[ldng]

And what would a better alternative look like ?

[timschmidt]

I wouldn't call it "better", but the least-effort path among hobbyists and low end gear is often 12v or 24v sent over a pair with Gnd and a forgiving voltage regulator on the other end.

[jwr]

There is none, I never said PoE is "bad": it's a very good solution, it's just difficult to implement.