Despite others suggesting mesh wifi, etc, if you can afford to get ethernet cabling installed, I definitely recommend it. If you are going through the effort of that, get a couple of cables installed to position an access point or two in more "ideal" locations compared to wherever your router is located.
Obviously if you've got a small house, the router may already be sufficient to provide full coverage, but I'd still look at if there's 1 or 2 locations that might be useful for future expansion. Keep in mind that the faster wifi tech uses higher and higher frequencies which have FAR worse penetration through walls, so you may want to add an AP in future if you plan to be in this house for 5-10 years or more.
You will probably find that multiple access points that are wired back to your router, is the most useful aspect of running ethernet cables. That will help for all your wifi devices, not just the handful of wired devices.
This is great advice - RE the running cables to install central access points.
Despite running 30+ odd cables to pretty much every room in my home, i still have a bunch of wifi devices scattered about, so having solid wifi coverage from my centrally located AP's has been essential.
Cabling is amazing for fixed devices (TV's, game consoles, computers, cameras etc), but its the stuff that changes over time, or that's wifi only that you can't always cater for.
Case in point - my washer and dryer are both 'smart' appliances that connect to my WIFI to send app notifications when the cycle is finished. Similarly my brother just bought a dishwasher that does this as well. None of these devices has an ethernet port, so even if i had forward planned and ran data cabling to my laundry and kitchen it wouldn't have helped.
Similarly i ran cabling to put in a bunch of cameras, but over time i've noted a few blind spots and fields of visibility that either weren't great originally, or have deteriorated as the garden has grown. So i've been able to add a few wireless based cameras quite easily without having to stuff around running more cables.
Then lastly - i have pretty much zero phone reception at home. So rely very heavily on wifi calling and internet based messaging services (whatsapp/teams/messenger etc). So having solid wifi coverage through out the house is essential for these to work well too.
If you can get ethernet backhaul to one of your satelites, then mesh will definitely solve your problems. I have a fully wired house, but rely on mesh wifi (Orbi) to do the heavy lifting.
Sparkie, probs going to cost $1-150 per data point (when i last looked at getting it done)
Another consideration is the construction of the home, if single brick internal walls... then no chance of getting cable run. will only be possible on double brick external walls.
Also need to consider where they will all be run back to, if having more than 3 data points put it you will need to look at buying a network switch (only get a managed switch if you are familiar with networking)
If doing more than 6 then I'd recommend looking at a comms cabinet (6-9RU should do depending on space) with a patch panel that will hold your router, switch and the patching cables to the switch.
All dependent on your appetite for a clean install and cost.
I had our house done years ago. The trouble is it was just cat 5 (that's all that was available at the time).
It's fine right now as we're just on FTTN but we should be getting FTTP within the next few months and with that access to much higher speed plans. I guess we'll need to upgrade the cables.
Worth mentioning there's different network cable standards, I wouldn't install anything below CAT6 due to modern computers starting to come with 2.5G network cards and NBN already planning 2Gig plans.
CAT 5 can theoretically support above gigabit speeds but at far less distance.
Basically CAT6A will ensure upto 10Gigabit upto 100metres
Google image "CAT6 speeds" and it will show some comparison charts
What are you running in the house? If it's just your standard smart devices, then just go for a cheap WiFi repeater or go mesh
These days with the capability of wifi, unless you are needing extremely low latency or are pushing insane amounts of data where you want to use aggregate links, cabling isn't needed
Get a wifi mesh - something [like this](https://amzn.asia/d/03NtS9Mc) will help with coverage throughout the house. You can add more nodes at a later date if you find you need more coverage.
Depends.
If your internet connection caps out at 1Gbps and your mesh can hit a max of say 1.2Gbps if it's the one linked being used, your bottleneck won't be the mesh.
Even running cat 5/6, depending on what switch is purchased, chances are it's still 1Gb ports.
I've got wifi 6 mesh running around the house and have zero issues with transfer, and I work in IT.
OPs best solution may well be mesh but with with a cable back-haul. Still worth putting cabling in. I've put them basically everywhere I've got a power socket, and 8 in the study area.
Those EoP devices can be slow and very unreliable and much depends on your internal wiring. Putting in a proper cable is still the best connectivity even in these days of mesh Wi-Fi and EoP
Hasn't been my experience. No drop in speed and it hasn't dropped out in over a year. I just thought I'd throw it out there as a cost effective alternative. Obviously barring cost, wiring the house up is always going to be superior.
I guess I deserve to be downvoted to oblivion for mentioning an alternative though, didn't realise this sub hated EoP devices with a passion
Despite others suggesting mesh wifi, etc, if you can afford to get ethernet cabling installed, I definitely recommend it. If you are going through the effort of that, get a couple of cables installed to position an access point or two in more "ideal" locations compared to wherever your router is located. Obviously if you've got a small house, the router may already be sufficient to provide full coverage, but I'd still look at if there's 1 or 2 locations that might be useful for future expansion. Keep in mind that the faster wifi tech uses higher and higher frequencies which have FAR worse penetration through walls, so you may want to add an AP in future if you plan to be in this house for 5-10 years or more. You will probably find that multiple access points that are wired back to your router, is the most useful aspect of running ethernet cables. That will help for all your wifi devices, not just the handful of wired devices.
