Just plug an Ethernet cable into the provided port, and you're ready to connect — no drivers or additional setup required.

Hit the Select button on the Fire Stick remote, then manually enter your home network details to complete the process. You'll need a USB-C Ethernet adapter if you're using the newer Chromecast devices, so choose the right adapter when making your decision. Any mention of free streaming on our site is purely meant for copyright-free content that is available in the Public domain.IIRC at cat6a is where we tend to start into shielded cable which is a more complex installation effort. If you’re expecting HD performance but all you’re getting is low image quality, then perhaps it’s the right choice for you. For example, they mention it's faster than Wi-Fi, no longer getting lag, and connects wirelessly really quickly. A place for those looking to get away from the traditional cable tv model, and move toward cheaper and legal options like over the air antenna, library collections, and streaming services. And if you live in an apartment building with 300 other people with wifi stations, I’d go hardwired before I even consider wifi.

I could have used Cat6 at the time (or Cat6A later) but it would not give me any practical performance benefit in actual use over what I have right now.

Nobody needs gold plated Cat8 cables, even in enterprise standard data centres who have budgets in the hundreds of millions. Assuming your internet speed can reach that number, that'll be plenty fast for streaming 4K video on your Chromecast or Fire TV Stick. For the ethernet use case, cat5e is "good" for 10/100/1000mbps ethernet for (at least) distances up to 100m - more if you are lucky - unless you do a spectacularly bad job of installing it - poor termination is the biggest culprit. That means wired connections get better speed and connection quality, even without considering the hardware implications. To note: most IPTV (even 4K content) does not exceed 25mbps, your internet speed mostly doesn’t matter as long as you don’t have major downloading going on that will max out your speed.

Most of the Ethernet adapters on our list transmit data at 100Mbps, but this one from Cable Matters can transmit data at speeds up to 480Mbps. Other than the Fire TV products, you can use this adapter with Chromecast Ultra / 1 / 2 / Audio, Sharp Roku TV, and Echo Show. This may be fine, but if your Wi-Fi can achieve higher speeds than 100Mbs, this may end up throttling your internet connection even further. Not only do you get a 1Gbps Ethernet port, but it also comes with five diverse ports including two USB 3. foot cable and delivers a stable 100Mbps wired internet connection like most other adapters on our list.Unless you just like making yourself feel a little foolish and then writing about it on the internet.