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

A sub-distribution (switch) does not make sense there. It is better to connect an access point to the cable.
Power it via PoE from the house, or if the access point does not support PoE, then plug it into a power outlet.
Centralized management is the right choice for such small networks.

i_b_n_a_n schrieb:

Unfortunately, many things still require a point-to-point connection. That’s why I wouldn’t skip using duplex in this case (serially connected WB :eek 🙂.

What exactly needs to be connected serially o.O
On the Ethernet side, nothing should require a "true" point-to-point connection.

rick2018 schrieb:

A sub-distribution (switch) doesn’t really make sense there. Better to connect an access point directly to the cable.
Power it via PoE from the house, or if the access point doesn’t support PoE, then plug it into a power outlet.
Having everything centralized is the right choice for such small networks.

The idea here is to ensure potential future readiness in case cables are definitely needed and to save money during installation. In this context, the backup solution with a switch is very neat if you don’t want to run duplex cabling.

The topology really shouldn’t be an issue here. It’s not about latency or throughput...

Switches also cost money and require electricity. Therefore, they are not cheaper.

rick2018 schrieb:

A switch also costs money and requires power. Therefore, it is not cheaper.

A decentralized switch only uses power when it is turned on. A large switch in the home automation room (HAR), where you connect your 35 LAN cables, always consumes power—even at night when it is only supplying the access point on the upper floor and all other devices (TVs, laptops, etc.) are turned off.

I really don’t understand the reservations about Wi-Fi. Just enable MAC filtering on your router, create a strong password, and no one will ever break into your Wi-Fi. A hacker won’t go through extreme lengths just to access the Wi-Fi of a typical single-family home... unless you have a big sign on your front door saying you work for Rheinmetall Defence, Siemens, or BMW corporate research...

But even then, they’d probably just break a window and steal your laptop rather than try to hack into your well-secured Wi-Fi network.

Apart from that, the company also provides a VPN tunnel for remote work, and confidential data is encrypted at least once, rather than being stored unprotected on the hard drive...

And for online banking, two-factor authentication is used...