It is commonly known by data networking technicians a wired network for Internet connectivity is quicker than Internet connectivity from a wireless router. But what is not commonly known is why. A router is a device which is used to connect a single network, like the web, to a Local Area Network LAN which has a lot of connected devices like computers. This protocol normally has bandwidth rates from 10Mbs to 1000Mbs with 100Mbs being the most commonly used for media computers in many homes and offices. The Ethernet data communication protocol uses full-duplex communicating this is, it can send and receive data at precisely the exact same time. Internet Service Providers mostly provide high speed broadband services up to 1.5Mbs that are defined concerning the maximum download rate because many consumer broadband technologies have a slower maximum upload rate.

A router as the name suggests, Distributes data packets in the World Wide Web to every requesting computer attached to it. For those who have too many computers attached off the router, the router may turn into a speed bottleneck. In theory, if you use a 100Mbs Ethernet cable to connect to your Internet Service Provider, then your Internet connection will not slow down as many broadband Internet Services for home usage peak out at around 1.5Mbs, and company use peaks out at about 10Mbs but shared across several computers. With wireless data networks, the most frequently used protocol is the IEEE 802.11 standard. This standard has had many alterations over the last couple of years and the newest is the 802.11n variation. The 802.11n variation can in theory work up to 300Mbs whereas the earlier 802.11b version works up to 11Mbs and the 802.11g works up to 54Mbs. The best wireless router for home offer wireless data connectivity with a half-duplex protocol either send or receive data but not both at same time and this makes them slower than wired Ethernet connections.

The wireless signal may be susceptible to local interference from other nearby electrical equipment, which may cause the operation of the wireless system to degrade. When the wireless signal dissipates, the wireless router has to perform more information error corrections to keep the integrity of the information and this causes delays in distributing the information to and from its destination and slows down the connection. If wireless security protocols can also be used to encrypt the information, this requires additional data processing to be undertaken which can also limit the operation by introducing inherent latency delays. Hard-wired networks do not have to have the information packets encrypted since they are physically secured in most buildings whereas wireless networks cover areas which are not secured and thus the data has to be encrypted to secure it from unauthorized users.