Wi-Fi or Wired? - The Wall Street Journal Concurs with True Blade: Use Wired Ethernet Connections Whenever Possible

by J Robert Burgoyne March 29, 2022

True Blade has been involved in enough network deployment projects to be able to authoritatively state that Wired Network Connections:

Have Fewer Problems
Are More Secure
Are Usually Faster than Wi-Fi

We feel so strongly about this that when we were recently offered a new logo:

We knew that the designer had captured our corporate philosophy, forged over decades of experience. Our logo, a silhouette of an Ethernet Patch Cord, was an instant success, and segues nicely to the present.

We'll accept endorsements of our engineering ideals from anyone, and today the Wall Street Journal wrote their own article:

Their Secret for Workplace Zen? Landlines and Ethernet Cords

With millions of people now working from home (WFH), it's time to consider whether your cell phone, Wi-Fi, and your smiling enthusiasm remain competitive, after two years of trying to appear professional while working from home, without the infrastructure of a commercial office.

WSJ Journalist Rachel Feintzeig goes through a few examples of where and why hard-wired Ethernet connections are better:

[People who work from home are] sick of video feeds that sputter and freeze as family members suck down bandwidth, or calls that drop into the ether with no notice.

In some regions of the USA, traditional landline phones using POTS (plain old telephone service) are no longer available for new installations. That leaves you with a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone decision. The upside is that with VoIP you get a better speakerphone and the audio quality is clear and more intelligible.

Depending on one's budget and reliability needs, a large number of VoIP solutions are available. Inexpensive VoIP solutions are a race to the bottom, and the audio quality may not be much better than your cell phone.

For more serious people, you can mimic the Oval Office, Antarctica Scientists, and NASA with a Cisco Webex desk phone for a higher one-time initial cost, but roughly the same monthly fee.

There are many reasons why a wired connection may be better for you, including this foible that was new to us:

By the second or third time someone calls complaining about their AirPods inadvertently connecting to their spouse’s car, [tech support specialist] Mr. Hughes recommends wired headphones.

As we like to say:

This type of AirPod contention/clobbering hasn't happened to us, but it's easy to understand why it may occur.

If you want to project your most professional image, wired Ethernet connections are always best. We suggest you find engineering talent that agrees and can assist.