Data Cabling and You

I'm a big fan of wired vs wireless, but surely.. wireless would be most appropriate? Especially for the 99% of houses in the country which were built pre NBN?

I have 46 ports in my current house and will have close to 60 in my next one, but neither have outlets in the bathrooms or laundry.

(Note I'm only referring to in-home wireless, (wifi back to the router), the part outside the house should definitely be fibre optic! But that's a different discussion!)

hey they could do.. but inthe same instance if you are building a 2 story house would be a total pita to retro fit it if they don't come out with wifi versions

I think that every room, inlcuding the laundry, toilet and bathroom, should have at least one data outlet. You never know what great widget will come out in the future that needs data or power. I didn't put one in the laundry (but now that I think about it, I should have), but I did put one in the main ensuite. The idea is to plug an iPad into it later and listen to the news while I'm shaving in the morning.

You realise iPad's use wireless and in fact don't even have a wired network port? :)

You realise iPad's are useless**

Was thinking the same thing

I was very very much on the wired bandwagon, even went through the trouble of doing it but its generally only useful for fixed terminals/gadgets and an inconvenience for anything portable. And just like XBoxes and TVs, anything that was once wired-only, is being updated to be wireless in built and has enough practible bandwidth to serve current purposes. And I'm sure application requirements will move forward but the wireless tech will also, along side.



We're a lot further than a few years time before a washing machine needs to be online for anything practical. You're describing a delay timer to start your load which has been around for a while. Anything mature enough (and therefore worth having) to use a data point is mature enough to have inbuilt wireless.

Just think about those internet fridges LG released, complete flop. Made redundant further by wireless tablets making their way into kitchens (i.e. T Hub, iPad).

Edit: I'll concede though, your cat6 cable will one day be probably carrying your antenna signal so for TV's, it's great!

IPTV over FTTH.. FTW

Out of interest the non-computers I have...

wireless only - iPhones, Wii
wired only - FetchTV box, Envi-R monitor
wired or wireless - Sonos speakers (but at least 1 of them needs to be wired)
wired (wireless adaptor extra) - Playstation 3

The Wii is odd, you would expect a device that will mostly be in one spot to have a wired connection
The FetchTV box actually has to connect to a specific port on your router (and needs extra router config) to guarantee the quality of service, so wireless not an option
The Sonos speakers are marketed as being "a wireless solution" but at least one of them has to be wired in.
The Envi-R monitor is very low bandwidth so you would expect it to be wireless.. wired is more simple to configure but wireless is more simple physically!

I'm really enjoying this discussion!

I think the idea behind the Wii being wireless is probably to make sure it hits mass market appeal as being something easy to use for young and old.

And yeah, the Sonos really should have been properly wireless but I guess you could park the main unit right next your PC. The other stuff would be near your TV too so not a big deal. I thought all the PS3's had wireless built in? Was yours a first release? My xbox is wired, the wireless adaptor costs more than all the cat6 and terminals needed to wire a whole house!

Yes. I use data cabling for data or power. In this case power.

Doing it this way means that I can use another device, which may have an ethernet connection, in the future.

I only want to use it as a web browser.

Well that's OK then...Or at least it is if you don't want to view any Adobe "Flash" pages :p *!!!

P_D

* J/K ....... Sorry, couldn't help myself ......

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming

I was almost certain my Wii has an ethernet port...is this not the case?? (Can't check, it's still in storage)

Wii has wifi only and needs an adaptor for wired connection....

Damn you Nintendo! *shakes fist*

Bizarro land!


I'm pretty anti-Apple fanboy but if the iPad were a bit cheaper or a little more equipped like a laptop, I'd get one. They're very shiny =D

I'm still waiting for a Windows tablet that isn't super slow to use. Been waiting for like 8 years since I saw people have the reversible screen ones at uni!

I remember having a play with the old flip-tablet at work around 8 years ago too.

iPads are virtually useless, you might as well go a Netbook and enjoy some extra functionality.

They're *virtually* useless, but not completely

The problem I have with netbooks is that because they're often running a proper OS I tend to over extend them too much by treating them like normal laptops. Then in no time I have a clunky paper weight that takes forever to do anything. I guess thats the benefit of the Apple marketting mentality. Restrict the user and they'll always have the same polished experience.

I'm a big fan of my iPhone as a simple browser, it wasn't the first (by any stretch) to let you browse on a phone but it was one of the first to make it a good experience and most importantly, they pioneered getting telcos to include reasonable data limits in their standard caps (as opposed to paying like $10 a month for 5mb).

i run a netbook as my "work" portable pc.. any slow as doing most tasks but great for editing inovices in person as I install gear that way i can keep track of what I'm using. also looks good when I turn up to do quotes for retro fits

winodws pperson so yeah won't touch an iPad, tho i do like my iPod nano

At least you can plug a usb into a netbook!

I've got iPods, but i just use them as mp3 players, because i think they're roubust and functional as such. Manage them with Winamp to avoid having your computer sexually assaulted by iTunes and you're all good.