By Steven Totolo, President, Total Voice Control

Other issues

Interestingly enough, some organizations promote new home cabling, while others oppose it. Wiring Americas’ Homes encourages consumers and builders to prepare properly their homes to embrace current and future technologies by installing or upgrading residential wiring. It views the benefits of a "connected home" that "…empowers the homeowner to maximize the potential of technology to satisfy personal lifestyle needs." Alternately, companies that oppose new wiring installations do so because of an apparent belief that renovations to existing homes generate an unnecessary mess. They propose that, by using new technologies such as HomePNA, radio frequency (RF) or power line carrier (PLC) devices, users can achieve the same goals as adding new wires, but without the need to "rip up" walls. There are advantages to both proposals, and even a combination of the two may be applicable in some instances. New wires are easier to install and trouble shoot in new homes, before the walls are covered, while HomePNA, RF and PLC devices are easily installed into existing homes by attaching them to walls or plugging them into wall outlets.

With some the largest telephone/Internet equipment manufacturers paving the way for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), the need for high-speed communication devices or wiring will be critical. Plain old wiring will just not be up to the task for real-time, interactive video conferencing, or multi-player gaming. While, it has provided over 50 years of good service to consumers, the dawn of the new millennium beckons change. It’s now time to retire the ‘old’ wire, replacing it with a new breed of wiring and equipment, ready to serve technologically-savvy homeowners of the brave new world.

Additional information sources

Cabling Installation and Maintenance magazine – http://www.cable-install.com/

Structured Cabling and Connecting Systems magazine - http://www.cablemag.com/

Anixter: Technical Library http://www.anixter.com/techlib/

BICSI: Cabling Installation Manual – http://www.bicsi.com

TIA/EIA-568A (CSA T529) Commercial TelecommunicationsCabling Standard - http://global.ihs.com

EIA/TIA-570 (CSA T525) Residential and Light CommercialTelecommunications Wiring Standard - http://global.ihs.com

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Steven Totolo is president of tvcAutomation, a home automation specialist and a member of the CABA Standards Committee. He can be reached at (613) 795-7117; fax (613) 737-5323; email: sales@tvcAutomation.com