I'm a huge fan of wired internet, even if the cables can be a bit of a mess (which can be fixed on the cheap). But Ethernet connections aren't the best for everything, not by a mile.

In a battle of Ethernet vs. Wi-Fi, which option takes the lead? The answer is, annoyingly, "it depends." It comes down to what devices you own, but also the strengths and downsides of your particular connection.

You've probably heard that Ethernet is both faster and more stable than Wi-Fi. This is still true for stability (unless you're stuck in a loop of Ethernet troubleshooting), but for speeds, we're much more firmly in that "it depends" territory.

Modern Wi-Fi, by which I mean 6E and 7, can push well into multi-gigabit territory under the right conditions. That means it can outperform a basic plain old 1Gbps Ethernet cable. Of course, if you buy a better cable, the equation changes until Ethernet is possibly winning again.

The catch with Wi-Fi is as it ever was; it all depends on the circumstances. More than anything, on the environment. Distance from the router, walls, where you place the router (cabinets are no good), neighboring networks, interference, client hardware, channel width ... all of those factor into how well your Wi-Fi connection performs. And it's a wide range of performance levels, from "disconnects constantly" to "it works, but it's slow" to finally reach something close to perfection.

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