8 ms·

we survived wired home networks because they are expensive, and a superior IO solution (wifi) caught up quickly. Re usb-c: good luck not using the (only) io p

we survived wired home networks because they are expensive, and a superior IO solution (wifi) caught up quickly. Re usb-c: good luck not using the (only) io port on your device.

StillBored 10y ago
Superior if your a laptop user sitting on the back deck. I run backups/bluray movies/etc between my NAS and assorted devices. I will assure you that my desktop PC's, which are connected via 10GbaseT have ~30x faster access to said NAS than the small business class AC WIFI AP's I use. The latency, throughput and most importantly the reliability of a decent wired network is still far superior to wifi, and I have a far cleaner/stronger wifi system than the vast majority of wifi networks I've seen. Even so, I still run wires to my home theater devices because I don't have to worry about dropouts in the middle of streaming a bluray, or more importantly the random driver/etc bugs that seem far more frequent on wifi than boring old ethernet. Plus, with the advent of reasonable speed internet accesses (thanks google!) the WiFi is frequently the bottleneck. One room away and that AC 1200 router is only actually delivering 200Mbits, or for that matter the 20 closest neighbors APs/wireless phones/airport radar/etc are messing up the spectrum.
- novaleaf 10y ago
  I think people are forgetting that most people (in the usa or globally) don't have the disposable income to (re)wire a house with ethernet. From a "humanity" perspective I stand by my point. Now for the average HN reader, sure I'm wrong. Enjoy your first world problems :)
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    Depends heavily on the house and where you are putting computers. A surprisingly large number of people have their computers right next to their cable modems.
  - andwur 10y ago
    It cost me $250 ($100 of which was 300m of Cat6) and a very tedious, insulation filled, Sunday to wire my house up with 1Gbit ports in every room. Comparing that to the price of the current batch of AC WiFi access points (that look like stealth bombers) I don't think it's too unreasonable.
    - XorNot 10y ago
      Yeah these days even doing Cat 6 is pretty cheap. We ran Cat 6 throughout the apartment, and the biggest nuisance of it was figuring out the best way to do conduit (solid brick walls mean we can't just go in-wall).
    - jl6 10y ago
      You are not counting the cost of your expertise in networking and DIY. Most people don't get that for free.
helthanatos 10y ago
What are you talking about? WiFi is not superior. It's easier to wire all the desktops in your home rather than hoping your WiFi reaches. Ethernet is not very expensive. USB-C is good because it can use many protocols and pretty much the only reasons it is bad are: people that don't know what they're buying and people making cheap, out of standard knockoffs that will damage devices. This is mainly a manufacturer problem and will probably be fixed by the time the majority of people have USB-C ports.
- taeric 10y ago
  This depends entirely on the size of your house. We're easily covered by a single wifi router. We also don't have easy to rewire walls... (Yay 1910 era construction. :) )
  - WalterBright 10y ago
    If your 110V wiring is vintage 1910, you should consider rewiring anyway. I was involved in renovating a 1923 building, and the old wiring was neat, but terrifying. Pulled it all out, didn't even want to think about anyone trying to run power through it.
    - taeric 10y ago
      Yeah, we've already upgraded the electric. Definitely could have rerun ethernet then, but did not want to deal with moving any outlets. (Or, really, thinking about the problem hard. We have barely 1000 sq ft, so not hard to cover with wifi.)
      - Bromlife 10y ago
        You don't have to move outlets, just combine them.
        taeric 10y ago
        If I want outlets where my computers will be, I would have to move outlets.
WalterBright 10y ago
My Grace Digital music player is nearly unusable with wifi (see the Amazon reviews on it). But with wired, it works like a champ. Wired is simpler, faster, more secure, and more likely to work.
- Hondor 10y ago
  More secure? Everyone on the network can see everyone else's traffic wherease wifi only communicates between the router and each computer.
  - colejohnson66 10y ago
    I think you have that backwards
douche 10y ago
In what universe is wifi a substitute for a proper wired network, for serious bandwidth and reliability? I've got so many other wifi routers polluting the radio waves that I can't stream Netflix on my TV that is 15 feet away from the router. It's so bad that I bought a 50' ethernet cable and tacked it up along the ceiling from the router to a switch by my TV to create a redneck ethernet network. Works beautifully - well, not beautifully in the aesthetic sense, but it gets the job done well.
- jschwartzi 10y ago
  I had to do this too. There are at least 30 networks in range of my apartment at all times, so 2.4 Ghz WiFi is useless in the evenings. I'm glad there are few 5 Ghz networks here so my newer devices are still usable.
  - emp_zealoth 10y ago
    5GHz has horrible range and wall penetration (by design), so it can't really get as cluttered as 2.4GHz which has decent out of line-of-sight performance
  - dotancohen 10y ago
    So why run your own Wifi hotspot? It sounds like your neighbours have already put the infrastructure in place for you!
jccalhoun 10y ago
you can have my ethernet cable when you pry it from my cold dead hands!
- bartvk 10y ago
  Exactly. Some WiFi is just too unstable, and I've decided that it's fine for a bit of evening web browsing. But in the office, I want the stability of ethernet.

we survived wired home networks because they are expensive, and a superior IO solution (wifi) caught up quickly. Re usb-c: good luck not using the (only) io port on your device.

