Ethernet: I wouldn't make a law about it but . . .

Scannerman · Mar 8, 2026

I think this article makes some valid points. As a rule I won't bother with WiFi unless I need to get online and it's my only alternative to staying offline.

Why you should always use Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi (when possible)

Use Ethernet when and where possible over a Wi-Fi connection.

www.makeuseof.com

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Ethernet Rulz !!

Scannerman · Mar 8, 2026

I had some fun explaining to my future ISP that I don't use WiFi in my home. The customer service guy on the phone couldn't seem to get his brain around it but the service tech had no problem with the concept. Sadly, it may be a while before he's in my area. We've been having record snow falls and he may have to do some digging to run the fibre. I trust the new router will have an option to disable WiFi.

Borg 386 · Mar 11, 2026

Unfortunately most new printers come with wi fi enabled. The last 2 I bought I had to turn it off.

Scannerman · Mar 11, 2026

Borg 386 said:
Unfortunately most new printers come with wi fi enabled. The last 2 I bought I had to turn it off.

We borgs have to roll with the punches if we want to keep our autonomy. At least turning off WiFi is still a feature in most cases.

Doubtless getting rid of it is already on a list of some hive mentality master controller.

Marie SWE · Mar 11, 2026

Scannerman said:
I think this article makes some valid points. As a rule I won't bother with WiFi unless I need to get online and it's my only alternative to staying offline.

Why you should always use Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi (when possible)

Use Ethernet when and where possible over a Wi-Fi connection.

www.makeuseof.com

It had been more fun if you have started this thread in the Network and internet section. *lol*

Then you have had aaaaaallllllll the wifi fans against you. *lol*

I have a friend that still is try to convince me that wifi networks is as good in quality, performances and reliability as wired networks.

Scannerman · Mar 11, 2026

Marie SWE said:
It had been more fun if you have started this thread in the Network and internet section. *lol*

Then you have had aaaaaallllllll the wifi fans against you. *lol*

I have a friend that still is try to convince me that wifi networks is as good in quality, performances and reliability as wired networks.

I wasn't sure where to place the article but I thought some casual chatter was appropriate. Of course this is a hot topic for me because I'm switching ISPs and finally getting fibre. Yesterday they managed to install the conduit and run the cable to the house. They used a back hoe to remove the snow to get to the junction. It looked as though they had to directional drill to the house. I'm still in the process of negotiating a time for the technician to come and disrupt the entire network. It will be splendid to have 1Gbps up and down for a change. Definitely enough for my little non-profit organization.

One thing I did learn about fibre is that I will no longer be able to use PoE. The router they are providing won't give me this option but I will still be able to use Ethernet. :::sigh::: Can't have it all.

Marie SWE · Mar 11, 2026

Scannerman said:
I wasn't sure where to place the article but I thought some casual chatter was appropriate. Of course this is a hot topic for me because I'm switching ISPs and finally getting fibre. Yesterday they managed to install the conduit and run the cable to the house. They used a back hoe to remove the snow to get to the junction. It looked as though they had to directional drill to the house. I'm still in the process of negotiating a time for the technician to come and disrupt the entire network. It will be splendid to have 1Gbps up and down for a change. Definitely enough for my little non-profit organization.

One thing I did learn about fibre is that I will no longer be able to use PoE. The router they are providing won't give me this option but I will still be able to use Ethernet. :::sigh::: Can't have it all.

Then i have to say.... Welcome to the fast lane.

You can buy a PoE switch to connect to your ISP router's Lan port, so you still can use your PoE devices, but the switch takes the load instead of the router.

Edit:
TP-link works good as switches, but i would never-ever use their routers for security reasons..

5-Port Gigabit Easy Smart Switch with 4-Port PoE+

Equipped with four 802.3af/at PoE+ ports with up to 30W for each port, data and power can be transferred on one single cable

www.tp-link.com

Netgear performs really good but still wont clean you out as Cisco does.

5-Port Gigabit Ethernet PoE+ Easy Smart Switch (63W)

The GS105EP delivers 5 x Gigabit Ethernet ports with 4 x PoE+ ports and up to 63W PoE budget. Plug-and-play Easy Smart managed with QoS, VLAN, fanless silent operation, and desktop or wall-mount flexibility.

www.netgear.com

I took this two as they are the same performance.. They have more products.

Scannerman · Mar 11, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Then i have to say.... Welcome to the fast lane.
You can buy a PoE switch to connect to your ISP router's Lan port, so you still can use your PoE devices, but the switch takes the load instead of the router.

Yeah, I wondered about that. I'll take it up with the technician. Currently I have all devices using PoE disconnected in anticipation for the day but I definitely have the switch. Here's what I'm currently using.

