Ethernet connection on iMac

Question

Hi,
This is kinda unrelated but:
I have an iMac and I currently connect to the internet with the built in wifi card. This is kinda dumb as ethernet is faster and I have a desktop.
I have looked at some HomePlug devices (for wired connections over electrical wiring). Can someone reccommend one and comment on the speed difference between a HomePlug device and actual ethernet wiring. Also, how well do these devices work? Or is there a better way to string cables across a house?
I also looked at a Wireless N router from Netgear. Thanks.

Answer 1

Can you explain what you meant by your last paragraph?
Well, falco223, you were replying to yourself...
But I think you meant MY last paragraph where I talked about a tool to crimp on connectors.
Assuming you install a wall box into the wall with a finished wall plate with an ethernet JACK on it, this is usually not much of a problem. There are many brands of such wall plate/ethernet jacks out there where you terminate the cable easily with simple tools. However some brands require you to have a special tool to punch the wire ends down onto insulation-displacement type contacts. Trying to attach the wires on these without the proper tool is just asking for trouble down the road.
From this jack on the face plate, you plug in a short ethernet cable from the wall jack to the port on the computer.
The other way to go is to omit the wall box/face plate altogether, bring the cable up out of the crawl space with enough length to reach the computer, and then attach an ethernet PLUG to the end of the cable. This more often requires a special tool, although even then, there are some brands that let you do this with more simple tools.
Speaking of the proper tools, I once bought a plastic handled crimping tool from Radio Shack for these connectors and the handles flexed together before you could squeeze the tool together hard enough to get a proper crimp. (Seating 8 wires simultaneously.) At the other end of the spectrum was an all metal hand tool made by AMP (about $400 way back when...) that wouldn't release until the crimp was squeezed all the way (so you couldn't undercrimp.) You definitely get what you pay for.
This method is perhaps simpler, has less connectors involved (not the extra short cable), which is always desireable with ethernet, but has the disadvantage that if you move your computer location later, you are left with an ugly cable sticking out of an unfinished hole in the floor or wall, as opposed to a nice unused face plate on the wall just like the unused AC sockets or telephone jack face plates everywhere in a typical house.