The Lance J. Technoweb

I've transitioned to Comcast NOW, a lower speed, lower cost alternative.  The kids have grown up and moved out.  I'm spending much more of my time traveling.  I don't need the high speeds at home like I used to. This transition promises to save me $240 dollars a year versus my old "discounted" plan. Xfinity to Comcast Now transitioning process I went to the Xfinity store and told them I was cancelling two weeks out.  This isn't weird - people move all the time, so they do have a process for cancelling at a future ("move-out") date. Later the same day, I was able to go to the Comcast website and order the NOW modem for the new service. Note that Comcast didn't let me do this until I had a future cancel order in place.  Three days later, the modem arrived via FedEx. The cancel date came and went - Xfinity seems to have a grace period, so the old modem wasn't unceremoniously yanked out of service at midnight.  This made the transition smooth.  ...

There are a lot of cable modems on the market, and many are compatible with Xfinity service. However, that doesn't mean that every modem is perfect. My basic requirements are: Currently certified by my ISP.  Buying a cable modem that isn't currently certified is simply unlikely to work. Capable of supporting needed service speeds.  Buying a cable modem which cannot deliver the service needed is going to be an immediate bottlebeck.  Buying a cable modem which is far more capable that the service speed is likely a waste of money, No built-in WiFi capability or Telephone line capability.  A personally-owned WiFi router is likely a better choice than an all-in-one unit that will need to be positioned exactly where the cable is within the house.  Don't over-buy.  Cable modems do not last forever.  Manufacturers abandon support, and cable modems aren't infinitely durable due to things like lightning strikes and being powered on for years at a time. So what ...

I've been dealing with Apple computer gear for a long time, as have my friends and family. Here is a list of the old gear that me and/or my friends have in active service.   Note that this gear is in real service, and isn't treated as museum pieces or as part of a retro-computing hobby. 2008: Apple Airport Express, draft-N, first generation 2009: Apple MacBook, late 2009 (utility use only) 2010: Apple iPod nano, 6th generation 2013: Apple Airport Extreme AC 2015: Apple TV HD (4th generation) The big winner here is the Airport Express, which is modern enough to do its job, and it just keeps on going.  The device that my friend runs has been in operation for more than 125000 hours.  It received its most recent firmware update on 28 August 2018, 10+ years after its initial release. In terms of security: it has no open, unpatched CVE vulnerability reports.  Many generations of other routers have come and go while this one keeps going.

 I just installed a Ring doorbell the other day, and in perusing the website I read this gem: "security updates until at least four years after the device is last available for purchase"  Four years is all Ring promises for a brand new device?  This isn't 2007.  It's a mass market doorbell and a camera, something expected to be safely used for years, if not decades.  Even my home router has a longer promised life, and that's saying something. Ring management must be embarrassed by their ineptness.  They're idiots, and clearly the only way they know how to make a buck is not through great ideas and great implementations, but through planned obsolescence and customer abuse.  

After 90 years, traditional US television broadcasting is fading fast. ATSC 3.0, the newest US TV broadcasting standard, looks great on its face: modern, efficient, and flexible.  But there are growing problems, a tired plot that has been repeating over and over for all US broadcasters: Very poor content.  Broadcast TV is loaded with very low-value content.  Why watch broadcast TV if the programming is abysmal?  Yes, there are some excellent programs, but that's about 1%. High ad frequency.  Broadcast TV has a huge and growing volume of advertising. Why watch broadcast TV if the ads are so amazingly annoying, and when all of them feel like money scams? QVC may be profitable, but is it a significant value to the public? High cost.  The broadcast industry is working to make the tuner in your brand new TV obsolete in just a few years. Why buy a new TV today if it is just going to be obsolete in a couple of years? Blocking.  The broadcast industry is acti...

