Why don't all motherboards come standard with wifi?

[Boneycat]

Seriously, what gives? Is it a cost thing?

[James]

It's a perceived need thing. Sure, most home networks are wireless, but most have the modem/router right next to the main computer in the household anyway.

Yeah, it's something of a cost factor, but considering most motherboard companies like to charge about $50-$80 premium for the feature, it's also easier to just add it in after the fact for those that want it.

[ua549]

Putting WiFi on a motherboard is a needless expense. If needed, an add-in board is readily available.

I'm not a fan of WiFi because it is slow, subject to interception and it's a shared networking technology (think hub, not switch).
I'll stick with full duplex GbE for non-portable devices.
At home I plug my notebook into GbE more than I use WiFi.

[md1198p]

I use the wifi for my laptop, but everything else is wired in my house. That includes my XBOX360, its just a lot faster.

[Ubon94]

I'm with Boneycat on this one.. Wifi works fine for me including online gaming, files tx etc. Save me times and money of buying a nic card, cable then to run it.

[kent1146]

Seriously, what gives? Is it a cost thing?

I would never pay extra for a motherboard with WiFi.

1. WiFi is susceptible to interference.
2. WiFi is slow - there is no way I'm transferring several GB of data over WiFi. That is what Gigabit Ethernet is for.
3. My computer sits next to my router - there is zero advantage for me to NOT running a cable.
4. My computer never moves - WiFi makes sense for laptops and mobile devices - not desktop PC's.

The only reason I can see using WiFi in a desktop system is reason #3 - your desktop is located in a different room than your router, and you don't want to run a cable. But even in that case, I would still prefer to run a cable so that I can get Gigabit Ethernet speeds between PC's, and get the re-assurance that I won't drop packets in an online game because my neighbor decided to set up a WiFi router on the same broadcast channel, or my roommate decided to heat popcorn in the microwave. Or my wife decided to close the bedroom door.

[Boneycat]

The ave joe computer guy doesn't care for all of those listed (including me). I don't game anymore, don't dl big torrents, hell I don't even golf anymore thanks to having my 2nd son now. Personally I think it's to save money; but then again joe computer guy wouldn't be building his computer, instead buying an HP or a Dell pos.

[Candyman]

Keep in mind that when people say it's kept off because of "cost", that's not just the cost of the wifi chipset. It's also the cost of the engineering effort to wire an extra chipset into the layout of the board, the additional testing required to make sure that that chipset is working, and the extra support costs if anything happens to go wrong with that chipset. Oh yeah, and the motherboard then needs an antenna if you want to actually get a signal.

Wired networking comes cheap since the controller is built into the south bridge. To include the additional complexity of a wireless card, it has to provide enough extra functionality to justify itself. At this point, I don't think it does for a majority of users.

[Nater]

Wireless ethernet, even .11n, is still really too slow for a lot of the heavy tasks people do with their desktop. Even if you do not do these things, people generally buy a desktop because the require more CPU power, more GPU power, more memory, or more storage than a notebook could offer (usually all of the above).

Considering that they're going to be working with some large files sizes and/or heavy network traffic, it's just assumed that they're going to use good old 802.3ab.

I think as wireless get faster and as the faster versions of Ethernet start to be fibre only. 10GBASE-T might be the last UTP version of Ethernet, but I personally think that 40Gb and maybe 100Gb will also run on some form of UTP wiring. But 1Tb? At some point Ethernet will probably become optical only, which is fine because it's hard to see even a powerful workstation needing 10GbE, let alone 40GbE and up.*

By that time we will probably have 1Gb/s+ wireless links and most desktops/laptops will use that along with some form of wired ethernet as a backup.

*Except maybe for access to storage via FCoE or faster versions of iSCSI.

[Boneycat]

All I know is that I can buy a USB wifi for under $15. The fact that they can't add one is just lame. But then again the ave Joe schmoe is building their own computer. ALL built computers come w/ wifi capabilities.

[ua549]

All I know is that I can buy a USB wifi for under $15. The fact that they can't add one is just lame. But then again the ave Joe schmoe is building their own computer. ALL built computers come w/ wifi capabilities.

Actually most prebuilt desktop computers such as Dell Inspiron do not come with wifi as standard.
It is available as an add on.

[Colossus]

Some mobo's have wifi as an addon perk. Personally I wouldnt want it on my mainboard. All hardwired here.

Plus if you need wifi, you can buy a cheap usb adapter.

[Timman_24]

I have never needed wifi for my desktop. The location of the desktop dictates where the router is not the other way around.

[Boneycat]

I have never needed wifi for my desktop. The location of the desktop dictates where the router is not the other way around.

Actually the location of the phone jack (if you use dsl like me) will dictate where the router is...like in my case.

[ua549]

My comm equipment is all in a closet. My non-portable computer equipment is located near Ethernet outlets and power outlets.