If you are in the market to buy a new home you may have noticed a trend occurring with several of the nation's largest builders. That trend is to reduce their costs during construction by removing wire from the home. Instead they offer free gifts with purchase like wireless doorbell cameras or app controlled thermostats. Some even offer lighting control or music players. What is the downside to this philosophy / strategy? PLENTY! Let's start with the fact that most often these devices are Wi-Fi and while I recognize most, if not all of us will have Wi-Fi installed after we move in, no wire in the walls and poor wireless capability from the gateway / routers provided by the various ISP (internet service providers) mean these devices will perform poorly! Many of these builders will use Alarm.com or related service providers to empower your home with the service that integrates these products and keeps them working, but you end up paying $30 or more per month for that option. In other cases you will be assured the devices perform well on your network, but the builder asks Amazon to come in and provide the service necessary to hook them up or make them work. When was the last time you received great service from a national entity for your local problems? I have, but it is rare!!! I am sorry to tell you, but WIRE is always better! Wi-Fi is Radio Frequency and like the FM receivers of old days it needs antennas and signal boosters. What do you think WAPS (wireless access points) are? Ever drop a call moving from one room to another in your own house? Fall off the internet? How about putting your router / gateway inside a metal can in the utility room or master closet? One very personal example from someone in the business, was the deployment of a Ring Doorbell on the outside of a brick house. The minute I tried to see the picture on my phone from an offsite location I saw nothing but the spinning wheel of death! It wasn't until I deployed an additional wireless access point by my front door that I was able to solve this problem. That added $200 to the cost of my Ring Doorbell! Lesson: Talk to an expert and spend the money to wire your home with Cat5e / Cat6 or shielded Cat6 at least! Don't listen to your buddy Bob (aka. your technology advisor) who tells you you don't need the wire. It is the only thing you truly need in your home, that costs ten times more to do after the walls are up! Everything else in your home can be replaced for less than you pay the builder to put it in! Remember, there is a cost associated with getting someone else to do the work. It is called labor and is worth it! I don't try my own lawsuits, do my own dental work or fix my own car. And I don't build my own house! I could (LOL maybe), but some things are just not worth my time. What is the answer? A knowledgeable Personal Technologist! Your local independent dealer!!!! Give ESD Technologies a chance to show you what four decades of experience has taught us and how we can help you live in your home, not spend your time working on it!