I apologize for the fuzzy picture. I just finished bringing the camera out of the cold, but you get the idea. I've never had a problem with this TRENDnet switch and it has served me well for the upstairs part of the network. The four LEDs on the left indicate PoE capability and the other four are simply Ethernet. All my other switches are TP-link.

Marie SWE · Mar 11, 2026

Scannerman said:
Yeah, I wondered about that. I'll take it up with the technician. Currently I have all devices using PoE disconnected in anticipation for the day but I definitely have the switch. Here's what I'm currently using.

View attachment 165626

I apologize for the fuzzy picture. I just finished bringing the camera out of the cold, but you get the idea. I've never had a problem with this TRENDnet switch and it has served me well for the upstairs part of the network. The four LEDs on the left indicate PoE capability and the other four are simply Ethernet. All my other switches are TP-link.

Nice

That sounds as a good plan to ask 1001 questions to the technician.. Most of them love to go deep on tech details when they notice its not just a normal everyday person asking, as most of them started out as tech-nerds. *lol*

Scannerman · Mar 11, 2026

Yeah the crew doing all the grunt work yesterday were a good bunch. I found out that the city two hours north of me still doesn't have fibre. The irony is hard to miss as we barely have a population of 2K where I live. The reason can be put into a single word: OIL.

I had to help the crew locate the junction point on my side of the property line so they could dig through four feet of snow to find it. I can only imagine what the lawn will look like this summer but no pain, no gain.

They ran the cable and conduit under the sidewalk and to the house but I'm still not sure where they'll be feeding the fibre. I'm hoping they'll drill into the basement because that's where I keep my router and net gear. After that it's switches all the way to the top floor. The Missuz was concerned about her flower bed but I don't think they did much damage here. I'll plant some ruderalis around it and it'll look just fine.

Marie SWE · Mar 11, 2026

Scannerman said:
Yeah the crew doing all the grunt work yesterday were a good bunch. I found out that the city two hours north of me still doesn't have fibre. The irony is hard to miss as we barely have a population of 2K where I live. The reason can be put into a single word: OIL.

View attachment 165629

I had to help the crew locate the junction point on my side of the property line so they could dig through four feet of snow to find it. I can only imagine what the lawn will look like this summer but no pain, no gain.

View attachment 165630
They ran the cable and conduit under the sidewalk and to the house but I'm still not sure where they'll be feeding the fibre. I'm hoping they'll drill into the basement because that's where I keep my router and net gear. After that it's switches all the way to the top floor. The Missuz was concerned about her flower bed but I don't think they did much damage here. I'll plant some ruderalis around it and it'll look just fine.

Yeah,, digging cables is never kind to grass or flower beds

If there is water or electric going through the wall, they will use that.. if not, they will make a new entry and then you can mention the basement.
I have not run fiber in to buildings, so I'm guessing.

I have only done it inside of buildings.

So what kind of internet connection do you have now before the fiber installation?
I started over phone-line 1994.. then coax 95 to 2006.. and fiber from 2006.
The switch from coax to fiber was a blessing in stability and speed.

Scannerman · Mar 11, 2026

I started with a regular phone modem aka dial up. I switched to broad band in 2001 and then to cable/Ethernet in 2002. I'm supposed to be getting up to 1Gbps dl on coax but I never see it get anywhere near that speed. So tired of paying for service not rendered and the bill just keeps on going up every year. Hopefully these guys will make it more affordable.

Marie SWE · Mar 11, 2026

Scannerman said:
I started with a regular phone modem aka dial up. I switched to broad band in 2001 and then to cable/Ethernet in 2002. I'm supposed to be getting up to 1Gbps dl on coax but I never see it get anywhere near that speed. So tired of paying for service not rendered and the bill just keeps on going up every year. Hopefully these guys will make it more affordable.

I have not notice any different on prices.. just on speed and reliability. Since 2006 i have had 5 or 6 internet outages.. never a lower speed then i pay for. Low latency etc.
i rarely need speed nowadays.. i downgraded to 250/250 speed and i think i never maxed it out for more then a few minutes downloading an ISO.