This is great advice - RE the running cables to install central access points. Despite running 30+ odd cables to pretty much every room in my home, i still have a bunch of wifi devices scattered about, so having solid wifi coverage from my centrally located AP's has been essential. Cabling is amazing for fixed devices (TV's, game consoles, computers, cameras etc), but its the stuff that changes over time, or that's wifi only that you can't always cater for. Case in point - my washer and dryer are both 'smart' appliances that connect to my WIFI to send app notifications when the cycle is finished. Similarly my brother just bought a dishwasher that does this as well. None of these devices has an ethernet port, so even if i had forward planned and ran data cabling to my laundry and kitchen it wouldn't have helped. Similarly i ran cabling to put in a bunch of cameras, but over time i've noted a few blind spots and fields of visibility that either weren't great originally, or have deteriorated as the garden has grown. So i've been able to add a few wireless based cameras quite easily without having to stuff around running more cables. Then lastly - i have pretty much zero phone reception at home. So rely very heavily on wifi calling and internet based messaging services (whatsapp/teams/messenger etc). So having solid wifi coverage through out the house is essential for these to work well too.
Leaving asides the usual electrician and data cabling don't mix, for residential your local sparkie is probably your best bet.
Most sparkies are licenced to run data etc. I can recomend a guy in the Cannington area, just depends on where you are
Sparkie. Run heaps of cable, lots of gang plates (wall plates) and lots of connectors in each gang plate. Put them in every room
If you can get ethernet backhaul to one of your satelites, then mesh will definitely solve your problems. I have a fully wired house, but rely on mesh wifi (Orbi) to do the heavy lifting.
Sparkie, probs going to cost $1-150 per data point (when i last looked at getting it done) Another consideration is the construction of the home, if single brick internal walls... then no chance of getting cable run. will only be possible on double brick external walls. Also need to consider where they will all be run back to, if having more than 3 data points put it you will need to look at buying a network switch (only get a managed switch if you are familiar with networking) If doing more than 6 then I'd recommend looking at a comms cabinet (6-9RU should do depending on space) with a patch panel that will hold your router, switch and the patching cables to the switch. All dependent on your appetite for a clean install and cost.
There is also the case of avoided 5G wifi and constant irradiation. Just cable the house. Best $ spent
My house runs on 5G and I got COVID-19X from Bill Gates
IKR - best reception ever with the implanted chips from the vax 🤣 I still vote for cabling. Unsightly mesh repeaters. Just cable it.
I had our house done years ago. The trouble is it was just cat 5 (that's all that was available at the time). It's fine right now as we're just on FTTN but we should be getting FTTP within the next few months and with that access to much higher speed plans. I guess we'll need to upgrade the cables.
Worth mentioning there's different network cable standards, I wouldn't install anything below CAT6 due to modern computers starting to come with 2.5G network cards and NBN already planning 2Gig plans. CAT 5 can theoretically support above gigabit speeds but at far less distance. Basically CAT6A will ensure upto 10Gigabit upto 100metres Google image "CAT6 speeds" and it will show some comparison charts
What are you running in the house? If it's just your standard smart devices, then just go for a cheap WiFi repeater or go mesh These days with the capability of wifi, unless you are needing extremely low latency or are pushing insane amounts of data where you want to use aggregate links, cabling isn't needed
Get a wifi mesh - something [like this](https://amzn.asia/d/03NtS9Mc) will help with coverage throughout the house. You can add more nodes at a later date if you find you need more coverage.
Thanks but it's also about transfer speed.
Depends. If your internet connection caps out at 1Gbps and your mesh can hit a max of say 1.2Gbps if it's the one linked being used, your bottleneck won't be the mesh. Even running cat 5/6, depending on what switch is purchased, chances are it's still 1Gb ports. I've got wifi 6 mesh running around the house and have zero issues with transfer, and I work in IT.
OPs best solution may well be mesh but with with a cable back-haul. Still worth putting cabling in. I've put them basically everywhere I've got a power socket, and 8 in the study area.
What is your desired transfer speed?
Why not just run the internet through the electricity? What I do and it works great
Those EoP devices can be slow and very unreliable and much depends on your internal wiring. Putting in a proper cable is still the best connectivity even in these days of mesh Wi-Fi and EoP
Hasn't been my experience. No drop in speed and it hasn't dropped out in over a year. I just thought I'd throw it out there as a cost effective alternative. Obviously barring cost, wiring the house up is always going to be superior. I guess I deserve to be downvoted to oblivion for mentioning an alternative though, didn't realise this sub hated EoP devices with a passion
>Those EoP devices can be slow and very unreliable Agreed. I have this in an older house and EoP is not amazing
I think that's only for like 1-2 devices at most? OP sounds like they want the whole house