I purchased my Apple TV on its release day, in October 2015.  It continues to serve me perfectly, after nearly 10 years of active use. Although it is decidedly not the newest model of Apple TV, it does 100% of the things I want it to do without any issues.  Sure, I'd love a more modern SoC, gigabit Ethernet, Thread support, 4k video support, etc, but honestly I am not missing any of those features, so "upgrading" it today would be a waste of money.  I did sell the original Siri remote in 2023 and upgrade to the 3rd generation (USB-C) Siri remote. The original Siri remote was working great, but I figured after 7.5 years of use, it was time to get a new remote with a new battery.  I will likely upgrade my Apple TV in the future, but I can't predict when that will be.   Due to a quirk of its release strategy, this Apple TV was discontinued in late 2022, and so it is likely to be supported for several more years. A new device would have to be a leap ahead, because m...

I ended up buying a 2013 Honda CRV and decided to replace the stock radio/CD player with an upgraded unit.  This was far easier and cheaper than I imagined, but the hardest part was selecting a unit to buy  This article covers how I made my choice.   The basic form factor for my CRV head unit Selecting a Unit The Car I have a 2013 CR/V, which is the same series of all of the CR/Vs from model year 2012 through 2016. Therefore it was important to find a radio unit that fits this model. The CRV has steering wheel radio controls, and I wanted to use them.  This uses a technology called CAN-Bus, which is kind of like USB for cars.  Therefore, a CAN-Bus capability would be able to leverage all these steering wheel features.  In addition, the CRV has a backup camera that would be nice to tie into. And of course I wanted to leverage the existing speakers and USB port. Form Factor I wanted a unit that had a big display, and I wanted a unit that was easy to purchas...

I happened upon a set of Coax to Ethernet adapters and I decided to do an analysis of them. The adapters I found, by Commscope, use the G.hn protocol.  This protocol is used for many media types, with the general idea that existing or legacy cabling can be repurposed for modern home networking. I have some existing idle Coax in the walls and ceiling of my house, so I decided to try these adapters with this legacy copper.  Testing The home coax run I decided to try is a bit more than 10 meters long. I set up two PC clients on my network, with one PC being attached to one of these adapters, which was then attached to the 10 meter long cable. At the far end I attached the other adapter, which was then attached to my primary Ethernet switch.   The coax cable was in three distinct segments, 1 meter + 10 meters + 0.5 meters, all joined together with F-style couplers.   Network tested via iPerf   Results I successfully ran four trials of iPerf3 between my two PCs,...

2001 was the year when the largest percentage of US households were subscribing to Cable TV service (71%).  Since then, the CATV subscriber percentage has fallen... and precipitously. Peak Cable wasn't in 2015.  It wasn't in 2008.  It was in 2001! What is worse, by 2023 the households subscriber number had fallen to 34.7%.  That's right, half off its high water mark.  And is has continued to plummet since then. Why have so many people left cable TV? No doubt Cable TV's continued sky-high pricing convinced a lot of people to cut the cord and instead go to streaming services.  High base prices, ever-rising special fees, unavoidable rental costs, and scam-oriented "discount bundles" have all conspired to make the typical Cable TV bill run well over $100 each and every month. The Cable TV value proposition simply failed. So what's next for Cable TV?  I suspect no resurgence and a continued slow decay.  The people who are still on Cable TV simply don't...

I've had a traditional UPS powering my network rack for a few years now, but it isn't all that efficient because it sends DC battery power to an internal AC Inverter so that it can power gear, and that gear goes around and converts it back to DC.  It seems reasonable to skip this lossy process.  Here's how I did it. Uninteruptable DC Power Supply Diagram   Backup Voltage and Power My network's gear uses various voltages: 12 Volts, 24 Volts, and 5 Volts.  So my overall goal is to have three voltages available for my various devices.  Sadly, the computer UPS market doesn't seem to want to deliver any devices to satisfy these needs... at least nothing affordable. But there is another huge industry that had this need, and that's the world of small business security.  And in particular, small apartment buildings that use electronic locks!  They don't want their buildings to be inaccessibly locked during a power outage, and so they use battery backups all th...

