Moving beyond wired ethernet?

[mtbc]

For many years, I used wifi to bring connectivity to islands of wired devices, each island clustered around a switch, one of whose ports was plugged into an access point in client mode. After returning to the US, I had unthinkingly assumed that I would continue with that approach.

However, I now notice that all my devices have wifi capability, from the old Intel NUCs to the new printer. Also, that modern wifi is fast. Maybe I no longer need any of these wired ethernet islands I grew so used to? With having a larger house and yard again, I may well resurrect an older architecture that had me running longer wires under the floor so that access points near the perimeter of the house provide good coverage overall.

Comments

[pink_halen]

Have you looked at repeaters/extenders?
I have a small device on the other side of the apartment that rebroadcasts my wi-fi for that end of the place. It uses the same ID and password just a different channel. It plugs into an electrical outlet with no other connections. Netgear and TP-link make versions of them.

Indications are that they are dual voltage 120/240.
I have the TP-Link AC750 WiFi Extender (RE220).

[mtbc]

That could make sense, true, thank you. I've previously used powerline ethernet with rather more mixed results but, indeed, range extenders are so commonplace now, just not something I've tried yet so didn't much think of.

[wpadmirer]

It really depends on the strength of your signal. Sounds like yours is good. Mine is middling. I get decent speed in the house, but it's not great just stepping out onto the carport. So I've kept my ethernet cables going.

[mellowtigger]

For many things, local wifi is sufficient. But home (a.k.a "cheap") wifi never solved the duplex problem, did it?

When I have people trying to multitask (videoconferencing while sharing their screen with too many microphones still online and maybe backups running in the background), it often seems like bandwidth is the choke point. People try to do too much over wifi, not realizing that they're taking turns in half-duplex with the frequency.

[mtbc]

Mmm, my worry is indeed more when there are more people living with me someday, streaming video and whatever else they are doing.