Considerations when building a new home

Technology can often be an oversight when it comes to building a home. A certain amount of responsibility can get shifted between the builder, design team and electrical contractor when it comes to ensuring the home is wired for new technology. The end result is that the house is completed, and now you realise the wireless network is not good, and all of your portable devices and smart TV's are not able to stream sufficiently.

During the build process is the most inexpensive time for running cables to cater for modern technology, even though nearly all devices are now WiFi compatible, there needs to be a certain amount of cabling run within the home, to ensure you are able to support a robust wireless network.

Modern home builds often use foil backed insulation or plasterboard slabbing, metal studs, or concret this foil essentially creates a metal box in the rooms (known as a Faraday cage). This has a severely detrimental effect on WiFi range and quality, so it is recommended to locate multiple wireless access points (WAP's) around the home, these act as wireless boosters and when correctly fitted will give you total wireless coverage throughout the home.

I would strongly recommend consulting with a residential technology expert in order to ensure your home is covered for the deployment of a wireless network further down the line. At Smart Installations we offer free generic wiring guidelines for electricians, to give them a full understanding of how to correctly wire a home for this scenario.