ᐅ Is it necessary to have LAN cables installed in the garage?

Pacc666, Gooosee159, Taitv789, TaiiTvv, Manatarms123, AlexKayn, Pwnage619, etc., is that you? 😀

Let's do the math...

My electrician charges 130 EUR for a data outlet and 250 EUR for a double outlet, net prices.
These should be typical prices, rather on the lower end of the scale.

Let’s assume I need
6 connections in the living room
2 children's rooms with 4 connections each
4 connections in the home office
4 connections in the bedroom
2 connections in the kitchen

Plus a bit of PoE, so you buy a 48-port switch. It costs around 300 EUR (at least) and runs 24/7/365 consuming 15-20 W.
The electrician charges 3,000 EUR net for this. 12 double outlets.

Now, if I use a single outlet per room, and 2 single outlets in the living room,
780 EUR for the data outlets.
A 4-port switch costs 25 EUR and consumes about 2.5 W. But it only runs when I need it. For 2/3 of the day it’s off because no one is home or people are sleeping...
And in the main distribution room, there is an 8 or maybe 12-port switch running on 7-8 W instead of 15-20 W.

Over time, the electricity costs make all the difference... and the decentralized solution is clearly better than the centralized one.

@xMisterDx Thanks for your calculation; it confirms that I’m making the right decision to install only double sockets everywhere.

Our electrician wants €220 (net) for a double socket and €195 (net) for a single socket (so of course I’ll only go with double sockets). Then I thought about where we actually need LAN connections.

I could only come up with five locations, each behind desks or cabinets, where it’s easy to install an invisible switch.

Which Wi-Fi system would you recommend that can simply be placed on a cabinet or lowboard?

What do you think about Fritzbox, Asus ZenWifi, Netgear Orbi?

No matter which system, the access points/repeaters will definitely be connected via LAN.

FrankChief schrieb:

The access points/repeaters will definitely be connected via LAN

The terminology can be a bit confusing because many devices actually support both functions. However, generally speaking, the term "access point" is used for LAN-connected devices, while "repeater" usually refers to wireless extension. That said, many devices labeled as repeaters can also operate as access points, so you just need to check carefully. I mention this so you’re not surprised if people here get a bit critical when they hear the word "repeater."

I can’t really recommend any products; we currently have a cheap one in our rental apartment that often fails. Its current spot on the shelf isn’t great since it’s more or less blocked on almost all sides. (Since it’s a rental and mainly serves one room, it’s not that important.) Especially if you only plan a few access points, I’d say placing them freely is even more valuable. So I’d reconsider whether you could live with wall-mounted APs after all. In the end, they don’t look much different from a smoke alarm or something similar. (If your answer is that you absolutely don’t want that, that’s okay, but I just wanted to share the thought 😉 )

Purely from an aesthetic perspective, it also makes a difference whether I mount a Fritzbox on the wall, some cheap, square access point—preferably with external antennas—or, for example, an access point from Ubiquiti. Personally, I don’t find the Ubiquiti devices unattractive. We have ours centrally installed on the wall under the top stair tread in the hallway, providing Wi-Fi coverage throughout the entire house and on the terrace.

FrankChief schrieb:

Which Wi-Fi system can you recommend that I can simply place on a cabinet or lowboard?

What do you think of Fritzbox, Asus ZenWiFi, Netgear Orbi?

What exactly is going wrong for you? The topics here and here have already explained everything in great detail, and you haven’t taken anything from them. Just read through them again and try to understand this time.

Others can basically save their answers, as it won’t help.