Linked by David Adams on Wed 21st Jan 2004 22:52 UTC
If all goes well, this summer I'll be building a new house. I've owned a few houses before, some of them built in the 1920s and 30s, and full of all the charm and quirks of an old house, and a couple that were pretty new, with the lack of craftsmanship and imagination that's typical in most new construction in the USA today. But this time I'm building a custom home, just to my specifications, so I can have whatever features I want, limited only by my imagination (and budget). I'd like to integrate some home automation features into the house, and include wiring for future expansion. 
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Being somewhat new to the industry of Structured Wiring - 8 months - I have come to the decision that I would never build a home without structured wiring. As a graphic designer of 10+ years, I grew to love technology at the infancy of desktop publishing. A wired home is really just the logical extension of existing technology.
Wireless? I love it too, and as the person responsible for my company's literature I have struggled with the idea that one day it could replace the very technology responsible for my current livelihood. The usual response to the question of "why wired and not wireless?" has been speed, security and reliability. All of which are dificult to understand for the average VCR-challenged American. Brad's statement about cost really is true - and far more than most are aware of - as new wireless products come out, all hardware in the wireless network will need to be replaced. In a wired home, the investment is one time, and close to the cost of a single wireless system. Also, in the very near future technology will be available that can stream HD video over Cat5 or Cat5e without latency, and up to 4 streams at once over the same cable. I'd like to see wireless do that. Truth is today very little of the actual avialable bandwidth on a pair of Cat5e and Coax cables is being utilized. Sure, other cables like Cat6 and fiber are around the corner, but Cat5e and Coax have years, maybe even decades worth of life in them yet (if they properly installed of course - a note here, do make sure you have a qualified installer putting in quality cable - simply having the name Cat5e does not guarantee its quality or speed).
As for the reader who installed Cat6e, please email me - seems you have next years technology available today
Sorry, couldn't resist - Cat6 was just standardized late last year (11/03), but as of yet does not have a good RJ45 connector yet available. It can be run, but would need to terminate in punch-down modules. My guess is you meant to say you had Cat5e run and got it confused with RG6 (the coax side).
Lastly, I look forward to seeing what choices the Author makes. You can probably guess what my vote is, but like you I am just along for the ride...