Why is switching Smart TV to Ethernet so much better?

Many people thought streaming over Wi-Fi on their TV was fine, but decided to try Ethernet because they had cable lying around. It improved things immediately, and now they wish they had made the switch.

 

4. More stable connection

One of the biggest improvements you'll experience after switching your Smart TV to Ethernet is a significantly more stable connection. Internet speeds are fast enough for streaming, but you'll still experience occasional lag or dropped streams, especially with high-bandwidth content like 4K and Dolby Vision . This doesn't happen all the time, but it's annoying enough when it does.

Now, when you heat up food in the microwave, the stream won't stutter like it used to. The stability has convinced many people to use Ethernet whenever possible, such as when connecting their home office setup to the Internet .

 

3. Lower latency

Another benefit you'll experience after switching to Ethernet is lower latency. Latency is the time it takes to send and receive data. It may seem like a technical detail, but latency makes a noticeable difference in everyday use, especially when watching content. Football and Formula 1 fans often watch both live, so low latency is important, just like it is with any live streaming content.

When using Wi-Fi, latency can be a bit higher or less stable, which negatively affects livestreams. Sometimes you press Play and wait a few seconds before the video starts playing, or the video freezes and has to reload. And it's not always related to the Internet connection.

Wi-Fi protocols have overhead that adds latency to data transmission, such as encryption, authentication, and collision avoidance. While these may seem small when occurring individually, when combined, they add up to significant latency.

 

 

2. Better streaming speed

Switching to Ethernet also gives you faster, more stable streaming speeds. That's not to say that Wi-Fi can't deliver high speeds. For example, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) can reach a maximum data rate of 9.6 Gbps, and newer Wi-Fi standards, like Wi-Fi 7 , can reach speeds many times that.

However, when compared to Ethernet, Wi-Fi often does not provide competitive speeds because it is affected by many factors, including signal strength, distance from the router , network congestion, physical barriers, and interference from other devices.

Switching to Ethernet will significantly improve your overall streaming experience, thanks to the consistently high speeds. Now, you can enjoy consistent video quality from start to finish, unlike before, when the quality was unstable from time to time.

1. No need to set password anymore

One small but surprising benefit of switching to Ethernet is that you no longer have to deal with Wi-Fi passwords on your Smart TV. Using an on-screen keyboard has always been a pain and error-prone way to type on your TV. And if you're in the good habit of creating stronger passwords for every password, it's even worse, as you're constantly switching between lowercase, uppercase, and special characters.

With Wi-Fi, every time you change your password, you have to navigate to the relevant menu, find your network, re-enter the password, and hope you get it right the first time. With Ethernet, however, there's no setup required. You just plug in the cable and you're instantly connected. Even if you change your Wi-Fi password, your wired connection remains intact.