Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Wi-Fi is 30% slower than fixed broadband

Web users happy to trade speed for convenience

Web users relying on Wi-Fi networks rather than fixed broadband connections to access the web experience slower speeds, says Epitiro.

The research firm conducted more than a million tests of some 14,000 Wi-fi connections in the UK, as well as Spain, Italy and the US. On average, Wi-Fi connections were 30 percent slower than fixed connections.

The firm said it was "surprised" at how high the reduction in speed was but that many consumers wouldn't notice the difference, while others were happy to accept slower speeds because of the convenience offered by Wi-Fi.

"People are voting with their feet and trading speed for the benefits of mobility," said Iain Wood from Epitirio.

"Most of us do emailing and web surfing and for these things there is precious little difference between the 50Mbps services and an 8Mbps service."

However, Wood said those using VoIP service such as Skype and using the web to watch TV would notice the difference.

"There seems to be a disconnect between the ISPs striving to deliver faster speeds and consumers who are happy to accept slower Wi-Fi speeds."

Wood advised those unhappy with the speed they're achieving to can change the channel on their router, as many users rely on the same channel, as well as removing devices such as baby monitors and TV remotes, which can cause interference.

Wi-Fi and networking newsSee all networking hardware reviews

See also: How to speed up your network

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Skype
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Internet & broadband, networking, wireless, WLANs / Wi-Fi
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Security Threat Report 2012
    This threat report shares the latest research on hacktivism, online threats, mobile malware, cloud computing, and social network security looking ahead to the coming year.
    Learn more »
  • The State of Data Security
    Recognize how your data can become vulnerable, including the latest issues stemming from unprotected data on mobile devices and social media sites. Understand the compliance issues involved, and identify data protection strategies you can use to keep your company’s information both safe and compliant.
    Learn more »
  • Case Study: NZ Bus Develops Applications 60% Faster, Improves Database Performance by up to 35%
    Key Benefits: Developed applications 60% faster, Created development and test environments in minutes compared to days and weeks previously, Reduced server costs by 30% with server virtualisation, Saved NZ$40,000 in database administrator training costs, Provided high availability features that keep the database and core applications up and running in the event of a server failure, Introduced compression capabilities that improved database performance by 30% to 35%. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments