USB+Ethernet+Which

USB Ethernet Which

Which is better?

One of the most common questions is :‐

“Which should I use to connect my modem, USB or Ethernet? “

The answer? Well... it depends. The Modem is a Bottleneck

In point of fact the modem is the bottleneck.

The maximum speed the USB port can achieve is 12 mbps.

Whereas an Ethernet connection tops out at 100 mbps.

Ha! so, you maybe be thinking an Ethernet connection is the way to go.

Well, hang on! Ask yourself this: ‐

How fast is your DSL or Cable modem? On average, a DSL connection is roughly 1.5 mbps, while a Cable connection averages around 3 mbps.

So If you arepaying attention, both USB and Ethernet can more than handle the throughput coming out of the modem.

Ergo the modem acts as a bottleneck.

So, youʹll never actually reach each connectorʹs throughput capacity.

In all, for strictly Internet usage, it doesnʹt necessarily matter.

However, in some cases it does.

File Sharing on a Network

If you intend to share files across a network (LAN), Ethernet is recommended.

Since you will be transferring data directly onto another computer, the throughput speed solely depends on your network connection.

The bottleneck is no longer the modem, but your connection type.

When Does it Matter?

As I mentioned earlier, there are few cases where the USB and Ethernet decision will

matter.

If you own a machine that is more than a few years old, you may not have an Ethernet card to utilize.

Unless you mind paying for an Ethernet card

( You can find a decent one for around £15.00p ) and installing one, then you are stuck with a USB connection.

Similarly, since USB relies on the computerʹs CPU to process all the data incoming and outgoing, for older and slower machines this can make a reduction in performance.

On the other hand, an Ethernet card does its own processing, so the main CPU is relieved from the extra load.

Hence, Ethernet is more reliable.

To summarize,

If you have an Ethernet card in your machine, whether built in or not, we recommend you choose Ethernet.

If you do not want to spend any money a USB should be fine in most cases.

For most people, the difference will be negligible, if any.