I have used an Eero second-generation model for my Wi-Fi for many years. I’m now bringing in a gig of fiber into the house, but there’s serious degradation in my upstairs office. While considering a wired connection for the office, would upgrading to Eero Pro 6 make a big difference? Thanks!
I’m running Eero Pro 6s. The one in my office is hardwired to the gateway in the basement and hardwired to my iMac. Since the Eero is about 4’ from my iMac (M1) I did a speed test via Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Here are the results, wired on left wireless on right.
This is why I prefer to hardwire any device in a fixed position.
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Excellent speeds! Thanks Glen.
Hardwire always win. If you can get a wire to where you need it, do it!
And a detail most people ignore - the cost of running a wire (if you can’t do it yourself) is a one-time charge. Unlike the latest mesh Wi-Fi thing, you won’t find it is old or out of date in 2 or 3 years and needs to be replaced - again and again.
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Excellent point! I’ve reached out to an electrician. 
Probably too OT or “inside baseball”, but beware of electricians that don’t really do low-voltage (“Ethernet”) work and only do regular electrical (“High voltage”).
They tend to look down on LV and don’t have the subtle expertise to do it right. I’ve seen some horrible work done by otherwise great electricians.
All electricians will tell you they can do everything as, IMHO, there is a big ego and macho factor still at play in the electrical/contracting trade.
Don’t get me wrong, I work with a few electricians that are amazing and subcontract all wiring work to them for my clients, but there is wide difference in training and attitude.
While I am on this soap box, took me a long time to learn that all the licensing requirements for the electrical trade boil down to “supervised by a licensed electrician”.
I have seen multiple job sites where they grab a bunch of day laborers from a big box store parking lot, throw their company logo T-Shirt on them, and they show up on a job to do electrical work with the one owner/electrician trying to manage all of them.
(US based, IDK how it works in other countries)
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I noticed we have a growing amount of “smart home” companies that claim to do everything from wiring to ceiling fans that I am tempted to call, but I expect the prices to ridiculous, so haven’t yet. On the other hand, I don’t feel confident messing with this stuff, so I need to do something. I am running wire along floor boards, which looks horrible. Living in a condo though, I expect this is going to be difficult/expensive.
Yeah, the challenge is that running a single Ethernet wire is a loss-leader/nuisance job for smart home companies that want to sell electronics and other higher-priced services. So unless you are buying more from them, they may not even take the time to give you a quote.
OTOH, 90% of installing Ethernet is simply brute-force construction/labor, not high-tech. I have some clients that hire young handyman style people to pull the wire and they then crimp the ends themselves ($20 in tools and a hour or two watching YouTubes).
The interest in a small job is much greater for someone at the lower end of the training/skills range. Electricians, OTOH, charge hourly rates that are relatively high, so they will do just about anything and do it well. But it is more common now to have a minimum job charge plus hourly, so if you do go the electrician rate, might be worth considering combining with other work (installing power outlet behind TVs, hanging TV on wall, installing ceiling lights, etc. to amortize the fixed service call cost?
The real PITA part is when it requires climbing into hot attics or animal feces infested crawl spaces under homes; hence the appeal for hiring younger “cable jocks” to do that legwork.
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Sometimes it takes some creative thinking to run cables. In one house we had I needed to get a cable from upstairs to main level but the source location was over the dining room downstairs. I ran the cable into the attic then across to a closet. Down the closet into another closet that was directly underneath, then into the unfinished basement. Then across the basement and up to where I needed it. This was in the early 2000s so Wi-Fi was a lot more rudimentary.
Understanding how houses are constructed are a big help in running cables.