So Blue Ray uses a network? Mine just plugs into my Home theater using HDMI. Shows you how out of touch I am :LOL:
OK...you guys have convinced me to run Cat6 wiring. As far as Coax goes....my cable company uses Ethernet (Uverse). Some still use coax?
Thanks again guys. You've been a big help
You don't have to do runs to every room.
Wireless can work well, but especially if this is a somewhat larger house, a single router isn't going to give you good wireless cover through the entire house, so you'll want to run wires to at least a couple of dispersed locations so you can setup a router and a couple of access points (or routers in access point mode) so that you CAN get good wireless coverage over the entire house.
Typical rule of thumb, a good router will cover about 1,200sq-ft on a single story with 2.4GHz and good to excellent signal strength. It'll cover about 2,500sq-ft on 2/3 floors (3 if located on the middle floor) with good to excellent signal strength. This is with traditional 2x4 construction and the wireless router centrally located. If it isn't centrally located, or is, say, down in a basement or on the top floor, reduce the coverage.
If you are building a 3,500sq-ft home or something, I can guarantee you won't get good to excellent coverage over the whole thing, even if the router is centrally located. You might get fair signal in some locations, which might be okay for you, but if you have a nearby neighbor, their network might adding interference on top of that possibly.
5GHz is generally about 75% of the coverage of 2.4GHz (so figure about 900sq-ft on one floor, or 1800sq-ft across 2/3 floors).
Obviously open concept homes will have a bit better coverage, because fewer walls to go through.
Unless the costs are obscene, especially since you are building from scratch, the "pain" of a few hundred bucks up front is pretty cheap compared to finding out you wish you HAD run some networking cables while the sheetrock was off.
My suggestion if you aren't a huge computer user or don't forsee needing a lot of bandwidth, then just run 2 network cables and some RG6 to where you foresee your entertainment center going. I'd do the same to any bedroom you think might have a TV/entertainment center/home office located.
I'd also consider an RG6/single network cable to a kitchen if you think there is any chance you'll have a TV/similar hooked up. Also the same to any actual home office. I'd also run one to the basement.
You don't necessarily need stuff in every single room, but it would be nice anywhere a TV or a desktop/laptop is going to go gets 1-2 LAN drops and maybe some coax. Plus one or two places that are somewhat central on a floor for a router to go (which means 2 drops, in case you are running internet and LAN connection there), or stagger it (so one side of the house on the main floor has a place for a router to go, then on the upstairs and in the basement on the opposite side of the house are places for access points).
Wireless can do a lot, but routers/access points have to be connected somehow, and a single router is rarely enough unless you live in an apartment or reasonably small condo, townhouse or apartment. At least if you have decent bandwidth needs.
As for future needs for wired networking. Who know, stuff changes.
Today Netflix only takes 8-9Mbps for a good 1080p stream, but their SuperHD is more than that, and 4k is up around 25Mbps. 25Mbps is more than what a "fair" wifi connection is likely to be able to handle, especially since a lot of smart TVs, phones, cheaper tablets and cheap laptops can manage on a fair Wifi connection.
Now lets try 2-3 devices all trying to stream wirelessly at once, especially if far from the router.
That means more routers/access points so everything has a good or excellent connection. Or it means wiring some devices.
Might not be an issue today, but it might be in 5 years, or 10 years. Over building rarely causes problems other than a bit of "wasted" money. Can always add resale value later if nothing else.
Other thoughts on the future, Netflix is fun and I can't remember what I did without it, but I'd bet good odds that within 10-15 years, there will be NO cable TV. It'll all be IPTV, even if such a thing is a traditional cable TV package exists, it is likely to be delivered fully over the internet to your house, and probably to a DVR or similar set top box to your TV from you "TV provider of choice".
Again, higher quality requires higher bit rates. A lot of stuff is 720p/1080i/1080p today, which doesn't require a huge amount, but 4k is creeping in to being the new top dog standard, even if it might take 3-5 years. 8k is already starting to be a real thing (though I suspect that'll take at least 3-5 years before we see any penetration below about $10,000 TVs).
Might take awhile, but just to watch TV might take a 25-40Mbps internet connection, or more. Wireless advances and gets faster, but there are rules of physics to obey. A lot of the speed advances are over relatively short distances, with performance at the edge of wifi not improving a whole lot. So a fair/poor wifi connection isn't a whole lot faster today than it was 10 years ago, even if a good/excellent wifi connection is massively faster (say, 10-20x faster) than it was 10 years ago.
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