Cabling

PoE and PoE+ Explained: Powering Phones, Cameras, and Access Points Over Ethernet

The quiet hero of modern business networks is the fact that the same cable carrying data can carry power. PoE is why your desk phone has one cord, your cameras mount anywhere, and your WiFi lives on the ceiling where it belongs — no electrician required at each spot.

The tiers, minus the alphabet soup

• PoE (standard): up to ~13W to the device — desk phones, basic cameras, small access points.
• PoE+: up to ~25W — the sweet spot for modern WiFi access points, pan-tilt-zoom and IR cameras, and video phones. Most business gear today assumes this tier.
• PoE++ (higher classes): up to ~60–90W — big multi-radio access points, larger displays, and specialty devices.

Why installers love it (and you should too)

• One cable per device: data and power in a single CAT6 run — installation cost drops, placement freedom soars.
• Centralized backup power: put a UPS on the PoE switch and every phone, camera, and door controller rides through the outage together. Try that with forty wall warts.
• Remote reboot: a hung camera gets power-cycled from the dashboard — no ladder, no drive.

The planning part people skip: the budget

Every PoE switch has a total wattage budget shared across ports. Load a 24-port switch with power-hungry APs and cameras without doing the math, and devices brown out in confusing ways. Real design lists every powered device, its class, and its draw — then sizes switches with headroom for growth.

Cabling quality is power quality

PoE pushes real current through those conductors; marginal terminations and bargain cable that merely "worked" for data run warm and flaky under power. One more reason certified CAT6 installation pays for itself.

Designed together or not at all

Phones, WiFi, cameras, and door access are one PoE ecosystem riding one cabling plant — we design the switches, budgets, backup power, and cable as a single system. The free assessment includes the wattage math your last installer skipped.