Why run wire?
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
by Brent Butterworth
When you still need to run wire in a wireless age
We’re definitely in the wireless age. At the recent CEDIA Expo in Atlanta, numerous audio, video, and home automation companies showed off new wireless gear. Wireless networks now transmit all sorts of home entertainment all over our homes. Wireless lighting and HVAC control are making home automation systems easy to install even in historical homes where running wires can be a nightmare.
However, there are some situations where running wires through the walls is still your best option. And for one relatively new application, it’s essential.
The advantage of a hard connection
Anyone who uses a laptop at home through a Wi-Fi network knows that wireless isn’t perfect. As robust and reliable as much of today’s wireless gear can be, it’s still susceptible to slowdowns and service breaks caused by interference. The interference could be coming from other wireless devices in your home, such as cordless phones. Worse, it could be coming from devices in a neighbor’s home.
In comparison, a properly specified wire, competently installed, will give you a perfect connection for many years to come.
While wireless technology is catching up to wired speeds, the wire still has a performance advantage. A typical wired home network runs at 100 megabits per second, while a typical wireless Ethernet bridge runs at a maximum of 54 megabits per second under the best conditions. In some situations, that doubling (at least) of speed can make a huge difference.
Where you always want a wire—and where you might not
All that said, wireless works beautifully in many applications where speed isn’t a big issue, such as home automation and audio streaming. But there is one application where I strongly recommend running a wire if at all possible: video streaming.
If you’re planning on adding a video server such as Kaleidescape, or using an Internet video streaming device such as Roku or Apple TV, you need a wire connection to ensure the best picture quality. The Netflix video streaming available through Roku and several Blu-ray Disc players will still run on a fairly lousy network connection, but the faster the connection the better the picture Netflix will give you.
Even in retrofit situations where running wire may be costly, it’s worth it to pay your installer to run those wires to your video streaming device. Every time you watch a movie over that wire, you’ll be glad you made the investment.
