Given the fact that practically any router has both Wi-Fi antennas and Ethernet plugs, it would make perfect sense to use a complementing connection at a university. For example, libraries could significantly benefit from such a setup, as students would have the opportunity to use high-speed Wi-Fi. In contrast, the library workers would access their desktop computers using the Ethernet cable. Even though the speed of Wi-Fi connections tends to be slower than that of their Ethernet counterparts, the idea would be to build an environment where every user would have access to at least one network at the same time (Abdullah & Mustafa, 2016). The capability to share the same ‘feed’ (connection) serves as the premise for a flexible digital environment where students and librarians use the same internet connection but do not interfere with each other. Multiple connections to the same router do not reduce its performance either.
Unless the university’s network includes devices that run on different operating systems, there should be no issues with installing a combined WLAN-Ethernet network where the latter would work interchangeably. The only thing that the university should take care of is the introduction of extra settings that may be required to allow for such affiliated access to network resources. Packets from the router should not send packets simultaneously, as there has to be a delay that would protect the WLAN and Ethernet parts from interfering with each other (Abdullah & Mustafa, 2016). This approach would limit the number of lost packets and maintain the speed of Wi-Fi regardless of the number of users connected to the network. The best way to test this setup would be to remove the slowest “links” in the network chain and additionally purchase several high-end routers that would persevere the increased network load.
References
Abdullah, I. S. A., & Mustafa, A. B. (2016). The impact of distance on WLAN and LAN Network Performance. International Journal of Science and Research, 5(3), 1063-1065.