Why would you use network cables instead of going wireless?

As wireless networking becomes more common more devices are being built enabled for wireless connectivity. What is the future for data cabling? Should you go wireless?

Due to the flexibility of wireless networking it can be advantageous, but data cabling still has plenty of key benefits.

Security is one of the key areas in which physical data cabling still excels. It offers a higher level of security than wireless networks, as it is a lot easier for someone else to gain access to a wireless network. If you are on wireless you have controls like password protection, but it is still quite vulnerable.

Another big issue for wireless networks is interference from other radio sources. With the shielding on traditional data cabling this is very unlikely to happen.

Those with a physical network can be confident of a constant connection. On the other hand wireless connections are very prone to timing out. This can prove highly inconvenient, especially while data transfer is being performed, potentially severing download connections. These lapses can also lead to files being corrupted. When you have been waiting for a long file transfer there is nothing more frustrating that finding that the file will not open as it was corrupted due to a issue during download. A physical network will eliminate this sort of issue.

You can expect higher speeds from a cabled network than a wireless network. More modern cables known as twisted pair data cabling will run to an incredibly fast 10 gig. You can also use fiber optic cables which transmit data as light which is of course incredibly fast.

Where wireless networking really comes into its own is in mobility. Without wires a portable device can be taken literally anywhere. Of course you are still limited to somewhere within range of the transmitter.

Expanding your network using data cabling is also a fairly easy process. It is generally a simple case of connecting a router or hub to the existing cabling and then connecting your device to the hub/router. You will be able to run around 250 machines from a single hub or router.

So while wireless has its perks there is still a lot to be said for network cables. Considering the speed, the security advantages and the reliability of cabling it seems unlikely that it will disappear in the near future.