Sunday, July 07, 2019

Wi-Fi Mania


Okay, I stepped completely out of my comfort zone awhile ago. I entered this "no dimwits allowed" zone knowing I own an overall success rate that is mixed at best, with the big money usually betting  I will be leaving, tail tucked between my legs, sucking up what little machismo I have left and asking, yeah that's right, asking a girl to help me out. 

Girls have always been the bane of my existence.  From the first one who successfully made me eat dirt in grade school to the one I live with now.  All of them over time, have proven they are every bit as much of a man as I am and may actually be carting around a bigger set of maracas.  I learned early to respect their gender.  

Well, this time I was bound and determined to not let setting up a new Wi-Fi gizmo force me into a fetal position while crying for my mama.  It was close.  It was maddening.  It was not something I would want to do again tomorrow.  But I did it.  And I survived.  Best of all, I did not have to plead for help and suffer the look my wife has ever ready to throw in my direction when I act like a helpless male and whine like a little girl boy.

I never guessed Wi-Fi gizmos wore out, but apparently they do.  I did notice the one in my office was not as strong as the one in BA's office.  Seemed its range was only around 20-25 ft.  It really became an issue when we decided to cut the TV cable cord.  The TV in the kitchen was just not streaming steady.  We were getting the circle the drain icon way too often and then the streaming would cease.

I looked up solutions online and found some that needed the disk that came with the Wi-Fi to run a diagnostic.  Like I know where the disk is for this WiFi gadget.  We bought it 10 years ago.  That's two or three computers ago.

Anyway, I lost an hour I will never get back bulling my way to success.  And in my world, an hour lost to a computer snafu is chump change.

Later .................................................................

7 comments:

peppylady (Dora) said...

Everything wears out and I even once got router from thrift store. I find techie trouble I just pop out a battery or complete shut down for a minute or so, and that usual fix most of my trouble.
Anyhow if doesn't do it. I then call some one who younger then millennium in.
Coffee is on

Kulkuri said...

I've been having internet problems for several years. Thought it was the router I bought at Goodwill about 10 years ago, bought a new one the other year and that didn't improve things.

I have figured out my problem is crappy ISP, but don't have much choice. Haven't found a reasonable alternative yet. Last year I had the repairman from the phone company here many times and I still have the same problem.

I did find something that showed me the problem isn't in my house. It's called ping plotter, it measures the time it takes a signal to make a round trip from your confuser to someplace in the intratubes.

https://www.pingplotter.com/products/free.html

The free version only gives you 10 minutes at a time but it is continuous. The graph just shows 10 minutes worth of latency. It will show you where the hang-up is, the first step is from your confuser to the router which in my case is 1ms or 2ms. I've some pings total over 2000ms.

PipeTobacco said...

Mike:

That is a perfect picture for showing the type of emotion I too feel at trying to get a damn computer gizmo to work.

PipeTobacco

yellowdoggranny said...

I scream cuss and make deals with the devil.........

PipeTobacco said...

So, Mike... if you are willing.... describe what your cutting the cord experience has been like as far as television. I have been contemplating it myself as cable is so damn expensive..... but it seems like either a) you give up on most tv, or b) it is 10 times the hassle to get it to work. Hopefully your experience has been better and could give me encouragement..... as I debate further to do it or not.

Kulkuri said...

Pipe Tobacco, as long as you have internet it's easy to watch tv online. Get an Amazon Firestick, you can jailbreak it and load apps that will allow you to watch just about everything you want. Some of it is taped and will show up a day or so after it airs and some apps will allow you to watch programs live. There are lots of videos on youtube that show you how to jailbreak the Firestick and load the apps for tv and movies.

I used my laptop to watch tv online at first, but it's more convenient with the fire stick because it has a remote.

MRMacrum said...

Peppy Lady - Yeah, the pull the plug, reset phase is generally all I know too.

Kulkiri - The Ping problem is a common problem. But crappy ISP is based on what is available. As it turns out, a new Wi-Fi did the trick.

Pipe Tobacco - Kulkiri uses "Fire Stick". I decided on "Roku" for my streaming needs. I have no idea which is better.