Hard Wire or Wireless

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From what he said, wireless is just as strong a signal as wireless now days and with WAPs throughout the house would be just as strong as hard wiring.

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Your IT guy is wrong.

Hard wire is ALWAYS >>>>>>>>> Wireless

But... Practically speaking, wireless is good enough for most people.

With new construction I would wire everything AND put WAPs.

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wireless is just as strong a signal as wireless now days and with WAPs throughout the house would be just as strong as hard wiring

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I just put 700 feet of wire in our house this weekend. Our wireless was horrible.

Just hardwire where you use computers stationary like an office or a desktop, and wire one or two WAPs elsewhere. Both of my bedrooms have hard lines, and the rest of the house is wireless

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If it's new construction then run Cat5E or 6 to every location that will have a TV and a computer

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+1, but to add, I would run 2 drops behind every TV (and potential TV, including outside) along with coax. Personally I would run the same behind the beds incase you reconfigure the rooms later. With a wall plate like this but only using two of the spots.

Also, I would add PVC conduit through the walls and stopping right at the top plate in the attic, in order to be able to upgrade the Ethernet later with ease. If you have a 4 bedroom, living room, office, kitchen tv, and outside TV, and have two drops per bedroom, you are only looking at ~$50 in PVC / fittings assuming 10' ceilings and 3/4" conduit. Well worth it in 5-6 years if you want to upgrade, plus you could save that by not maxing out cat cable right now and just using what is most efficient for you. (Cat5/cat5e instead of cat6/cat6e)

I'm going to be contrarian just because I can...

What are you doing in your house that you may need a computer in every room? With the advancement of WAPs and wireless protocols you could easily cover the entire house with a few spots.










oh heck, who am I kidding? Ethernet cable is super cheap and is incredibly versatile. You can always use the drops for HDMI over Ethernet or something similar.

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If it's new construction then run Cat5E or 6 to every location that will have a TV and a computer, also pull cable to spot on the ceiling to mount access points.

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Might also consider pulling runs out to possible security camera locations.

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Your IT guy is wrong. Hard wire is ALWAYS >>>>>>>>> Wireless

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This....You can get damn good with just wireless if you are willing to spend the money for enterprise level managed wireless devices (a thousand + dollars per AP). I'd run CAT6 to wherever you can and strategically place the best consumer level APs that you can afford.

Because it is only ~$50-60 and you don't have to worry about tight spaces along exterior walls, skinning the wire up pulling it, add an additional wire if the need arises without having to backpull and repull to get the original wire back in or leaving a pull line for a spare, you don't have to worry about insulation on exterior walls, and you don't have to worry about loose wires and the problems it can cause (nails, pinching in the Sheetrock,...). Is it necessary, no. But it has almost no additional cost and makes for a cleaner, future proof installation.

Eta. Not to mention you don't have to worry about having the right sized head on the attached wire to fit through the holes you drilled without getting hung up in the middle of the wall. Especially with insulation and fire blocking on exterior walls that can cause another hang up point along with insulation being caught and pulled with the wires.

To each his own, I just see it as a very worth wild cost for only $50-60.

What department is the IT guy in? Hardwired ALL day. No questions.

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Hardwired ALL day. No questions.

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PoE is sweet when you're mounting cameras around the house.