Wi-Fi 8 is coming, just like Wi-Fi 7 was before it. And it promises us the sun, the moon, and the stars in terms of performance. Faster speeds. Lower latency. Better reliability. And sure, I'm sure it can deliver all of that. But, as this Reddit meme makes quite clear, can Wi-Fi 8 ever match the power of a good ol' Ethernet cable?

Wi-Fi 8 is trying to fix the problems that make wireless annoying

Reliability is finally getting more attention than raw speed

Wi-Fi 7 already offers speeds that can frankly be called ridiculous (although that's not even the most interesting feature). It's easy to imagine that Wi-Fi 8 will only make those speeds even more wild. But surprisingly, that doesn't seem to be the main goal this time around.

Wi-Fi 8, based on the upcoming IEEE 802.11bn standard, is focusing on something called Ultra High Reliability (UHR). According to the official IEEE objectives, the new standard is focused on improving throughput, latency, and packet loss in a big way (at least 25%).

In other words, the goal seems to be addressing Wi-Fi's biggest issues: reliability, dependability, and all the stuff that might make one convinced to ditch Ethernet for good.

To accomplish all of that, Wi-Fi 8 is introducing tech like multi-access point coordination, which helps compatible access points work together instead of constantly competing for airtime. There's also Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA), which can let devices use another channel when their usual one is busy. These features could certainly help with congested networks, and hey, I'm on board with that.

Except ... the internet at large, myself included, remains aware of one thing: Wi-Fi 8, try as it may, still can't beat a simple Ethernet cable.

Ethernet doesn't have to fight your neighbors for airtime

One dedicated connection makes all the difference

Is it my turn to sing the praises of Ethernet connections? Again? Fine, I'm pretty much always up for that. As much as I admire Wi-Fi, I keep as many devices wired as I possibly can, and the benefits are huge.

The biggest difference comes down to how each handles traffic. Wi-Fi, obviously, relies on shared radio frequencies, which means your devices have to compete for airtime with everything else stuck on that same channel. And I don't just mean your own stuff, because your neighbors can affect your Wi-Fi, too. (Not necessarily because they're doing it on purpose.)

Wi-Fi has ways to manage all of this, but interference, waiting for a chance to transmit, and retransmissions are just part of the package. There's no way around them without a wired connection. Well, maybe if you move to the middle of nowhere and only use one device, but you'll have other problems then (it's rare to have fantastic internet in super remote areas).

Ethernet doesn't have to deal with any of that wireless nonsense. With modern switched Ethernet, your PC gets its own dedicated, full-duplex connection to the router or switch, meaning it can send and receive data at the same time without ever having to get into fights about radio airtime.

The real difference shows up when your network gets busy

Consistent latency beats impressive speed test results

When your network is running at full capacity, that's where Ethernet shines, and where Wi-Fi 8 may be better than the previous iterations, but will likely still fall behind.

Your Wi-Fi might technically deliver solid speeds in tests, but once these wireless channels get congested, you'll start seeing latency spikes, jitter, and even packet loss. What good is speed if your connection is that unstable?

Switching to Ethernet may be slower than Wi-Fi 8, sure. But Losing a few hundred megabits of download speed while maintaining a 100% stable connection honestly sounds like a great deal. A wired connection removes wireless interference and airtime contention from the equation, making performance much more predictable. And in the networking world, we love predictable.

Faster Wi-Fi doesn't necessarily mean faster networking

Those enormous theoretical speeds can be misleading

Anyway, just because that fancy Wi-Fi 7 or Wi-Fi 8 label gives you faster Wi-Fi, that still doesn't mean your actual connection will be faster.

A router might promise tens of gigabits per second, but those numbers often represent the combined theoretical maximum across multiple bands, not what your PC can actually achieve. Real-world Wi-Fi performance depends on a bunch of things, from signal strength to how capable your devices are. A lot of stars need to align to hit the bandwidth jackpot.

Ethernet is more straightforward. If you've got a properly functioning 2.5Gbps or 10Gbps wired connection, you can generally expect performance close to its rated speed (unless something else is the bottleneck).

Of course, Ethernet has one extremely inconvenient requirement

The cable, that is

I had a dream of wiring up my entire home. Ethernet everywhere. Every room with wired connections.

I had to ditch that Ethernet dream, because of Ethernet's biggest flaw. It's literally a cable. Please don't groan; you saw it coming.

Drilling holes, routing cables, installing wall jacks ... all of that costs a fortune and is a massive hassle. You're way better off just using Wi-Fi if you don't care about stable connections on every device, but that also means you don't need Wi-Fi 8 or even Wi-Fi 7.

Sometimes, the simplest networking upgrade is still the best

I'm excited to see what Wi-Fi 8 brings to the table, and I'm sure wireless networking will keep getting better. But those people on Reddit have a good point: Wi-Fi 8, the latest of the latest, is literally trying to improve something that Ethernet achieved ages ago. You might as well stick to the simpler solution if your situation allows.