I am still seeing houses being built with very basic telephone and video connection. At a time where >50% of US households are connected to the internet, builders still dont get it..

What is the problem??
A) No clear roi?
B) Cost?
C) Lack of understanding of Low Voltage Technology?
D) Lack of foresight?
D) Lack of interest?
E) All the above

Anyone?

P2E

Speaking as a remodeler, not a builder, I will offer a few observations as to your query:

First, and foremost, the client must be willing to pay for the privilege of being totally wired. At a time when wireless internet, etc., is making inroads into the residential sector, that is not always a given.

Second, there are certain protocols that must be followed when running cat 5e. For starters, you should not have it in close proximity to line voltage wire, in order not to pick up AC hum, which is to say, RF interference. Yes, I realize that the shielding on cat 5e is supposed to stop that, but read the manufacturer's protocols. Not every electrician wants the bother of trying to figure the best route for two conflicting sets of wiring. With 240VAC, 120 VAC, telephone, CATV, and, frequently, alarm wiring, most electricians already have enough on their plates.

Finally, the demographic that is most likely to want the high-tech wiring is the same demographic that is least likely to have the money to pay for it. Boomers, of which I am one, who frequently have the disposible income, are not, as a general rule, the ones who want, or would use, it.

I have just gone through a 2 year remodel and fully wired my house. I put in 2000' of Cat 6 wiring for the ethernet network, Cat 5 for phone, and coax for cable TV. The one thing I regret not doing (mainly due to my lack of knowledge) is putting in a fiber optic network. It would have been easy when all of the walls were open. Anyway, I wired the whole house up and fed everything to a central point in my garage where I have patch panels for each system.

My observations on this was that neither my general contractor nor any of the subs had any clue as to why I was putting this in or what it was for (aside from the basic phone and coax). In fact, my GC was not even thinking in terms of ethernet wiring in the house until I brought it up. I don't think it's a cost issue as much as a lack of understanding of what it can do for you now and why it will be needed in the future.

I have about 1500 pictures of my house on a dedicated website so you can look around at http://www.flyingbuffalo.net/remodel. If you go to the Electrical or Garage section you can see the wires entering the garage. I will update with the final pictures in a few weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by Press2Esc:
I am still seeing houses being built with very basic telephone and video connection. At a time where >50% of US households are connected to the internet, builders still dont get it..

What is the problem??
A) No clear roi?
B) Cost?
C) Lack of understanding of Low Voltage Technology?
D) Lack of foresight?
D) Lack of interest?
E) All the above

Anyone?

P2E

Just a quick response from someone who's past life was in construction and is now in the middle of the low voltage industry. Basically the answer is easy to the original post, 'e' all of the above, but to go a little further, on the builder's side, no one likes change. We are now typically bringing in another subcontractor which is someone else to cause the contractor problems. Some electricians can run the wiring but they need specific knowledge and skills to do it right. There is also added expense but it has been sad to see on many many occassions, builders just including 4 phone and 4 video drops in a house when that won't even provide the basic services adequately. Builders have been getting better though and are adapting to this change. Another big issue is the homeowner because that same company that specializes in low voltage is going to discuss more than just 'structured wiring' (phone, data, video distribution), but also security, home automation, home theater and whole house audio options, central vacuum, etc., etc. It really does take a decent amount of attention on the part of the homeowner and hopefully the low voltage company is able to just provide what is of interest instead of creating confusion and unnecessary expense - it can get very overwhelming though!

We are building our own home and decided to install central vac, video security, whole house audio/intercom, home theater, wireless LAN, wireless phone, and whole house security. It's very difficult to find one contractor that is an expert in it all, as mentioned by others previously. Another issue that we experienced is having to hold up on drywall to insure that we had all the wires in the right places. Each bedroom has surround sound, intercom, video distribution, local source connected to whole house audio, Cat5 for LAN and phone, etc. The hardwired LAN and phone are for re-sale in case the next owner doesn't use wireless. We researched the fiber optic option, but found that some of the latest Internet TV providers have decided to go with Cat5 wiring schemes. We're doing our own integration of video security/distribution/whole house audio/door intercom systems. Less expensive if you have the technical ability, and the savings can be spent on higher quality components. Biggest drawback so far was the delay in close-in to insure all the wiring was correct. Could be a real headache for contractors using multiple subs.

I am seeing the structural wiring be installed but its usage and intended applications are missing... An simple analogy would be to wire up a high-speed internet backbone in the home when both cable, dsl and satellite connections are not available. I see lots of installers, but few designers/integrators who take the logical wiring to its next logical step which is distributing the home resources (e.g., data, audio, security, video, etc)...

Am I off-base?? Comments?

P2E

The contractor we used to build our house had no clue about installing all the wiring I wanted in our house. The good news is that he let me do it instead. Fortunately I saved thousands of dollars doing it myself and got exactly what I wanted. I already had experience from installing wiring in a previous house we bought that was already built. It was lots easier in the construction phase.

Anyone who wants to install wiring themselves in a house already built may want to get the free guide at http://www.intercomsonline.com/installguide.htm .

quote:

At a time when wireless internet, etc., is making inroads into the residential sector, that is not always a given

There are so many wireless products these days that work really well that it makes it a more difficult decision to pay the extra money to install the wiring.

I was wanting an intercom system installed, but since my house wasn't wired for one, I found a wireless intercom system at a site listed here that works really well.