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> Because as it is right now, powering a fleet of those with USB power supplies is annoying as fsck… Therefore, wifi is more convenient than ethernet. You don

• albuic 7mo ago
  > You don't need long cables, just a local power source Which means batteries that have to be replaced and maintained or cables... So ethernet with PoE or even better SPE (single pair Ethernet) with PoDL (power over data lines which is PoE for SPE) is the best from my point of view
  • amelius 7mo ago
    I mean, if I just look at my house. There is just one ethernet outlet, but many power sockets. If I want to connect devices all over my house, the best way is to use wifi and usb power adapters. Not ethernet. Both solutions require 1 cable per device, but the first solution would require only short and thin cables, and the second solution would require very long cables which I don't know even how to do properly without milling my walls.
    • stinkbeetle 7mo ago
      Yep. Mains electricity is ubiquitous, highly interoperable, very reliable, very high power available per drop, can be outdoor capable, common standards, understandable by users, requiring no active components, with many on-call experts available who can come to fix problems or extend/alter connectivity. Mains power wall plates with inbuilt USB power outlets are even available at quite small cost if the look of the bigger plug and wiring is not appealing. PoE is much fewer of those things. Difficult to recommend it these days with wifi being fast and reliable and so widely used. Certainly not for average residential user.
      • ImPostingOnHN 7mo ago
        That's half the equation. The other half is the reliability and security of wifi, which is less than that of ethernet for people without physical access to my wall innards
        • stinkbeetle 7mo ago
          Reliability of wifi is not as good I guess, although these days it is extremely good for decent devices. For poor quality devices, I have also heard of PoE routers blowing ports and devices that don't work properly. Is security of wifi an actual practical concern? I've not heard of it since WPA2. For average residential user, even most hobbyist / enthusiast, I doubt those things will matter. Almost everybody who wants extremely fast reliable wired connectivity will be much better off using fiber, and using wifi for cameras and automation and streaming and other such things. Getting power to where you need it is not the difficult part, especially if you're pulling wires anyway, which is why PoE has always been fairly niche.
          • ImPostingOnHN 7mo ago
            Reliability and security of wifi isn't good when jamming of it is so easy and available. It's a lot harder to jam ethernet at a distance.
            • stinkbeetle 7mo ago
              Pretty niche requirement for personal user though. Protection against eavesdropping is the main thing required, and PoE is actually much worse for that than WiFi is you have any drops in less secured ares (e.g., outdoor cameras).
              • ImPostingOnHN 7mo ago
                I can see that. I have security devices on my network (e.g. a camera), so I might come at this with a different perspective (since it's not uncommon for burglars to jam wifi).
  • PunchyHamster 7mo ago
    Well, yes, but then you need to be "in range" of PoE switch and drag the ethernet cable from it vs the nearby socket. Still, nice to have options
    • deleted 7mo ago
      [deleted]
• whynotmaybe 7mo ago
  Esp32 's wifi is only 2.4ghz though.