Unpopular Ethernet Network Opinions | Generated by AI
Question: What are some unpopular opinions about Ethernet networks?
Answer:
Here are some genuinely unpopular or contrarian opinions about Ethernet that you’ll rarely see celebrated in mainstream networking circles (especially among enterprise admins and certification evangelists):
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Wi-Fi has already won for almost all practical use cases
Running new Ethernet drops in homes or small offices is often a waste of time and money. Modern Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 delivers >1 Gbps reliably in real-world conditions, has better roaming, and doesn’t require tearing apart walls. Ethernet enthusiasts vastly overestimate cable failure rates while ignoring how often Ethernet ports go unused. -
10Gbase-T (10 GbE over Cat6/6a) is mostly a scam for consumers
The power draw, heat, cable length limitations (55 m realistic at full speed on Cat6), and cost make it a terrible upgrade over 2.5 or 5 GbE for almost everyone. Most people pushing 10Gbase-T are either selling switches or have NAS boxes that barely saturate 2.5 GbE anyway. -
PoE (Power over Ethernet) is overrated and frequently abused
It’s convenient until you realize half the “PoE” devices draw so little power they could run on USB-C anyway, and the other half (PTZ cameras, high-power APs) cause nightmares with midspans, injectors, and incompatible standards (802.3af/at/bt). A separate power cable is often more reliable and cheaper long-term. -
Managed switches are unnecessary for 99% of home and small-business users
The VLANs, QoS, and link aggregation features people pay extra for are almost never configured correctly (or at all). An unmanaged switch + decent router does the job with fewer points of failure. -
Cat6 is already overkill; Cat5e is fine forever at 1 Gbps
The “future-proof with Cat6a/Cat7” crowd ignores that 1 Gbps is still enough for the vast majority of endpoints in 2025, and most Cat5e from the early 2000s still certifies to 1 Gbps without issues. Upgrading perfectly good cabling is e-waste theater. -
Ethernet will eventually die in the home, replaced by converged wireless + powerline or fiber-to-the-room
The physical RJ45 jack is a 50-year-old design. In new construction, we’ll see passive optical network (PON) or high-speed wireless mesh + MoCA/powerline backhaul make copper Ethernet look like coax did to cable TV. -
Auto-negotiation is a mistake and should be disabled everywhere
It’s the source of more duplex mismatches and mysterious slowness than almost anything else. Hard-setting speed/duplex on both ends (when possible) eliminates a shocking number of “flaky network” problems—yet almost every guide screams “always leave it on auto!” -
SFP DAC cables and direct-attach copper are better than twisted-pair for almost all intra-rack connections
Lower latency, lower power, no heat issues, cheaper at 10/25/40/100G. Twisted pair only wins when you need distances >10 m or already have copper infrastructure sunk cost.
These opinions tend to trigger hardcore network engineers, which is exactly why they qualify as unpopular.