One glaring omission from the Amazon Fire TV Cube — at least when you're comparing it to Amazon's previous set-top box — is that it doesn't have a dedicated Ethernet port.
That doesn't mean you're relegated to only using Wifi to get this thing online. You most certainly can plug the Fire TV Cub directly into your router with an Ethernet cable.
You'll just need an adapter to do so. Fortunately, one comes in the box. (If you need another, Amazon has them here .)
First: Why use Ethernet over Wifi? As a general rule of thumb, an Ethernet connection to a router usually is better than Wifi. It's faster, both in terms of speed and latency, and it's less prone to interference (because it's not wireless). Is this a hard and fast rule? Not necessarily. Your network and home environment will be different from everyone else's. But the good thing here is that the adapter is included with your Fire TV Cube, so there's no harm in not using it if you don't need it. No money lost.
That said, it's worth trying.
Here's all you'll need to do to connect your Amazon Fire TV Cube to Ethernet:
- Plug one end of an Ethernet cable into the Amazon Ethernet Adapter.
- Plug the other of the Ethernet cable into an unused port in your router or switch.
- Plug the microUSB plug from the Ethernet Adapter into the microUSB port on your Amazon Fire TV.
- Head into the Network settings on your Fire TV Cube and make sure "Wired" is selected.
And that's that. Stream away!
