When are you installing? 

If you are building a new home, both wired and wireless systems are a great option. The decision will come down to your budget and what you want your wall switches to look like from an interior design perspective. If you are doing a renovation and do not want to rewire your home or cut into walls and ceilings, wireless is the easiest and most cost-effective way to upgrade your home to smart. If you are doing a major renovation or upgrade, including wiring, both options are available but you may get more features for your investment with a wireless system.

Options

In general, wired and wireless systems have the exact same options. The difference is that wired components tend to cost a little more, take more work to install and that should be integrated while the home is being constructed.

Cost

Wired systems need a significant amount of engineering, conduit, wire, and equipment in the form of KNX actuators, dimmers, and devices. The cost of a wired system is usually about twice as much (or more) as the wireless equivalent. Wireless systems eliminate a lot of the hardware, and of course, need none of the conduit or additional wire.

Performance

Wireless smart home technology has a bad reputation, and in many cases, this is justified. For the past few years, we have seen a flood of inexpensive Wi-Fi/Cloud-based systems being installed in Dubai. These systems were designed for wood-frame-constructed homes where connections to the internet are fast and unimpeded by proxes. Unfortunately, they just don’t perform well in our environment here in the UAE.  Avario’s wireless technology was designed specifically for installation into our style of concrete block construction and does NOT use the cloud to control your home. All of your controls are processed in your home, keeping your user data safe and secure. This means that our wireless systems have the exact same performance as our wired systems, no lag, no potential for system blackouts  – Guaranteed.

Support

Most wired systems are based on an internationally used standard called “KNX”. One of the great features of a wired KNX system is that any KNX certified technician can support, modify or repair your system. This means if the company that installed it goes out of business or otherwise disappears, you can easily find someone that can help. Wireless systems are a little more challenging, there are many more protocols out there and it is nearly impossible for a single technician to be an expert in all of them. Here at Avario, we use the most common smart home protocols and components and are compatible with 1000s of other company’s products. If you have a problem with one of our wireless systems and we are no longer around to help, any technician with IoT experaince can assist.