Ethernet or Coaxial

[ankapadi]

Question regarding which is the better cabling - ethernet or coaxial?

Currently have coaxial running in from outside of house (from fios box) and due to that fact, have to use the not-so-great fios actiontex router. I have the ability to plug in ethernet from the box outside. That way I would have choice of router to use.

I am just wondering which is the better cable for this purpose from the perspective of speed and quality?

Please note, I do not use my network for heavy bandwidth use. Just surfing internet, occasional media use online (youtube, etc.), so if the difference would not be noticeable to me just let me know.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kevnich2]

Judging by your usage, you wouldn't be able to tell a difference. Plus, you have to call verizon to activate the Ethernet port on the fios ont box. I personally ran ethernet because i wanted to use my own router but i am more of a power user. If you are not and havent run into any issues thus far with your current router, i would leave it as is. Coax cable has bandwidth capability of 250mb/s so you are fine there, you wont see any speed difference. Before i switched my router, my speedtest showed same speed as after and i have 40mb fios connection.

 

[SickBeast]

It seems like CAT6 is the best cable you can get right now for a reasonable amount of money. I'm sure you could run fiber optic cable directly into your house if you really wanted to, but I don't think it's going to make any difference because at some point you're going to have to switch over to gigabit ethernet cable to hook it into your PC.

 

[jlazzaro]

Coax vs Ethernet from the ONT really makes no difference unless you want to use a router other than the Actiontec (and still have functional set top boxes). There are a few other minor functional differences, see http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16077