Wi-Fi is obviously more convenient than wired Ethernet cables, but Ethernet still offers significant advantages. The main issue with wireless deal with distance and interference both will affect wireless speeds and latency performance. Connection speed and quality isn’t just about raw bandwidth. Latency is also a big factor. In this case, latency is the delay in how long it takes for traffic to get from from a device to its destination. We often refer to latency as “ping” in the networking and online gaming worlds.


If reducing latency as much as possible is your concern—for example, if you’re playing online games and need reaction time to be as quick as possible—you’re probably better off with a wired Ethernet connection. Yes, there will be other latency that factors in along the Internet path between your device and the gaming server, but every little bit helps.