Notebook: Both Wireless & Wired: Which Connection is It Using?

[cheapherk]

I have a wireless connection on my notebook. I just hooked up the hard wired connection because I wanted to do some gaming. How do I know which connection I'm using?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Check the network traffic of each connection. I would hope it defaults to the quickest (wired-usually).

 

[seepy83]

By default, Windows assigns a Metric to each Network Interfaces so that if there are two routes to the same place, the Interface with the lower metric is used. The metrics that are assigned depend on your OS, but (based on link speed) a Wireless Interface should always be a higher Metric than a Wired Interface.

You can double-check by going to the Command Prompt and running a "Route Print". You will see your Routing Table and the metric associated with each route.

Or just disable your Wireless Adapter when you have the wired plugged in.

 

[Emulex]

task manager shows both network connections.


wifi is based on current mbps; ethernet likewise.

in most cases wifi is less than 100mbps so ethernet would take over.

you can set the metric manually each to 1 then they would be equal but it doesn't really load balance.

if you are connected gigabit then you'll never get wifi action.


well not never. it does some stuff like dns over both for some reason.

 

[JackMDS]

You can control it ahead, http://www.ezlan.net/metrics.html

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: Emulex
task manager shows both network connections.


wifi is based on current mbps; ethernet likewise.

in most cases wifi is less than 100mbps so ethernet would take over.

you can set the metric manually each to 1 then they would be equal but it doesn't really load balance.

if you are connected gigabit then you'll never get wifi action.


well not never. it does some stuff like dns over both for some reason.

This is not necessarily true. As Jack mentioned, the connection with the lowest metric will always be used first if it is available. If the wireless adapter (or even dial-up) is set to the lowest metric, Windows will always try to use it first even if you have a fast wired connection available at the same time.

Follow the link that Jack posted to make sure that your wired connection is set to the highest priority (lowest metric) so that Windows will always try to use it first and then only default to wireless if a wired connection is not available.

 

[seepy83]

While we're on the subject, I thought I'd make an additional note (that typically doesn't apply to home-users but you never know):

If your Wired and Wireless networks are on different subnets, and the PC is routing traffic to another Host on the Wireless subnet, then the Wireless Connection will be used (regardless of what metrics have been defined in Windows). In many cases, the Wired connection will be faster even though there is an extra Hop at your Router.

For that reason, I typically recommend that you manually manage your network connections by disabling/enabling the adapters that you do or do not want to use at the time.