Page 18 - BB_Nov_2018

THE HYBRID

HOME NETWORK:

AVOIDING THE

‘SPINNING

BEACHBALL

OF DEATH’
FEB 22-24 The Alamodome

As “smart” devices are increasingly home coverage and an exceptional Wi-Fi experience

brought into American residences, a from the day the home owner moves in.”
If you have a couple of laptops and a phone or
growing number of home owners are three using that bandwidth in a home that’s under, Meet Thousands of Qualified
discovering that some of those gadgets say, 2,000 square feet, everything will work fine. But
are becoming less reliable. add anything from a smart TV streaming a movie Buyers at The Biggest Home

service to a wireless audio system to a connected
The problem is often not with the devices fridge, and the bandwidth that particular Wi-Fi and Garden Event in Texas!
themselves, but rather, the network those devices device provides can become rapidly unstable.
rely on. “There are several different statistics floating
around out there,” says Erik Anderson, national sales “Most lighting controls do not use the home network. The San Antonio Home and Garden show, presented by the Greater San
manager with Lutron, “but the average age of the They use Clear Connect, Z-wave, and the like so it’s not a Antonio Builders Association, is proud to celebrate our 39th year
burden on a Wi-Fi network,” Anderson said.
gear in a home network is somewhere between serving San Antonio. We are especially proud to be the largest, most
eight and 10 years.” In those cases, the solution that many integrators prestigious, and best attended home and garden event in Texas.
will suggest is a hybrid system: Many devices are What does that mean to you and how does it translate to sales?
It’s something that Ric Johnson, president and
CEO of Right At Home Technologies in Ada, Ohio, hardwired (yes, this requires running cable behind Distinguish yourself as one of San Antonio’s finest builders
drywall), and Wi-Fi is supported — especially in larger
sees in his business: “I keep running into old Netgear or remodelers
or Cisco types of systems that aren’t set up for homes — by multiple “wireless access points” beyond Create a show room right at the show and visit face-to-face
that single modem-and-router combo device.
devices today, very slow. A lot of the time, there’s with thousands of customers who paid to see you
not even enough infrastructure in place to fix it. As Erik Anderson noted, “In my home, all the TVs
I constantly see homes with outdated ethernet are connected via copper wires. The Wi-Fi signals Bring your samples, interactive floor plans and sales
cabling — Cat 5, not even 5e — and the bandwidth is are really just for portable devices: the kids’ tablets, materials and give quotes and bids right there at the show
terrible.” laptops, things like that.
What’s more, he said, “A few years back, a couple “But you’ve got to remember: Every family, Thousands of Customers.
of big production builders made the announcement: every combination of square footage and building Qualified Leads.
‘We’re gonna outfit every one of our houses with materials, every level of ‘tech-adoption’ is different Face-to-Face Sales.
Wi-Fi.’ Then they partnered with one of the cable from customer to customer. It’s really tough to take
companies or one of the satellite companies to a one-size-fits-all approach when you’re installing a All in one place.
provide X amount of equipment.” home network.” All on one weekend.
Enter the Wi-Fi Alliance, which introduced This guest post is from Ed Wenck, content
a program — Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design — marketing manager for CEDIA, the industry association
bringing “enterprise design practices for planning representing those professionals who manufacture, To secure your space at the show, contact us:
and installing Wi-Fi networks to the new home design and integrate goods and services for the
construction industry, resulting in consistent, whole- connected home. 210-408-0998
NAHB OCTOBER 2018 gsaba@showtechnology.com
ShowTechnology.com
18 NOVEMBER 2018 | GREATER SAN ANTONIO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION