Comment by missjellyfish | Hacker News Reader

Comment by missjellyfish | Hacker News Reader

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You obviously have never thought about the use of PoE. You just cannot compare PoE and USB-C Power delivery as these are made for entirely different applications.

I'd rather buy a WiFi router that gets its power over the ethernet cable that I have to run to the location I'm putting it anyways rather than place a USB-C outlet next to it so I can power it via USB-C. Same goes for small switches and other network enabled equipment, especially IoT stuff (if it's wired). Also, having one beefy PoE enabled switch in the basement providing power is much more efficient than having a bunch of small transformators around the building.

Now, charging Laptops on the other hand is a completely different story.

> You obviously have never thought about the use of PoE. You just cannot compare PoE and USB-C Power delivery as these are made for entirely different applications.

They're replying to a very specific comment:

> If we were to embed anything new in the walls I think it ought to be Ethernet, then make people use PoE.

and they're noting that providing ubiquitous USB-PD seems more useful and practical than providing ubiquitous PoE. "Wired-network" devices keep getting rarer, and new devices are significantly more likely to be powered over USB than ethernet if they're using any sort of standard power supply.

Yes exactly this.

I’m also thinking outside of computer equipment. Clocks, TVs, Lamps, Fans, chargers for vacuum cleaners, blenders, mixers, dehumidifiers, heaters, microwaves, fridges, speakers, etc anything you can plug into a typical home power point today.

I realise it’s not going to happen for a few reasons but to me the ideal of a single socket type that works around the world without special adapters would be an amazing achievement. We’re already seeing this partially when it comes to computing devices and USB, but would love to see a USB standard that could support all other kinds of typical home and office power requirements. Something I hope the designers of the next USB standard are also interested in.

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