Square Peg's advice is excellent. Clearly a pro.

Install CAT6 UTP to all the places you want. Consider 2 extra unterminated CAT6 behind each TV to provide an upgrade path for HDMI evolution. TVs which stream (e.g. Netflix) and game devices are good candidates to connect via an Ethernet port instead of wireless, so consider placement.

For wireless, as Square Peg said, real Wireless Access Points (WAP) are the way to go, and the WAPs can be powered directly over Ethernet (PoE) which means you can easily hide them in closets or pantries and not need a power outlet, only an Ethernet port to connect back to (PoE) switch or router.

Frank P from Square Peg I wanted to truly thank you for taking the time with your detailed reply and advice. Very helpful indeed and will definitely refer to this with my conversations on getting the home set up. You pointed me in the right direction.

To strategery and Peter, thank you both for your very helpful advice. The power outlet with usb charging was something I had only just been speaking to my wife about. now I can point to others who have also installed :-). In addition the added lines for the future, may as well do that while I have no walls. Thank you both for taking the time to respond and offering your advice.

+1 for the comments above. I recently upgraded from a garbage consumer wireless router to Ubiquiti and could't be happier. I used to have to reboot my router about once a month to keep devices from disconnecting, and I always had spots in my house that had questionable coverage. The new equipment solved both of my issues, and gives me a lot more control over my configuration. It's certainly more involved in setting up, and more expensive as it's more of an enterprise type of system, but now that its configured, it's worth it to me. I'm not here to endorse just Ubiquiti stuff, there are other quality brands out there that will do just as well of a job if not better. I am advocating though that you stay away from consumer grade networking gear if you want to do it right.

One thing I would add to Square Peg's advice is that more WAPs (wireless access points) is not always better. You want to make sure you add enough WAPs so that anywhere in your home there will be a dominant WAP signal your device will want to connect to. However, if you have 2 or more dominant signals coming from different WAPs your device might not jump correctly from WAP to WAP as you walk through your home and a sluggish/inconsistent Wifi connection will result. Also make sure you adjust your WAP wireless channels correctly so they do not overlap. Download a free Wi-fi scanner app so that you can view competing wireless devices from neighbors and make adjustments to your channels accordingly so you are where they are not. If you are in a large condo complex or down by the beach you are pretty much screwed as far as potential wireless interference is concerned, but in other less populated areas scanning for less populated channels is a good idea to optimize Wifi performance. Generally alternating Channels 1, 6 and 11 for the 2.4Ghz wireless radio is the way you want to go barring any specific exceptions. If you are installing Zigbee based devices, stay away from Channel 11 on the 2.4Ghz Wireless radio as many Zigbee devices default to Zigbee Channel 26 which can interfere with it. Generally keep Zigbee devices at least 6ft away from Wifi devices if you can help it. Safe bets for lighting are Lutron's Caseta or RA2 which communicate on the 1.9Ghz spectrum and any Z-wave devices which operate on the 900Mhz spectrum.

If you have any desire for PoE powered security cameras, now would be a good time to pull Cat6 for those, too.

Personally I have two ethernet and one co-ax going to every main room (bedrooms, living room, basement, office). You can always add an unmanaged switch in rooms that have more than two devices.

I like to have everything that's stationary with the potential to use significant bandwidth hardwired to ethernet. This includes desktop computers, TVs, streaming set top boxes, audio receivers, security cameras, and game consoles.

On the WiFi front I would definitely recommend getting one of the "mesh" WiFi systems like Google WiFi, or similar. Then hardwire all the access points to ethernet (I have one on each floor) and you will have rock solid WiFi. Mesh systems can direct client devices to latch onto the strongest access point and clients will switch between access points seamlessly.

Not network related but with the walls open you might consider speaker wire runs as well if you have a surround sound setup or desire one in the future.

The first step to supercharging your home network is to understand the hardware that makes it “tick”:

Modem: connects ISP network to your home, translating analog data to digital. Router: controls the flow of digital data around your house, both wired and wireless. Ethernet cables: cables that transfer data between devices. They’re the cheapest, fastest way to connect devices to the internet. Switch: box that turns one ethernet connection into several, allowing multiple wired devices to connect to the internet without overloading the router. Everything about routers you can find on this link.

Good comments above. You'll need cat 6 wiring to all TV's, planned wifi access points, and cameras. Good wiring will allow you the time to research wifi product options. You might also think about making sure that you have a good ethernet patch panel with labeled runs.

You'll also probably need an open panel rack for your ISP gateway and other devices that seem to accumulate when cutting the cable. I have a small server I use to cast web sites to TV's, our network ethernet switch, an ooma box that represents our home telephone service for $4.13/ month, a network storage server that holds all of our videos, movies, tv shows, music, and photos. My rack is 8RU, I wish I'd bought a 12RU unit.

Even though you have—or should have—done a Wi-Fi site survey prior to installing your APs, you should verify that Wi-Fi coverage is available everywhere you need it after the install. This could be as simple as walking around with your phone or laptop and looking at the native wireless signal reading of the device in various locations.

For more accurate readings, you can use a free or inexpensive Wi-Fi analyzer app to see the signal levels in the negative dBm values. Better yet, perform a full post-install site survey using professional map-based surveying tools so you can see a heat map or other visualization of the coverage along with collecting other vital data such as the signal-to-noise-ratio.