When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020. The majority of office workers were asked to work from home. Fast forward 18 months and many office workers have opted not to go back. Fast internet speeds have enabled home working and it makes sense to work from home to avoid the twice-daily commute.
But with entire families working and sometimes schooling at home the demand on the home WIFI is high. Multiple Zoom calls & Teams meetings can overload the internet demand from everybody’s devices, plus there are the extra security concerns, and slow loading of content (latency).
One solution is a hard-wired internet connection. Hard wired connections are no faster than WiFi – the speed is determined by your internet service provider. But they do offer better consistency and reliability.
Hard Wired Internet
If multiple users are accessing the network at the same time, video conferencing can max out your WiFi router and slow WiFi can be very frustrating during a meeting with your boss, or with clients or potential customers! A hard-wired connection will nearly always solve this problem.
Latency is the lag that results in pages, images and video taking longer to load and play. This can be frustrating when you are trying to view online documents or sending information to customers or colleagues. This slow down and processing of data can impact the whole family including gaming, or trying to stream movies. A hard-wired connection can help improve data transmission, consistency and reduce latency, making the user experience much more enjoyable.
WiFi signals are susceptible to interception from outside sources which is an opportunity for identity theft to occur. A skilled hacker could access your router and compromise your personal network by disrupting your computers and accessing your email, passwords and personal information—all through your WiFi network.
As the number of internet-connected devices has grown in recent years, so has the demand on your home WiFi. Even standard appliances such as washing machines and fridges are connected. It’s like a motorway with too much traffic: it gets slowed down for everyone.
WiFi is great for devices that can be moved around. Your home printer/washing machine/ fridge/ thermostat etc probably stays in the same spot all the time. Putting devices like that on a hard-wired connection frees bandwidth and reduces slowdowns and keeps your home office running efficiently and maximising your work-life balance!
Protecting Your Equipment and Your Work
Adding a home office to your home’s existing wiring may overload your current ciruits. Computers, printers and other office tools require stable and reliable power supply. Electric power that is inconsistent or insufficient can damage internal components. Data, or entire projects can also be lost during power surges or outages. One indication that you’re asking too much of a circuit is if the circuit breaker trips often. A breaker that trips frequently can damage sensitive electronics—like home office equipment.
A circuit breaker is a necessary protection against overloading the circuit, but it is not a failsafe. It’s designed to instantly shut down power and prevent electrocution but will not protect office equipment from damage. A breaker that is consistently being tripped usually indicates a bigger wiring issue—one that should be addressed. This is where the installation of a dedicated circuit for your home office can provide a huge benefit: this dedicated circuit is isolated from use by other devices—devices that draw a lot of current.