Just been wading through Ofcom's proposals for promoting high-speed broadband links in new homes, Next Generation, New Build. All the discussion is about how to get high-speed (ie fibre links) to homes, which is unsurprising as it is the most difficult and expensive task. The regulator's remit does not extend to the how data should be distributed inside new homes, but it would have been useful if the discussion document had at least highlighted this as an issue.

The government has a target of building three million new homes over the next 12 years; new builds are currently running at 246,000 a year. Yet so far as I have been able to establish, there is no official best practice on how to future proof these building for data links.

I was shocked at an Ideal Homes exhibition a while back to see both Intel and BT telling builders that Wifi would provide all the future proofing they will need.

Leave aside the questions of whether Wifi and it successors will be able to keep up with bandwidth demands over the lifetime of a building, is it a sensible technology to promote as a distribution medium?

You may be able to justify it in old buildings that are hard to retrofit with cable but contention problems are only going to get worse as time goes on. Powerline communication, which is becoming very popular, also  causes radio pollution.

As a matter of principle, to keep pollution down, wireless should surely be used only when necessary – and especially not when a better method is readily available.

Installing Cat 5 Ethernet links, capable of at least 1Gbit/sec, in new homes is a doddle when done at the stage when the power wiring is put in. If there are not enough people with the necessary skills now, there could be with minimal training.

Better still would be fibre links. These are relatively expensive (though not when set against the price of a house) but prices will come down. Simple kits, including combined fibre and power cables, are already available.

Anyway, Ofcom is asking for you comments on its proposals, which you can download from the link above.