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    I wrote a guide to make tech support over the holidays less painful

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    • DustinB3403D
      DustinB3403
      last edited by

      That auto switch... omg... buying it for everyone I know...

      http://www.amazon.com/PI-Manufacturing-Internet-Controllable-Automatic/dp/B006PPISCG

      coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • coliverC
        coliver @DustinB3403
        last edited by

        @DustinB3403 said:

        That auto switch... omg... buying it for everyone I know...

        http://www.amazon.com/PI-Manufacturing-Internet-Controllable-Automatic/dp/B006PPISCG

        That is an amazing invention.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • coliverC
          coliver
          last edited by

          I haven't touched Powerline ethernet in 15 years., It was pretty terrible back then has it gotten that much better?

          NicN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • NicN
            Nic @coliver
            last edited by

            @coliver said:

            I haven't touched Powerline ethernet in 15 years., It was pretty terrible back then has it gotten that much better?

            It's gotten amazing. Great throughput, rock solid, and even has blinkenlights on it so you can see if there's a problem. I have them all over my house now. The only potential problem is if you have a really old house, or more than one fuse box. Outside of that it's plug and play.

            brianlittlejohnB BRRABillB coliverC 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • brianlittlejohnB
              brianlittlejohn @Nic
              last edited by

              @Nic Hmmm... i've never had good luck with them... I tend to go MOCA (assuming coax cable is ran) ... but then again I haven't used one in about 5 years.

              NicN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • BRRABillB
                BRRABill @Nic
                last edited by

                @Nic said:

                It's gotten amazing. Great throughput, rock solid, and even has blinkenlights on it so you can see if there's a problem. I have them all over my house now. The only potential problem is if you have a really old house, or more than one fuse box. Outside of that it's plug and play.

                Yeah I have one for my XBOX in an older section of the house. The one outlet is awesome speed. The other outlet, not so much.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • coliverC
                  coliver @Nic
                  last edited by

                  @Nic said:

                  @coliver said:

                  I haven't touched Powerline ethernet in 15 years., It was pretty terrible back then has it gotten that much better?

                  It's gotten amazing. Great throughput, rock solid, and even has blinkenlights on it so you can see if there's a problem. I have them all over my house now. The only potential problem is if you have a really old house, or more than one fuse box. Outside of that it's plug and play.

                  Ah I have both at the moment, and we had both when I was a kid playing with these as well. So that may have been the issue.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • NicN
                    Nic @brianlittlejohn
                    last edited by

                    @brianlittlejohn said:

                    @Nic Hmmm... i've never had good luck with them... I tend to go MOCA (assuming coax cable is ran) ... but then again I haven't used one in about 5 years.

                    Try them again as they've made huge strides. For $40 it's not a big risk.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • hobbit666H
                      hobbit666
                      last edited by

                      Good guide. I've got another good tip. Switch off your phone!!!!

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • MattSpellerM
                        MattSpeller
                        last edited by MattSpeller

                        powerline Ethernet

                        I just had PTSD flashbacks, ugh

                        Edit: old homes are very common here with lath and plaster. They put essentially chicken wire under the plaster and ground it out which makes a huge farraday cage. Powerline Ethernet was very popular here before it really... well... worked right at all.

                        coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • bbiAngieB
                          bbiAngie
                          last edited by

                          Unchecky just because my new favorite utility. How did I not know about this?!?!?!

                          When I go to x-mas with the bf's family I will for sure be installing this on his moms pc. This lady downloads more malware than anyone else I have ever met. Every x-mas I look at her pc and end up using malwarebytes to clean over 2k infected objects. I bet this takes care of at least 1/2 of them!

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • coliverC
                            coliver @MattSpeller
                            last edited by

                            @MattSpeller said:

                            powerline Ethernet

                            I just had PTSD flashbacks, ugh

                            Edit: old homes are very common here with lath and plaster. They put essentially chicken wire under the plaster and ground it out which makes a huge farraday cage. Powerline Ethernet was very popular here before it really... well... worked right at all.

                            Wow, my house has lathe and plaster and I have no metal chicken wire. One of the walls was coated in horse hair and plaster but that was about it. Man I'm so glad our house doesn't have that I can't imagine what it would do to wireless signal.

                            MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • MattSpellerM
                              MattSpeller @coliver
                              last edited by MattSpeller

                              @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                              coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • coliverC
                                coliver @MattSpeller
                                last edited by

                                @MattSpeller said:

                                @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                                My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.

                                MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • MattSpellerM
                                  MattSpeller @coliver
                                  last edited by

                                  @coliver said:

                                  @MattSpeller said:

                                  @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                                  My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.

                                  Pucker factor 9000 when you find aluminium wire - my cousin bought a house here with it 50/50 copper/aluminium. He couldn't even get house insurance until all the aluminium was taken out.

                                  coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • coliverC
                                    coliver @MattSpeller
                                    last edited by

                                    @MattSpeller said:

                                    @coliver said:

                                    @MattSpeller said:

                                    @coliver It's the death of even radio, became unpopular for that reason in the 50/60's. Sure was cheap to throw them up after ww2 though. Now the oldest ones (20/30/40s) are being preserved as heritage homes.

                                    My house is from 1907... we found so many different kinds of electrical in the walls it was silly. Some of them still powered even after they were replaced. I guess this should go in the housing horror stories thread though.

                                    Pucker factor 9000 when you find aluminium wire - my cousin bought a house here with it 50/50 copper/aluminium. He couldn't even get house insurance until all the aluminium was taken out.

                                    Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.

                                    MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • MattSpellerM
                                      MattSpeller @coliver
                                      last edited by

                                      @coliver said:

                                      Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.

                                      Holy crap you had this?!?!?

                                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring

                                      I would immediately tear it out, even if it's ok. I'd sleep better with it gone!

                                      The insulation degrades over the years and the rubber/cloth/fiber cable insulation falls off and you end up with bare wires in your walls!! I'm sorry, you probably know all this, but yikesssssssssss!

                                      coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • NicN
                                        Nic
                                        last edited by

                                        Yeah old houses and electricity can be scary:
                                        0_1450296740205_DR-Ceiling-Web-Words-copy.jpg

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                        • coliverC
                                          coliver @MattSpeller
                                          last edited by

                                          @MattSpeller said:

                                          @coliver said:

                                          Thankfully no aluminium. We had ceramic tube and knob, plastic tube and knob, cloth covered cable, some kind of metal lined cloth covered cable. It was just weird.

                                          Holy crap you had this?!?!?

                                          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring

                                          I would immediately tear it out, even if it's ok. I'd sleep better with it gone!

                                          The insulation degrades over the years and the rubber/cloth/fiber cable insulation falls off and you end up with bare wires in your walls!! I'm sorry, you probably know all this, but yikesssssssssss!

                                          Yep... we had two runs that were still live. One was ceramic (which we were told could last basically forever) the other was plastic (which we were told should have never been installed and can cause all kinds of issues, including death by fire). We elected to replace both runs with modern cabling.

                                          MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                          • MattSpellerM
                                            MattSpeller @coliver
                                            last edited by

                                            @coliver ugh, I just unclenched - glad to hear it haha

                                            coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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