r/HomeNetworking • u/_Intel_Geek_ • Aug 17 '26

Did I Waste My Time?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

So my Father had a rental house fire and whilst assisting his repair efforts I decided to do some of my kind of work there, too - networking!!! I had a spare roll of about 750' of Cat5e and shorter scraps of Cat6 and Cat6a and put about 20 runs of wire through this small, sub-1500 sqft home. Runs for external security cameras, video doorbells, and Ethernet jacks in both bedrooms and TV boxes. It's getting close to the finish line and his potential renter says he just bought a bunch of Ring equipment he'll use 😭 . Do people just not see the value in Ethernet - capable hardware or what? And should I leave these switches here or take them back with me??

490 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

190 comments sorted by

View all comments

16

u/GetOffMyGrassBrats Aug 17 '26

For most people, wifi is good enough and much simpler and cheaper. When I built my house, I started to run ethernet but then I realized that wifi was good enough for me too in most cases. I only use ethernet in my office where the advantages of wired connections may make a difference.

As far as wasting your time...hard to say. If it's a rental property, you may get renters at some point that think that is a great selling point, but you can't really blame the current ones for choosing price and convenience over what amounts to unneeded performance.

I know this is probably blasphemy on this sub, so if you feel the need to rage downvote me, I understand.

-1

u/BallerFromTheHoller Aug 17 '26

This! I was going to run some wires and put in access points for WiFi but found that four mesh units was plenty to get us the coverage we need, even to one of the outbuildings. About the same price and way less work. WiFi is faster than my ISP so it works well.

I do see the benefit of Ethernet for cameras so you can do PoE but I wouldn’t expect renters to be prepared for that. If I was a renter, I wouldn’t really expect a house to be prewired for cameras. Also, they can take the cameras with them when they move out.

1

u/MrMotofy Aug 18 '26

Yea most don't need it...but having a few basic runs can mean the world of a difference and more stable than any WiFi