We all have those tech blunders that we innocently made in our less-informed youth. The decisions made on too little information, or were misinformed by friends, family, or marketers. I've got my fair share, including being far too gung-ho about having wireless convenience on my home network.

It's not like I didn't know that wired connections were more stable and faster, or that Wi-Fi was prone to interference and dead zones. I knew those and did it anyway, partly because growing up there was one computer with internet access that was in one place in the house, and I loved the freedom of wireless connectivity, but also because I didn't want the bother of pulling wires around one apartment only to have to do it all again the next time we moved.

This attitude stayed with me, even in the house we own now, so I don't have to worry about landlords complaining about holes in the walls. Even with wired backhaul in the walls, because the builders installed it for us. It was just easier to plop down mesh nodes wherever I noticed a slowdown, but I've since realized that many of the wireless devices I own should have been wired all along.

The source of many frustrations

Wi-Fi was not made for multiple video feeds

I could point at many devices in my home and explain why Wi-Fi wasn't suited for them. My gaming PC often forgets which band it's supposed to be on, or randomly connects at a tenth of the rated speed. My Apple TV 4K boxes sometimes get pixelated if other things are using the connection. And it's a nightmare when every device in the house decides it's that hour for syncing OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, and the local backups on my NAS.

But there is one device that causes me more frustration than any other, and it's one that should have been the easiest. The humble video doorbell is a wonderful invention, enabling the introvert in me to never have to answer the door to a stranger if I don't want to. It tells me when packages arrive, or when my kid gets home from school. Or I should say, it's supposed to, because it never shows the person on my phone in time for me to respond.

This isn't a brand issue, because I've used four different brands now, some with Wi-Fi, some with wireless connections to a hub that connects to my router via a cable, and none of them can reliably tell me that someone is at my door until after they have left. Sometimes I get the doorbell chime, and that gives me enough time to peek out the window, but I could have a normal doorbell for that.

Anyway, after just dealing with the frustration, it's being replaced by a Power-over-Ethernet version that won't have the same encoding lag as the wireless ones it's replacing. I'm not looking forward to pulling the cable, but at least it's only one, and I can use the existing 12V wiring to fish it through from the garage.

Although it did make installation easier

I can't argue against the convenience of wireless networking, because it was the main reason that I used it in the first place. Whether it was security cameras with attached solar panels, so I never had to wire them up to the mains, or streaming boxes for entertainment, Wi-Fi was the easy option. Convenience comes at a cost, not only in signal quality but also in random slowdowns as you add more devices to the network, and my Wi-Fi was getting to a breaking point.

I made the problem worse

My NAS was the only thing hardwired to my router

In my love of convenience, I decided that my NAS should be wired to the router, but not to any of the computers that would heavily be using it. It sounded like such a great idea: wireless access to my trove of media files, backup space, and self-hosted apps from any device with a wireless chip. The thing about most great ideas is that they don't live up to expectations when implemented, because they're not so great after all.

One or two devices streaming from Jellyfin was fine, but when Time Machine, Synology backups, Home Assistant, and a half dozen other things were vying for bandwidth and airtime, it made the network miserable to use. QoS and other features could only do so much, and I realized I was trusting Wi-Fi, and the bridge between my wired and wireless network segments too much.

The fix is in

Now my NAS is connected to a managed switch, which also connects my desktop PC and the other data-heavy devices in my household. I can't do anything about the laptops that don't have wired network ports, or the other mobile devices, but I've removed as many heavy-use devices as I can from the wireless network, and now everything is running better.

I shouldn't have gone all-in on convenience

I'm sure I'll make more networking blunders in the future, but I'll think more before I make them. Now I know I should plan wired networking first, and wireless as a last resort. I'm glad PoE is a thing because I hate pulling wires, and dealing with data and power for every device is something I'd rather pay someone else to handle.