[throwiforgtnlzy]

Update for 2024:

Step 0. Don't bother with obsolete Cat 6 or lower cable because it's just not worth the effort over Wi-Fi. If you're going to do it, buy a 1000' spool of CMP Cat 8 UPoE-rated premise wire (~$1000-$1500 USD), punch down tool, J boxes, punch down receptacles, semi-flexible plenum large conduit that doesn't have ridges, cable fish tape, wall-mounted quarter 19" rack, 90 degree drill and hole saw with various lengths of extensions (usually from about 1' to 10' or longer for tall walls), and a punch down patch panel.

Step 1. Run conduit and J boxes first to a central closet or to a garage in most instances. This is the labor-intensive, hard part but it makes running multiple cables through it much easier. Larger homes may need a second closet or second conduit hub area and more conduit to a main patch panel.

Step 2. Easily slide wire in using a fish tape, 1 to 4 cables per box depending on the location. It's so much easier with semi-flexible conduit.

Step 3. Test each cable using iperf3 with an RPi and laptop, or borrow a commercial 10GbE cable tester like a DSX2-8000.

Step 4. Drop in a 10 GbE U/POE++ switch that doesn't sound like a jet engine.

Option: Instead of, or in addition to, Cat 8 wiring, run fiber.

[ianburrell]

Nobody should use Cat8 for anything ever. For 10Gbps, Cat6 and Cat6A are plenty for residential distances. If you need longer distances, use fiber. Cat8 can be used for 40Gbps, but should use fiber at those speeds.

Also, it is much harder to run smurf tubes when retrofitting house than when the walls are open. Same with pulling Cat8 or fiber.

[adriancr]

For that price, why not just run fiber?, once you have cables you can just upgrade to 25gbps/40gbps etc on same cables. You can get second hand data center equipment for upgrades for a long time as they keep upgrading and prices drop.

Those cat8 (?) cables seem like a large investment when whole point of cat cables was that they are cheap.

[thefz]

Came here exactly to say this. Single mode bidi fiber does not care about electrical interference, is cheap, super thin so easy to pull, future proof, and can carry up to 40GBps if you have the money. 10Gbps optics are quite cheap nowadays. You can also have LC or SC keystone jacks.

Copper is crazy expensive.

[toomuchtodo]

Copper for power over Ethernet is a necessary evil.

[adriancr]

What do you use poe for inside the house?, outside I would assume cameras and those could be on a separate switch/network.

I run fiber to an outside poe switch with sfp+ that has a grounded power socket and from there poe, in case of shorted wires due to pests or lightning nothing dies in the house.

[toomuchtodo]

Wireless access points.

[thefz]

Only if you need PoE, though.