14 October 2020

Difference between ethernet and wifi

As we know that the ethernet primarily refers to a physical cable over which the data travels whereas WiFi refers to a network of interconnected device that is connected wirelessly. So here this article gives the main key difference between Wifi and ethernet to better understand this topic.

 Definition of WiFi

WiFi stands for wireless fidelity, it is a small network smartphone, computers, or other networkable devices is connected to each other wirelessly within a small range and share internet using hotspot. WiFi uses radiofrequency waves for wireless highspeed internet and network connection.

Definition of Ethernet

Ethernet is a widely used for local area network called LAN standard, It is defined under IEEE 802.3 standards. It is very easy to understand, implement, and maintain and low-cost implementation. It generally uses bus topology but the other topologies can also be used. It is part of the physical and also for the data layer of the OSI model.

Difference between WiFi and Ethernet:

  • Wifi is a wireless network to connect the nearby device to each other and share the internet via hotspots. While there is a LAN network standard used in wired LAN. 
  • WiFi is based on IEEE 802.11x specifications where x is WiFi versions, Ethernet is based on IEEE 802.3 specifications.
  • WIfi is highly flexible, ethernet is not flexible.
  • Wifi installation deployment is easy, ethernet installation is difficult and time-consuming.
  • In wifi device can be connected without wires, without ports, ethernet is wired and hence no mobility.
  • WiFi is less efficient and has latency in network connections, ethernet is more efficient and provide more speed.
  • WiFi data is encrypted during transfer, While in ethernet data is not required to be encrypted during transfer.
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