Village Builders is owned by Lennar Homes, the #2 homebuilder in the U.S., is the first to adopt “Wi-Fi Certified Home Design,” a new Wi-Fi Alliance seal signifying the network is designed for “whole-home connectivity, with no dead spots.”
Village Builders are building at Edgestone in Frisco has around 12 inventory homes that already have this technology built in the walls! To me the need to prewire for a robust wireless network is absolutely genius!
Lennar’s new technology portfolio — from loudspeakers to thermostats to home automation — will all tap into this anointed wireless architecture. A solid Wi-Fi foundation will ensure these technologies work well today, right out of the box.
New home buyers expect “things to just work,” says Brad Holden, president of Holden New Homes, in an interview with CE Pro.
That extends not just to plumbing and electrical, but wireless Internet as well.
With the help of the Wi-Fi Alliance, Lennar is creating Wi-Fi “heat maps” for each of its floor plans, specifying where routers and wireless access points should reside. This is genius because I have a fairly new house and have this issue big time!
Routers and other gear are stored in RF-friendly plastic boxes, with Cat 6a cable run to WAP locations – from one to three, depending on the floor plan.
Per the spec, the WAPs must be accessible to the consumer, i.e., not up high on vaulted ceilings.
That way, says Kaiserman, “as [network] speeds grow, you can easily replace the access points.”
“They’re plumbing this in,” says Greg Rhoades, marketing director for Leviton, which helped develop the Wi-Fi spec and has supplied structured-wiring products for Lennar. “We’re really starting to see Wi-Fi being the fourth utility. Just as builders are laying out plumbing, gas and electric, they’re doing it for Wi-Fi.”
For its part, Lennar is using networking gear from Ruckus, a brand known for commercial-grade quality.
Talk to anyone who specializes in home automation and other low-voltage technologies, and they will applaud Lennar for adopting Wi-Fi Certified Home Design.
On the other hand, explain how Lennar is eliminating almost all other low-voltage wires in new homes, and their enthusiasm fades (note that Lennar’s plans are still fluid).
Lennar was actually highlighted on Good Morning America a couple weeks ago telling how this is going to change the world of building.
Wi-Fi Certified: good news!
The good news for Lennar, home buyers and the tech community: The Wi-Fi Certified seal of approval requires homes to be prewired for wireless access points (WAPs or APs), ensuring whole-house, continuous Wi-Fi coverage with no dead spots.
Lennar is the first to adopt the protocol as a standard for all of its new homes – more than 25,000 per year.
Good for them for being progressive thinkers,” says William Zidek of Chicago-based Tandem Marketing, a leading manufacturers’ representative for the home-technology industry. “I hope it motivates luxury-oriented builders to offer better infrastructure as a standard.”
Zidek’s sentiment is pretty universal among the home-technology trade. When consumers have trouble with any connected device in the home, chances are it has something to do with the wireless network.
The Wi-Fi router is usually located at the edge of the home, leaving much of the property with spotty coverage.
New home buyers expect Wi-Fi to “just work,” says David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Ventures.
For that to happen, he says, you need to “engineer for wireless from the get-go.”
So far, everyone’s pretty much in agreement on that.
What I am really shocked and impressed about is the fact that an Amazon Consultant comes to your house and spends a couple hours explaining how to work the connected devices. They also include a ring doorbell, Echo Show, Echo Dot, Sonos Play 1 and more.
Village builders sold 2 of the inventory homes over the weekend, so they are down to 12 with all this Smart House Wu-Fi Certified Technology already included!
Text or call Brad Holden today at (469)733-2723 for more on Village Builders at Edgestone in Frisco for these all included technology homes available today!
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