QUICK GUIDE: WIRED OR WIRELESS?

The consensus in the industry is that, if it’s doable, a wired infrastructure will give you best results in terms of performance and flexibility. This is easy to do if you’re building a new home or completely gutting an existing property, as the required cabling can be installed at the same time as the rest of the first fix work.

There are wireless solutions, of course, but they’re really only suitable for renovations or where you’re looking for limited functionality, as opposed to a whole-house solution. “Wifi just isn’t robust enough for a whole-house system; and our airwaves are already congested,” says James. “You can stream TV at 1080p wirelessly, but there will be compression, so you get reduced quality.” Andy Moss agrees: “Retrofit options all rely the Radio Frequency (RF) range, which can be disrupted by elements of a building’s fabric. If you search online for problems related to smart installations, pretty much all of the issues are to do with Wifi. If you have the chance to fit a centrally-controlled, fully-wired smart home infrastructure as part of your project, then do it!” And his top tip? “Always throw away the router your internet provider gives you and replace it with a good-quality one, such as a Draytek,” says Andy.