In order to enjoy the full potential of Smart TV, it seems essential to have an Internet connection. Regardless of the operating system used on the television, be it Android TV, Google TV, Tizen or webOS (to name the most popular), all models or the vast majority, allow you to choose between a wired connection or do it wirelessly.
Both are equally functional and it is in our hands to choose which one is best for us. If we have Wi-Fi coverage problems, using a cable or Ethernet may be the best solution, but in return we will have to accept that we will lose benefits. And although it may seem something serious, now we are going to see how It does not represent any problem for the day.
With 100 Mbps I am enough and I have plenty
And yes, on paper both types of connection allow Internet access without problems. If you have good Wi-Fi coverage, it seems ideal to pull a wireless connectionsince in this way we will obtain more speed when accessing any type of service.
However, if you use a cable there are differences. And it is that the limitation is set by the network card used by many models of televisions. The brands put the scissors to cut expenses and this is one of the points on which they usually focus.
From mid-range TVs to even high-end TVsif we use a cable connection we are limiting the connection speed to no more than 100 Mbps, while if we use Wi-Fi connectivity and the coverage is good, we can easily reach higher speeds.
Wired internet connection
In my case, for example, for the tests that I carried out at the time, with the router, located in a different room and with a contracted speed of 1 GB, they reached the TV about 230 Mbps with Wi-Fi while with cable the limit was about 90 Mbps.
Wi-Fi internet connection
we see how there is a significant drop in speed if we use one connection over the other, and at first it may seem that this represents a significant drawback, a myth that we can however deny. And it is that despite the fact that the vast majority of televisions limit cable connections to 100 Mbps, it is not bad news.
And it is not, because with this speed we have more than enough for almost all the activities that we are going to carry out in the day day Consider playing streaming content in 4K with HDR. In the best of cases, and following the recommendations of the platforms, with 50 Mbps (it is the limit that HBO Max asks us for) we will have more than enough. We have about 45 Mbps left over if we use cable.
In addition, with the use of the cable Faced with the loss of speed, we gain in signal stability, because we are not going to have speed drops or coverage failures. We will have less speed but the connection will be more stable.
And we talk about making 4K streaming with HDR as a use that squeezes TV connections because the rest of the uses that we can give the television will require less power. For example, if we listen to music on Spotify or use a browser, those almost 100 Mbps are going to be more than enough.
For this reason, the saying can be applied here that more is not always betterand check how a drop in speed on our television, does not imply a loss of functions.
Cover image created with Midjourney