[Discuss] Future-proofing a house for networking -- what to run?

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

Two suggestions.

Short term: Look at your current needs and extrapolate from there. 
Ethernet cables can be used for unrelated low-voltage signaling or 
power, too. (Thermostat, for example. Or power to gizmos that normally 
require a wallwart can maybe be installed without the power supply being 
ugly and near.)

Long term: You can't anticipate things that don't exist, so see if you 
can give yourself future access to the sealed up walls. Conduit with 
string in it is good. Extra large conduit is good if that is possible. 
Lots of extra empty "outlet" boxes are good. If you can leave yourself 
access to a cable tray in your basement or attic or maybe in your wall 
(removable baseboard or ceiling molding?) then you can reconfigure 
pretty easily.

-kb