I often find it challenging to find specific Xfinity web pages used manage my Internet service. Here is the list of URLs that I am often struggling to find. Status, and Remotely restarting the modem      https://www.xfinity.com/support/status      Under "Internet", there should be a Cable Modem entry that says "Connected" and which has a Restart button.   Monthly Data Usage      https://customer.xfinity.com/#/devices#usage Also in JSON form at       https://customer.xfinity.com/apis/csp/account/me/services/internet/usage?filter=internet Hotspot List      https://customer.xfinity.com/#/settings/security/hotspot-devices Speed Testing This is my go-to speed testing service.  It provides a lot of great information.  It isn't a Comcast service, but it does a great job.      https://speed.cloudflare.com/       

As of this writing in the US and Canada, there are exactly 238 "Daylight Saving Time" days per year, and 127 "Standard Time" days per year.  We change our local clocks twice a year, in March and November. Very early or very late sunrises mess up a lot of people, as does the clock change. Many people in the US would like to both eliminate the clock changes and shift their time zone. People in the areas that have very late sunrises effectively want to shift the timezone boundary to the west.  This includes states like Michigan, Indiana, and Georgia, which are inadvertently in the Eastern Time Zone.  Instead, many people in these states would greatly prefer to follow the clock of the Central time zone. Similarly, many people in the areas that have very early sunrises would want to shift their timezone boundry to the east.  This includes the Northeast, which could move to the Atlantic time zone. Many states have already voted for these changes, but it takes an act of co...

I have a couple Brother HL-3170CDW color laser printers.  They're pretty old, circa 2015.  One is working fine, and the other is dead with a laser-related issue and is being slowly scavenged for parts. In any case, these machines have firmware that needs to be periodically updated.  There are two chucks of firmware for this printer: Main Firmware Version and Sub1 Firmware Version . As of this writing, on 10-March-2024, the firmware versions are as follows: MAIN FIRMWARE is at 1.32  SUB1 FIRMWARE is at 1.07 A printer's version information can be seen by looking at http://{printer_ip}/general/information.html Updating the Firmware Unfortunately, the HL-3170CDW printer does not offer a built-in UI to deal with firmware updates.  Instead, the Brother Firmware Update Tool must be used to keep the printer's firmware up to date.  The tool can be found at The Brother HL3170cdw web page.   It can be found under Windows and Macintosh downloads. Note that the u...

I frequently read about how Puma-based DOCSIS modems have severe latency problems.  Back in 2016, a user on DSL Reports who states that he is an "EE" that "designs electronics" did an analysis and claimed that he found very frequent and repeatable ~250 ms latency spikes due to his modem's Puma chipset.  (It is important to note that this person did not claim to have any professional or academic credentials in networking.) The data he published - a repeatable and consistent 250 ms latency - seems so bizarre that I found it almost impossible to fathom that his findings were typical behavior, or that ISPs would certify such poorly behaving modems. Later in 2016, an article was published that amplified his claims and his story took off as "the experience of everyone with a Puma-based modem". By April 2017, another article was published in The Register stating that someone was pursuing a class action lawsuit against Arris related to Puma-based modems. [T...

I have a Roland HD-1 V-drum kit that is about 15 years old.  It was sitting for years when I got it, and when I put it all together it was clear that the pedals were not working.  Boo!  Time for a repair. Roland HD-1 Pedal Hammer under a Heat Gun. How the HD-1 pedals work With the Roland, a pedal actuates a variable resistor.  When you step on a pedal, it presses on the variable resistor.  Putting force on the pedal reduces the resistance of the resistor. A little force results in a small decrease in resistance.  A high amount of force greatly lowers the resistance.  The HD-1's computer detects this and makes the appropriate sound. There are two important parts to this mechanism: the electronic resistive strip, and a rubber hammer which presses on the strip in a variable way.  There is no internal difference between the left and right pedal. The guts of each pedal is identical.  Where it goes wrong with age Looking at mine, the problem was wi...

