search on myself last July and there was nothing about me on the internet. I have not been arrested or have any public information about me that is public. I have ALWAYS had my phone numbers unlisted and set up so they show private when i call, and when people try to call me private it won’t let them call me. What is even more scary is that i searched more after i wrote my 1st post with questions to you, i searched a little more and MyLife has all ACCURATE info on me listing places i have lived going back 25yrs! To my child hood home and town at that… Then they even list my biological father’s name, his wife, his two daughters whom all of i have never really known my whole life. My biological father has NEVER been a part of my life yet they had his address state & town correct… And his family members names correct. As well as knowing my mother’s new remarried name. And i have no contact with her anymore either.
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Ian,
Simple cross-referencing. (Birth records plus what those people have provided about themselves online plus their public records.)
Facebook is great at doing that.
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Oh and they do show my exact address with a darn google map with a photo of my house as well- I am very upset!
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I say again.. welcome to the Information Age.
All this so they can better show us advertisements. And point us to the sales. (With constant geo-location.)
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For safety on the internet, I use multiple avatars. I have never searched for nor signed up for anything on mylife.com, so they should not have my avatars’ e-mail addresses, but there a growing number of people that mylife.com claims “know” my avatars and want to re-connect with them.
Pure BS!
The simple solution is to for them to be blacklisted and blocked by honest ISPs.
BTW, Microsoft’s hotmail.com and outlook.com can classify mylife.com as junk but will not block them…hmmmmm!
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Mikhail Botvinnik,
While that would be a ‘simple solution’, it ignores the money factor.. as well as the fact that this is The Information Age, and MyLife is just doing (basically) what everyone else is online (I mean.. look at Facebook).
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When people are trying to vew my info & it says to vew and see details i Have tried but cant get thru
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Sir or Ms,
I have no idea why you posted this comment/question on this article, nor what you are specifically referring to; but I’ll wager you’re lucky you “can’t get through” because those notifications (i.e., “so-and-so has viewed your profile, click here to ..”) are scams, which try to lure the naive and curious to download viruses.. or get you to enroll in some unnecessary service so they can acquire your personal info.
The Internet is a dangerous and lawless place. Use caution, and keep your curiosity in check.
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