Ethernet Why Your Home Office Could Use More Of It

What the heck is Ethernet, exactly?

Ethernet is a wired network communications standard developed in the early 1970s by a computer engineer named Bob Metcalfe (who, for many years, was also a well-known computer industry columnist at InfoWorld and also was responsible for forming 3COM, which HP later bought in 2010) and his team of researchers at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center. Over the years, Ethernet morphed from using coaxial cable to twisted pair cable and fiberoptic cables. The original standard called for network frames sent at 10Mbps. Today, it’s not uncommon for Ethernet to communicate at 1Gbps over twisted pair cable. Ethernet can move as fast as 40Gbps/100Gbps using fiberoptic cables on enterprise networks within data centers or in specialized environments. 

Why do we want to use Ethernet at home?

Chances are, you probably already do use at least some Ethernet at home. Most consumer broadband installations will have a residential gateway that incorporates Wi-Fi and some broadband access device, like a cable modem or an optical network terminal (ONT). Those will be connected with a short Cat-5 or Cat-6 Ethernet cable and the modular RJ-45 8-pin connector. There are many homes in which that’s likely the extent of their Ethernet install. But all home routers/residential gateways have at least one or more additional Ethernet ports on them, allowing you to expand that Ethernet network. So, for example, in my own home, with my AT&T ARRIS residential gateway (the main router), I have a few extra Ethernet ports. I have a 24-port Ethernet switch connected to one of these to add more Ethernet-connected devices.
But you’re not stuck with the number of ports on your router. An Ethernet Switch is like the USB hubs you can buy for your PC or Mac. If you run out of Ethernet ports, you buy a switch, and it will give you more network interfaces.

Why would I want to connect more devices to Ethernet rather than use Wi-Fi?

There are a lot of reasons. Ethernet is super-reliable for starters. It is secure; it’s far more difficult for someone to sniff your network traffic if you use Ethernet, especially if you are using something like a VLAN. It’s also considerably faster than the network connectivity you will get in most home environments with Wi-Fi. Even with Wi-Fi 6, you will only get 450Mbps to 650Mbps speeds under optimal conditions; you will still get interference and latency. But with my 1Gbps fiber connection from AT&T, I frequently get over 900Mbps downloads, close to wireline speeds, when using a computer connected to the Ethernet switch.
The other thing that’s good about Ethernet is it has pretty high distance limitations, like about 100 meters per run. So you can get the full speed out of that cable over that distance. This is good to have if you have a multi-story home, where you might have, say, an entertainment center in your basement or a bedroom on an upper floor that you want to have high-speed network connectivity. 
Perhaps the Wi-Fi from the bottom floor or even your mesh network just isn’t cutting it because there are too many walls or whatever. You can bridge your network using a Wi-Fi access point using Ethernet, and a long cable runs to the switch or the router. You need to be able to drop that cable through a wall soffit, through the attic, or a crawlspace, or run it along the wall under the carpet to where it has to go. 
In my case, my office is in the room next to where all my broadband equipment is, so I hired a handyman to install an Ethernet jack on both sides of the adjoining wall. But I know many people who have just drilled through the wall, bore a hole, and put an inexpensive plastic plate there or a grommet kit that is used for pushing cables through. You can get those at Home Depot.

Is it expensive to build out your Ethernet network?

What about the pricier Ethernet switches?

The higher-end models are managed switches and are more expensive because they have special segmenting and security capabilities, such as for VLANs. These are typically for small and medium business use. But the other thing these more expensive switches can do is Power over Ethernet or PoE.
In addition to carrying Ethernet communication, a Cat5-Cat6 twisted pair cable can also carry power. That means, if you wanted to place, say, a Wireless Access Point in some remote part of your house or in your small business where no AC power outlets exist, all you need to do is string the Cat5 cable to that location and plug in the device. This is useful for broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal to a wide-open area and mounting an access point on a ceiling. 

What if I can’t string Cat5 in my home?

What if you don’t have coax or don’t want to run new coax?

Finally, we get to something called Ethernet over Powerline, or HomePlug AV2, which is like the opposite of PoE; we are sending Ethernet signal over the AC power wires that are already inside your home. Again, this uses a pair of devices. One is plugged into the wall, and then Ethernet is cabled to your switch. Another one is plugged into the wall where you want the Ethernet signal transmitted to, and then there’s an Ethernet cable coming out of that, which plugs into whatever you want to plug it into. Using this method, it’s possible to have these adapters plugged into outlets all over your home, so your electrical system becomes one big network.