StillBored 10y ago

Superior if your a laptop user sitting on the back deck. I run backups/bluray movies/etc between my NAS and assorted devices. I will assure you that my desktop PC's, which are connected via 10GbaseT have ~30x faster access to said NAS than the small business class AC WIFI AP's I use. The latency, throughput and most importantly the reliability of a decent wired network is still far superior to wifi, and I have a far cleaner/stronger wifi system than the vast majority of wifi networks I've seen. Even so, I still run wires to my home theater devices because I don't have to worry about dropouts in the middle of streaming a bluray, or more importantly the random driver/etc bugs that seem far more frequent on wifi than boring old ethernet. Plus, with the advent of reasonable speed internet accesses (thanks google!) the WiFi is frequently the bottleneck. One room away and that AC 1200 router is only actually delivering 200Mbits, or for that matter the 20 closest neighbors APs/wireless phones/airport radar/etc are messing up the spectrum.

novaleaf 10y ago
I think people are forgetting that most people (in the usa or globally) don't have the disposable income to (re)wire a house with ethernet. From a "humanity" perspective I stand by my point. Now for the average HN reader, sure I'm wrong. Enjoy your first world problems :)
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  Depends heavily on the house and where you are putting computers. A surprisingly large number of people have their computers right next to their cable modems.
- andwur 10y ago
  It cost me $250 ($100 of which was 300m of Cat6) and a very tedious, insulation filled, Sunday to wire my house up with 1Gbit ports in every room. Comparing that to the price of the current batch of AC WiFi access points (that look like stealth bombers) I don't think it's too unreasonable.
  - XorNot 10y ago
    Yeah these days even doing Cat 6 is pretty cheap. We ran Cat 6 throughout the apartment, and the biggest nuisance of it was figuring out the best way to do conduit (solid brick walls mean we can't just go in-wall).
  - jl6 10y ago
    You are not counting the cost of your expertise in networking and DIY. Most people don't get that for free.

helthanatos 10y ago

What are you talking about? WiFi is not superior. It's easier to wire all the desktops in your home rather than hoping your WiFi reaches. Ethernet is not very expensive. USB-C is good because it can use many protocols and pretty much the only reasons it is bad are: people that don't know what they're buying and people making cheap, out of standard knockoffs that will damage devices. This is mainly a manufacturer problem and will probably be fixed by the time the majority of people have USB-C ports.

taeric 10y ago
This depends entirely on the size of your house. We're easily covered by a single wifi router. We also don't have easy to rewire walls... (Yay 1910 era construction. :) )
- WalterBright 10y ago
  If your 110V wiring is vintage 1910, you should consider rewiring anyway. I was involved in renovating a 1923 building, and the old wiring was neat, but terrifying. Pulled it all out, didn't even want to think about anyone trying to run power through it.
  - taeric 10y ago
    Yeah, we've already upgraded the electric. Definitely could have rerun ethernet then, but did not want to deal with moving any outlets. (Or, really, thinking about the problem hard. We have barely 1000 sq ft, so not hard to cover with wifi.)
    - Bromlife 10y ago
      You don't have to move outlets, just combine them.
      - taeric 10y ago
        If I want outlets where my computers will be, I would have to move outlets.

WalterBright 10y ago

My Grace Digital music player is nearly unusable with wifi (see the Amazon reviews on it). But with wired, it works like a champ. Wired is simpler, faster, more secure, and more likely to work.

Hondor 10y ago
More secure? Everyone on the network can see everyone else's traffic wherease wifi only communicates between the router and each computer.
- colejohnson66 10y ago
  I think you have that backwards

douche 10y ago

In what universe is wifi a substitute for a proper wired network, for serious bandwidth and reliability? I've got so many other wifi routers polluting the radio waves that I can't stream Netflix on my TV that is 15 feet away from the router. It's so bad that I bought a 50' ethernet cable and tacked it up along the ceiling from the router to a switch by my TV to create a redneck ethernet network. Works beautifully - well, not beautifully in the aesthetic sense, but it gets the job done well.

jschwartzi 10y ago
I had to do this too. There are at least 30 networks in range of my apartment at all times, so 2.4 Ghz WiFi is useless in the evenings. I'm glad there are few 5 Ghz networks here so my newer devices are still usable.
- emp_zealoth 10y ago
  5GHz has horrible range and wall penetration (by design), so it can't really get as cluttered as 2.4GHz which has decent out of line-of-sight performance
- dotancohen 10y ago
  So why run your own Wifi hotspot? It sounds like your neighbours have already put the infrastructure in place for you!

jccalhoun 10y ago

you can have my ethernet cable when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

bartvk 10y ago
Exactly. Some WiFi is just too unstable, and I've decided that it's fine for a bit of evening web browsing. But in the office, I want the stability of ethernet.