50 thoughts on “September 22, 2020: All Things Being Equal”

  1. So bought that Linksys node thingy that cheaptoy recommended. It significantly improved my download capacity as promised, but man the internet seems to cut out even more than it used to. My son has his school computer sitting right next to one of the nodes and he was cutting out constantly this morning, crying. Unplugged the expensive thing and then his connection was fine.

    Anyone have thoughts?

      1. I can do that for my son, but if my wife's work computer is also wonking out ten feet from the node, then that doesn't help her

      2. And it is possible to be too close for WiFi.

        Hard to offer much help in the overall problem. Could be interference from other appliances, the ISP overloaded, or other things all contributing.

    2. Some standard IT questions -

      Have you updated the node/router firmware?
      Do you know what you are using as far as IP allocation?

      If download speeds are faster - but you have constant dropping it could be any number of things - but I would look at the IP allocation first (after power cycling and doing any firmware updates of course that is)

          1. Now this is the kind of service needed in this community.
            Also how funny that we're all just familiar and comfortable now with screen sharing conferencing.

        3. I would put this around #9001 on the list to check. I've never had problems except when doing manual static allocation and not copying the right value. DHCP has wholly eliminated this problem and that's what residential ISPs and devices use by default.

            1. Tough to say. The devices were just purchased so relatively new so might not have firmware upgrades available. Rhu_Ru mentioned device limits but I doubt the router has a check to limit the number of devices to ~10. The DHCP pool is one way to effect that but again, I would be surprised if that pool is under 50 and more likely it's 128 or so.

              Some ideas I have:
              * Check if the problem persists when directly connected via Ethernet. If this is fine, that rules out a lot of problem areas such as ISP and router. Conversely, if it isn't fine, this should rule out the mesh wireless. It could have revealed an underlying problem that you didn't notice before or there could be conflict between the two.
              * We recently had an issue with the internet going out. Our phones reported it as the WiFi being down. I checked a few things and it didn't quite add up. I use Unifi for WiFi and it's stable. I reset a few things anyway and it helped until the problem reoccurred. I then noticed the same problem happened over Ethernet. I reset the cable modem and that fixed it. I still don't know why WiFi was reported as down.
              * Check how the mesh network is set up, both physically and logically. How is it plugged into the router? Overall setup should be checked but generally many defaults are pretty sane.
              * I tend to prefer the "auto" channel set up because the devices can detect interference and adjust. I don't think picking manually is bad per se, but you need to be careful on the 2.4 GHz band because there are only three actually usable channels: 1, 6, and 11. The 5 GHz band has so many more channels that "auto" simply saves you time.
              * Your link had some weird suggestions like reducing the MTU and other things. I have actually dealt with and fixed MTU issues (had one come up two weeks ago! jumbo frames were a mistake) and the symptoms don't match what Beau describes. These are such low level things that seems unlikely.
              * Your link also suggested increasing the power. That's fine with one AP but you want to reduce the power, possibly to their lowest setting, with multiple APs. Clients can roam pretty well and reducing the power level encourages that to happen rather than sticking with an AP they can technically communicate with but at an extremely reduced rate. Reduce the power to reduce the range so clients will switch to the closest AP.
              * Related to the previous point, I just remembered a similar problem I had. My laptop is ancient and only supports the 2.4 GHz band. When my wife is playing music through the new Bluetooth speaker, there's enough interference (I assume?) that my phy rate dropped to 1 Mb/s and everything network related was unusable. SSH traffic to the server in the basement had such high latency that it was multiple seconds per burst of key presses. This sort of fits the describe problem but not completely. If the backhaul connection was disrupted, that would render the WiFi part unusable.

              Overall, the biggest thing is to isolate which component is the problem.

    3. I hope you figure it out, I would hate to recommend something that doesn't work for someone else. I haven't had any issues like that, and also have no idea why that sort of thing would happen.

      If it makes you feel better, my mom upgraded their internet and bought the (far) more expensive EEOS Pro setup and when I visited a couple weekends ago she had one plugged into the router and the other two also hardwired in because her phone wasn't picking them up to set them up wirelessly. So she had to spend another $100 on the little plug in node to cover the house.

    1. Funny. I noticed the same and do the same. I literally spent 30 minutes yesterday marking ads as irrelevant on FB. Also I am pretty close to just deleting my FB account. I belong to a few groups that are interesting but even those are less so these days.

      1. I've temporarily deactivated mine on and off for years, popping in when I need something, then going way.

        But this time I'm deleting it fully and never going back. I got on so I could show people a few things for The Second Child, but that window is coming to a close.

        1. If it wasn't for the damn useful groups (kid activities, marketplace...that could be replicated elsewhere) I so very much want to get rid of the social media. (FB historically, but I popped on Twitter when looking for news when shit hit the fan in Minneapolis this year, now can't seem to avert my gaze) There are undoubted benefits, but I'm having a stronger and stronger conviction that it is overall a net negative for democracy (and me.)

  3. 4th seed magic number = 5 - Yankees are heavy favorites tonight -264

    Division magic number = 8 - White Sox slight underdogs -123 tonight and face Bieber tomorrow

    No line on Twins game as we wait for official word on Twins pitcher with Odorizzi out.

    This is a fun time of year.

      1. And with that announcement the Twins are listed as -179 favorites.

        I expect the Twins to be favored in all 5 of the remaining games - we don't have to face Bauer - the only game I am not certain where we would be favored is the Pineda Castillo matchup on Saturday.

        It's not impossible for Sunday's game to be meaningless - but I would guess that Sunday will have the Twins needing a win to keep the 4th seed or maybe needing a win plus a Yankees loss for the 4th seed.

        1. What's the tie-breaker, since Twins-Yankmes have no head-to-head?

          Twins have a game in hand with one fewer loss and two more wins going into today.

          1. Better division record within own division. Yankees win the tiebreaker as the can't have worse div record and be tied with Twins..

            Twins have to finish a game ahead of Yankees for 4th seed.

    1. shared there and here:

      i had a bunch of shredded pork shoulder lying around. in a fit of whimsy, i tried to make a curry pork salad out of it. it was... not great

        1. Stew is not something I'd consider for sandwiches, but I've ground up beef stew with really thick gravy and made it into a hash of sorts. I seem to recall serving beef stew over rice back in the days of free government rice as well.

  5. Rolling Stone has revisited their list of the top 500 albums of all-time. Key takeaway:

    These Swedish pop stars became the world’s biggest group in the 1970s, with a streak of Nordic despair under the sparkly melodies. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were the bewitching frontwomen in the sequined pantsuits; their husbands, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, wrote global hits like the joyful “Dancing Queen,” the double-divorce drama “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” and the haunting farewell “Thank You for the Music.”

      1. Three times in the write up they talk about the group as being somewhat of a downer using the words, despair, drama, and haunting. The only time, the only!, where they depart from that theme is when they describe Dancing Queen as "joyful". I continue to stand by my assessment.

  7. Don't know how many around here are interested, but as of now, at least, the Mexican Pacific League and the Dominican Winter League are planning to play. The LMP is scheduled to begin play on October 15 and the DWL is scheduled to begin play on October 30. I don't know about Puerto Rico or Venezuela. The Australian League appears to be planning to play but has not announced a schedule yet.

Comments are closed.