Should an Auckland office pick Cat6 ethernet or WiFi 7 in 2026?
Cat6 wins on reliability and total cost; WiFi 7 wins on mobility. For desk-bound roles (accountants, designers, devs), Cat6 to every workstation halves help-desk tickets vs WiFi-only. WiFi 7 is best for laptop-roaming staff + meeting rooms + visitors. The right answer is both: Cat6 backbone + WiFi 7 APs on ethernet backhaul. Office network installation from $1,200. See SMB network install pricing.
Most Auckland office managers planning a 2026 fitout ask the same question: do we still need to lay Cat6 if WiFi 7 is this fast? The honest answer is yes for some offices, no for others. Get it wrong and the average redo bill is NZD 7,500 once your team grows past 20 people. Here is the call by office size, with the hybrid setup most Auckland SMBs end up on.
"WiFi 7 is amazing on a brochure. In a real Auckland office, half its peak speed is fiction the moment you put a wall between you and the router."
What can WiFi 7 actually do in a real office?
WiFi 7 advertises up to 46 Gbps. In a real office with one wall and 10m of distance, expect 1.5-3 Gbps to the closest devices and 200-500 Mbps to the furthest. Compared to WiFi 6, that's a 2-4x improvement. Compared to Cat6 at 1 Gbps wired, it's competitive on the close-up devices and worse on the far ones.
When should I just use WiFi 7?
Three conditions: (1) you have under 15 staff, (2) nobody runs heavy file transfers or large CAD/video work, (3) you're in a single-floor office with no concrete walls. If all three are true, a WiFi 7 mesh setup costs NZD 800-2,000 and beats laying Cat6 for casual office use.
When do I still need Cat6 cabling?
Five conditions: (1) you have over 20 staff, (2) anyone runs large file transfers, video editing or CAD, (3) you have CCTV, VoIP phones or POS terminals (these need PoE wired runs anyway), (4) you have multiple floors or concrete walls, (5) you want predictable, sub-3ms latency for video calls. Each one alone makes Cat6 worth the install cost.
What's the hybrid setup most Auckland offices end up with?
A Cat6 backbone to ceiling-mounted access points (PoE-powered), Cat6 to desks where heavy work happens, WiFi 7 for everything else. This is what most 15-50 person Auckland offices land on, typical cost NZD 4,500-9,500 fitted out, fully tested and certified.
What does choosing wrong cost?
Going WiFi-only when you should have wired: average Auckland SMB redo cost when the team grows past 20 people = NZD 7,500. Going all-wired when WiFi-only would have done: roughly NZD 2,500 over-spent on cable and patch panels. The asymmetry is why we usually recommend a Cat6 backbone even for small teams, adding wires later is much more expensive than over-spec'ing on day one.
Frequently asked questions
Will WiFi 7 work with my old WiFi 6 devices?
Can you install both at the same visit?
What WiFi 7 brands do you recommend?
Do I need WiFi 7 if my staff still use WiFi 6 laptops?
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Reviewed by Namra Shah, Founder & Director of Cabling For U. Cabling For U has been delivering certified network cabling, fibre and CCTV installations across Auckland since 2018, installing to TIA/EIA and AS/NZS 3080 standards.
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For most Auckland offices, Cat6 + WiFi 7 access points wins. Full Cat6 pricing here.