I have a large window in the front of my house and a roller shade was just the right window treatment for it.  But I also wanted to automate it. My MotionBlind Upgrade kit and my new roller shade I looked around to buy something that I was comfortable with, but simple non-automated roller blinds can be expensive, especially when they're larger than 6 ft x 6 ft.   This is disappointing, as a roller blind is just a tube with a small amount of synthetic cloth but can easily cost hundreds of dollars. Plus, since I wanted a smarthome blind, we're talking $500 or more from the "service oriented shops". I'm a tech guy.  I think can do better. After thinking about DIY and creative solutions, I decided to try out the Eve MotionBlinds Upgrade (MBU) kit.  This kit transforms an ordinary roller blind into a smart blind.  The MotionBlinds mechanism is basically consists of a small motor and battery in a long metal tube.  This motor tube slides into a roller blind ...

I like measuring things, and I like the weather.  So why shouldn't I own a weather station?  I've thought about it for several years, but never committed to it. Why not? Cost! But since I found a $35 solution, this year I did it! My Weather Station Configuration Why did it take me so long? When I looked online, I saw a bunch of $120 to $1000+ kits that did everything: wind, rain, solar radiation, barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, lightning, etc.  They looked big and complicated, and was more than I wanted to spend on what amounts to be a toy. The reasons I didn't buy one of these weather stations: Installing a weather station seemed like a pain in the butt. My property isn't really set up for quality weather data collection (limited open space, with trees, buildings, fences, etc). I didn't want to spend a lot of cash on finicky equipment.   Every other weather-related thing I've ever purchased has been pretty limited. But then I learned that this is...

 It has been a few years since installing my network backboard.  Since then, I've made a few updates.  Gear changes I relocated my Apple TV HD from the backboard to my living room, since I now I have a TV.  The Apple TV still functions as my HomeKit hub.  I added a MikroTik hAP AC2 to operate as my network router, replacing my hAP AC Lite. I added an Arris cable modem, replacing my hAP AC Lite WISP strategy I added a CyberPower UPS to the backboard.  I added a custom-built 12v DC power system, used to power my router, modem, and doorbell: I added a voltage boost converter so I could power the Ring doorbell with a 12VDC power supply.  My Ring wants about 14VDC minimum. I removed the less efficient 16.5 VAC transformer that previously powered the Ring In all, my backboard is consuming about 24 watts of power, which includes powering these devices: MikroTik hAP AC2 router PoE gigabit switch (with attached MikroTik Cap AC access point) HD HomeRun TV Tuner ...

I was reviewing the Comcast Xfinity "compatible cable modem" list in my area and I see that Comcast has started to organize their certified cable modems into four distinct quality categories: Recommended Next-Gen Modems Recommended Modems Compatible Modems that are recommended Compatible (but not specifically recommended) Modems Hitron CODA56 cable modem In terms of future proofing, it is clear that the "Recommended Next-Gen" category lists all the modems that Comcast prefers moving ahead, as the modems in this category all support the fastest high-speed upload performance.  What I've read is that these most advanced "next-gen" modems support "mid-split" and "high-split" mode, allowing them to deliver higher speeds on modernized cable TV systems.  Of course not all cable systems are modernized - some might be decades old.  Surprisingly, Comcast only lists two non-"voice telephone" models in the most advanced "next-g...

There are many choices when powering a wired Ring Video Doorbell.  Most people just reuse their existing doorbell power, but I wanted to see if I could improve that situation. When I first hooked up my Ring Wired Doorbell , I used an existing Honeywell Plug-in AC Transformer .  These AC transformers are very popular for both video doorbells, traditional doorbells, and security systems.  They reduce standard home voltages (120VAC in North America) to 16.5 VAC. In contrast, modern DC power adapters for home electronics are efficient. There are global efficiency standards on modern adapters , and in the USA the current efficiency standard is called "Level VI".  These efficiency standards help ensure that idle equipment has near-zero power draw, and that active equipment isn't wildly inefficient. The thing is, the standards are for modern single-voltage DC power adapters, but given that my Ring Wired Doorbell was hooked up to my home's 1990's vintage AC doorbell ...