I can have up to 10/10 Gbit, but my router is only an 1Gbit, and also my switches... so it would become expensive to upgrade my whole network and NIC's in my desktops for just testing out that speed. *lol*

Scannerman · Mar 12, 2026

In my case I will be making roughly a 50% savings going with fibre optic. The cable company that I have been with all these years has gotten rude and rather greedy. Not only that, but they seem to be getting consistently less reliable. I understand that it is unrealistic to expect 1Gbps speed on a consistent basis but I never see anywhere near that and on a good day I get over 800 and on a bad day less than 500. I've had techs come in and I've explained some of why this is occurring but they can do precious little about it. RF affects coax considerably more than they realize and running the cable through swamp is unwise. Half the time the cable remains submerged in water. When you live in a temperate zone where temperatures fluctuate by more than 20 degrees in a single day this can result in even greater problems. The cable should have been run through the higher ground, preferably along the street (just as the fibre is) or, like in the old days, on telephone poles. Instead, it was hastily buried underground (doesn't even look like they used conduit) run through a natural body of water, and attached to a steel rod with a plastic hood (likely still unlocked) with extraneous cable lying in a coiled heap on the ground in the woods just behind my back yard. Deer and other wildlife can get tangled in it and there is a deer trail just behind my yard. There's also a tree fort that children like to use just behind this so-called junction box. It took five years to get them to do anything about it and what they did was so lame I quit calling. I apologize for ranting but this is the "chill out room" so I'm taking liberties and chilling. I think fibre is going to be a big game changer for me.

Marie SWE · Mar 12, 2026

Scannerman said:
In my case I will be making roughly a 50% savings going with fibre optic. The cable company that I have been with all these years has gotten rude and rather greedy. Not only that, but they seem to be getting consistently less reliable. I understand that it is unrealistic to expect 1Gbps speed on a consistent basis but I never see anywhere near that and on a good day I get over 800 and on a bad day less than 500. I've had techs come in and I've explained some of why this is occurring but they can do precious little about it. RF affects coax considerably more than they realize and running the cable through swamp is unwise. Half the time the cable remains submerged in water. When you live in a temperate zone where temperatures fluctuate by more than 20 degrees in a single day this can result in even greater problems. The cable should have been run through the higher ground, preferably along the street (just as the fibre is) or, like in the old days, on telephone poles. Instead, it was hastily buried underground (doesn't even look like they used conduit) run through a natural body of water, and attached to a steel rod with a plastic hood (likely still unlocked) with extraneous cable lying in a coiled heap on the ground in the woods just behind my back yard. Deer and other wildlife can get tangled in it and there is a deer trail just behind my yard. There's also a tree fort that children like to use just behind this so-called junction box. It took five years to get them to do anything about it and what they did was so lame I quit calling. I apologize for ranting but this is the "chill out room" so I'm taking liberties and chilling. I think fibre is going to be a big game changer for me.

Everything has it pros and cons... but some have more cons then exception of a single pro.
Coax in the air as old phone lines.. Yeah that can work, but it will be sensitive to thunderstorms and EMP from solar-storms etc.
Everything with conducting material is best under ground.

Take a bunch of speedtests and save... then after you are online with the fiber you run the same tests again.. and you will see latency drop and speed to be more stable between tests.

Scannerman · Mar 12, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Take a bunch of speedtests and save... then after you are online with the fiber you run the same tests again.. and you will see latency drop and speed to be more stable between tests.

yup. That's exactly what I've been doing.

Hardly the 1Gbps I've been paying for. Hopefully next Monday I'll be in a position to tell them to disconnect my diservices effective immediately. I'm so done with these guys.

Scannerman · Mar 12, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Yeah that can work, but it will be sensitive to thunderstorms and EMP from solar-storms etc.
Everything with conducting material is best under ground.

Unless everything (including the ISP) is in a Faraday cage it will be subject to EMP. I agree that running the coax underground is best but the only reason I can think of for running coax under water is a good ground plane? My goodness, what could possibly be robbing me of so much signal??

Marie SWE · Mar 12, 2026

Scannerman said:
Unless everything (including the ISP) is in a Faraday cage it will be subject to EMP. I agree that running the coax underground is best but the only reason I can think of for running coax under water is a good ground plane? My goodness, what could possibly be robbing me of so much signal??

That is a high ping.. i get 8ms on ping that is with my VPN enabled. without i get 5ms. So you will get lower with your fiber

EMP can be evil.. But often they just cause a temporary hiccup.

Monday you say.. So you will discover a new internet next week then.

Scannerman · Mar 13, 2026

Marie SWE said:
That is a high ping.. i get 8ms on ping that is with my VPN enabled. without i get 5ms. So you will get lower with your fiber
EMP can be evil.. But often they just cause a temporary hiccup.

Monday you say.. So you will discover a new internet next week then.

Yes. I'm all nerdly excited about it. The girls groan at the thought of the disruption. They like to come home from school and game and socialize online. I'm just the IT grunt daddy. My duties are to keep their PCs running fast and efficient and to keep them online. This is not to say that none of them have demonstrated their own innovation. The youngest hacked my PC once and converted a substantial part of my memory into a Mine Craft server. Bless her heart but I won't tolerate it. The second eldest daughter is in university and her goal is to be a software engineer. Given the current technological climate I rather wonder if she'll even be able to get a job once she leaves university. Only time will tell.

Ethernet: I wouldn't make a law about it but . . .

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