Impact of wired and wireless connectivity on performance

Collage of modern adults using smart phones in city with wifi signals — Figure caption,
An illustration of people using wireless networks

Networks can be classified as wired or wireless. A wired uses copper cable or fibre optic cable to form the connections between the networked devices (). Fibre optic cables have a greater so transfer speeds are faster. Wireless networks tend to use radio signals as their communication medium but could use other wireless methods such as light.

Advantages and disadvantages of using wireless networks

Using a wireless network brings many benefits to a user:

new nodes can easily be added without interruption to the network
users can move around freely and still stay connected

However, there are disadvantages to using a wireless network:

Radio signals have a limited range.
Radio signals can suffer from electromagnetic interference from other devices and even other radio signals. They can also be blocked by walls, leading to dead spots where no signal can be found.
Each only has so much bandwidth to share among connected nodes. The greater the number of nodes that are connected, the less bandwidth each receives and the slower communication becomes.
Radio signals pose a security risk as they can be intercepted by unauthorised users. To overcome this problem, messages need to be .

Wireless networks in use

Wireless networking has seen an increase in popularity because it is easy to connect a node to a network. Many different types of device, such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, interactive TVs, media centres, games consoles and security cameras, can easily connect to a network when needed, without having to run a cable to each device.

Wireless networks give freedom of movement. They are therefore popular in homes, schools and any organisation that has a constantly changing number of connected nodes.

Advantages and disadvantages of using wired networks

Using a wired network has a number of advantages:

generally faster transfer compared to wireless networks
much less likely to suffer from interference than wireless networks
more difficult for unauthorised users to intercept data

However, there are disadvantages to using a wired network:

they are expensive to install or reconfigure
users can’t instantly move a device from one location to another as there may not be a network connection available

Wired networks in use

Wired networking is still widely used in businesses or schools where devices such as desktop computers are unlikely to need to be relocated very often. Tasks that require large amounts of data to be accessed from - such as commercial video editing - are likely to be quicker using a wired network as the bandwidth available to each connected device is much larger.

Many organisations run both a wired and wireless network, allowing flexibility on the types of device used depending on the need of the user.

Networks - EdexcelImpact of wired and wireless connectivity on performance