I've recently switched many of my networked devices to Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), and I can't believe I waited this long for some of them. Seriously, my home network has never been this stable and easy to manage, and much of that is down to one word. Simplification. Having data signals and power over the same wire is a transcendent experience that I put off switching to for too long.

Although in some ways, I'm glad I did wait. PoE is standardized now, which is a far cry from the early days when there wasn't a consensus, so there were several competing options. Plus, the range of devices I can use with PoE is improved, which means my network can connect to more useful things. I hadn't really given it a second thought before, just how useful my home network would be with as many devices converted to PoE as possible, but I'm certainly not going to forget in a hurry now I know.

Video doorbell

The quality-of-life improvement I didn't realize I needed

I've long been a wireless connectivity first person, putting value on convenience over utility in some cases. My security cameras are wireless and hooked up to solar panels to replenish their batteries. My video doorbell has long been wireless for data, even if it has two wires to supply voltage for it to operate. I realize that's a weird pairing, but that's how the builders wired the house, and I didn't have much say in the matter.

And you know what? It's not the best arrangement. No matter which video doorbell I have installed (and I have amassed many over the years), and which flavor of wireless networking I have set up, it's still slow as molasses some days to open a simple video feed. So slow that delivery drivers have walked back to their vehicle if they rang the doorbell, or other visitors have wondered if I'm home or not.

But by using the existing low-voltage wires, I could fish twisted pair cable to the doorbell mount and convert it into PoE. Now I don't have to worry about wireless lag or encoding lag, or if the battery is charged enough. Now when my smart displays flicker on because the doorbell was pressed, I don't have to wait for the signal to materialize. I haven't quite figured out which of my smartphone settings is making notifications lag behind real time, but that'll get figured out too, and then I'll actually know when someone is at the door, and not after the fact.

Wireless access points

Get smarter with an easier installation

I don't like cable management. I'm not sure anyone does, apart from those quiet people from school who used to sit there braiding friendship bracelets all day, but I digress. Using PoE to power my wireless access points makes the existing wiring in my walls more useful because I don't have to worry about the nearest plug socket. I'm currently using a ceiling-mounted AP, but I realized that if I get the wall socket ones, I can mount them in the holes the builders already made, and then I don't have to run any more cable. Genius.

The only drawback to this vision, as it stands, is that my only PoE switch has 2.5GbE ports, and I need 10GbE to support the Wi-Fi 7 access point I have fully. That's being rectified soon, and then the only thing remaining is to do another wireless survey to ensure that I have the APs spaced appropriately for peak coverage.

Managed network switch

Probably the most important part

The network switch supplying the PoE function counts, right? I mean, this isn't a chicken-and-egg situation. The network switch and its power supply ports must be there; otherwise, the PoE connection won't be negotiated, and power won't flow. And by having managed switches, I can control many more things on my network, making the entire thing more useful—things like VLANs, port isolation, and link aggregation for failover. Add in centrally managed software and the managed switches are the best things I've added to my network since 5GHz networking was first introduced.

PoE splitters

Did you know you can power non-PoE devices over PoE? Now you do

While I wait for more devices to come with PoE built in, I've realized that almost anything can be powered via PoE if I have the correct power splitter. Whether it's a custom HAT for the Raspberry Pi so that I don't need to find a place to plug in a USB-C charger, or my small army of Echo Dots, I can plug a CAT6 cable into the splitter and siphon off the power pins to run almost every low-voltage device I own. My only limit is the total power budget of each PoE switch, which is enough for my current needs.

Touchscreen display controller

Smarter control of my smart home and network

I've long been a Home Assistant convert, for how easy it makes managing my smart home. I've even got it running on an Android Tablet for a touchscreen controller, so that I don't have to rely on voice commands or picking up my phone all the time. That's worked fine for a while now, but sometimes the Wi-Fi chip in the tablet glitches out, and of course, it needs recharging all the time.

That's why the next thing being added to my smart home is a PoE-powered touchscreen, to banish that tablet forever. No more flaky wireless, no more charging bricks taking up precious socket space, and definitely an overall nicer experience. I don't know if I'll mount it on a swinging monitor arm or recess it into the wall for a more permanent fixture, but I'm excited about the prospect. The only problem is that once I've got one installed, I'll want to put more around the house, so that every living area has a touchscreen controller that can be used for smart devices, outdoor camera feeds, and entertainment.

Power-over-Ethernet makes my home network smarter by design

This is just the start of my PoE adventures, with the devices that made the most sense. I noticed the other day that you can get five-port hardware firewall devices that use PoE for power, so I'll probably add a few of those running OPNsense to my home lab setup, and just this morning I noticed that you can get millimeter-wave presence sensors that use PoE, so those are going in the project file for when I want to add more automations to my home. Then maybe some bias lighting around my kitchen cabinets, and whatever new devices come out that I can power and control from the same cable.

Oh, and there's one more useful thing connected to my network equipment that's PoE-adjacent, even if it's not powered by it. That's a 3,000 kWh EcoFlow battery, which has fast switching so it works as an uninterruptible power supply for my network stack. Using PoE means I can centralize my backup power solution and then Wi-Fi, cameras and everything else can keep connected for a bit if the power goes out.