Best Router Tip: To Wire or Not to Wire, That Is the Question

No network can be accurately called a network if the computers that make it up are not able to share information with one another. So that networked computers can have the power to exchange information among them, the network must have a central connection point--a heart, so to speak. That heart is the router. The best router that a network can have will always have that as its primary function. After all, what makes networking possible is the router.

Networks can be classified on the basis of the kind of router that it uses for linking the computers together. One type is the wireless network, which, as you may have guessed, uses a wireless router. The other type is the wired network, which uses cables or wires for linking the computers in the network. If your goal is to find the best router for your home or business network, knowing these two basic types of networks and routers is very important because each one has features that the other does not.

Whether a router is wired or wireless, its basic function remains the same. The most important function of a router is that of a traffic officer; it regulates and controls the flow of information (technically referred to as data packets) among the computers within its network. Another important function of a router is that of a post office clerk or a postal delivery personnel; it ascertains that letters (i.e., the data packets) are delivered to the right doorstep. A third important function of a router is that of a censor; it restricts or stops any data packet from being sent to an unintended address. If you are looking for the right router for you, your basic question is not about having a router at all. Rather, your foremost issue is whether to go wired or wireless.
In a wireless network, the computers connected to the network communicate with each other via the router. The communication process makes use of radio waves, which actually eliminate the need for a physical connection to the router. In this kind of scenario, you can say that the perfect router for the network is a wireless router.

Since a wireless router does not use physical connections (i.e., cables and wires) to link the computers in its network, you can be flexible with your movement around your working space. If such a flexibility is what is most important to you, then the appropriate router for you will be a wireless router. You will be able to connect your mobile device such as a laptop to your router as long as your computer is within the range of the wireless router's signal. The absence of wires and cables in a wireless network setup can let you save, too, because you won't have to buy them.

However, the freedom of movement that you exper ience with a wireless network is not for free. Wireless routers typically cost more than wired routers, although a wireless router is also the ideal router for a network requiring no hindrances from wires and cables.

A wired network, on the other hand, requires physical connections from the computers to the router. In this scenario, the most appropriate router to use is a wired router. The data packets in this network setup travel around the network via data cables, which are more commonly known as Ethernet cables or CAT5 cables.

The computers in a wired network environment uses the Ethernet protocol for communicating with each other. The speed at which data packets travel along the data cables is actually higher than the data transfer speed in a wireless network. For example, if a standard Ethernet cable is used, the data transfer rate can reach a maximum of 100 Mbps. The data transfer speeds can soar ten times faster (1,000 Mbps) if a Gigabit Ethernet cable is used instead of a standard cable. Because of its capacity for faster data transfer speeds, a wired router is the proper router for use in a network that frequently shares large amounts of data across the network. Thus, playing network games and transferring or sharing large files such as videos and movies will be faster in a wired network.

Wired routers may have blazing transfer speeds, and they also cost less than wireless routers. But, the wires and cables can be messy and can easily clutter. If some cosmic chaos in the wires does not worry you much, then the perfect router for you is a wired router.

When you buy either a wired or wireless router, make sure that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of each. That way, you can wisely choose which one is the best router for your needs.

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