Four Shirts and Half Gig Internet

When Jay went to the gym, I went to the thrift store and found four short-sleeved shirts I liked. I need them for Sri Lanka and our winter travels. I hate it when we take a lot of pictures and I wore the same shirts years in the past! I found only one authentic Hawaiian shirt but none of these need to be tucked in. That's an important feature for comfort in the tropics. One was a bit too small, but as it turned out Jay likes it and will work for him.

   

Later, I rushed to use the hot tub before the Internet tech arrived. 'Jimmy' texted me and asked if he could stop in earlier than his scheduled 1:30 to 3:30 pm window. Sure, why not! I'm typing today's entry via Novus Internet. 

I had my own attractive, white modem but the company requires use of theirs.  It's free but it's not very pretty.  I can hide it better than it currently is.  

I was able to keep my two-point mesh routers.  So, there was nothing to change when the Internet started flowing. My WiFi network is called, FORBIDDEN PLANET and it hosts all my wifi connected devices. I was able to tell Google to turn on the hallway lights when Jimmy was still packing up his tools. I was without Internet for about eight minutes.

We're Switching to a New Net Provider

I've been with a local Canadian company called Surf Internet for five years. They started off first on our municipal fiber in New Westminster and seemed like a promising entrant. Through thick and thin, we stayed with them thinking that the company would eventually grow and become a reliable provider. Today, I received an email. Here are the first three paragraphs:

   

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Dear valued customer, 

We hope this email finds you well. We wanted to share an important update regarding our Fibre Internet services that directly impact you. 

After careful consideration of several important factors, we regret to inform you that Surf Internet will no longer be able to offer Fibre service in your location. We understand that this service has been an integral part of your online experience, and we sincerely appreciate your trust in us over the years. Please note that this notice does not apply to your TV or Home Phone service as these services will continue to be offered and will continue to work as long as you have an active Internet connection from Surf Internet or any other service provider. 

The Surf Internet Fibre service is scheduled to be decommissioned on Sunday, October 15th.

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Sure, sure.  It might as well have read: Dear John, it was us, it wasn't you!

Of course, the timing wasn't great.  We are due to leave for the winter on October 31st.  So, that would have left us without internet for about two weeks.  I'll need to move over to another service provider asap.  

Actually, I'm not upset for several reasons.  First, Surf never had a billing system capable of setting up an easy 'snowbird' service for Canadians who winter elsewhere.  They also never managed to have consistent staffing nor could I ever count on getting hold of help, when needed.

Another reason is that I also have my own modem and router setup.  I bought them on my own last summer after the Surf guys couldn't update an ancient all-in-one setup.  The former device couldn't handle the demands of our place as we have Google Home with at least 20 Wi-Fi lights and 40 devices in total.

In fact, the only thing keeping me was the price.  I was grandfathered under Internet rates that were really good.  Switching over will cost me about 40% more but I guess it'll be worth the money to get a more responsive provider.  I will not be going with a major Canadian telecom but another local company that has a stellar reputation.

A Novus technician is due here next Wednesday to get us switched over.

Most of My Life Was Pre-Internet?

Last night, when watching the final minutes of the final episode of season three of The Umbrella Academy, our TV screen froze. The green light on the main router started blinking red and the online lights of the cable modem started blinking as well. 

Our Internet was down and didn't come back up! How helpless and irritated we feel nowadays without wifi!  Our telephone is VOIP, all TV viewing and music comes via the Internet, and all of our commonly used house lights are smart.  There was nothing to browse on.  Lastly, Google wasn't available for questions or to do my routines.  

   

We hobbled through the rest of the evening by setting a hotspot on my phone and connecting it to a Shaw Wifi hosted-access-point in a nearby apartment.   At bedtime, I had to turn off the lights by hand rather than shouting, "Hey Google, good night."  And when we got up this morning, things were still not working!  My Internet service provider sent someone to our building to fix something in the utility room where the fiber enters. 

Phew! The tp-link Deco mesh router went back to green. Life is back to normal.

Hey Google ...

Before we left last fall, I was starting to encounter problems with my Google Home network. For example, when I asked to turn on the living room lights, Google might answer on the living room hub, on the living room mini, and the mini in the kitchen as well. Invariably, my assistant would tell me that there was a 'glitch' or to 'try again later'.  Then, the first device would dutifully carry out my original task.  How annoying!

I know that my problems stem from the fact I have far too many devices connected to the router in my old cable modem.  I get cheap fiber at street level by a local company but it's delivered via an ancient coaxial cable to the apartment.  

The provider I use is certainly not responsive to my questions. I've wanted to upgrade the old Technicolor device for a year now!   However, Surf Internet does let me go on snowbird break for five months out of every twelve!  And I want to just flip the switch when we return from winter and have my local network all come back to life.

Rather than going with a different modem and buying my own new router, I think I'll limp through this summer with a new wifi extender.  I plan to put all the smart home devices on it and, hopefully, this will take the load off the present modem/router.   I don't have any Internet dead spots as we've only 720 sq ft of floor space, but I need an extra SSID to offload at least 20 devices such as lightbulbs, VoIP, my printer and 3D printer, and the air purifier.

Amazon should bring me a TP-Link AC1200 WiFi RE300 tomorrow.  Our travel computer is the only device capable of AX, so I'll be all set until our November departure.  It is worth it to me to spend the Canadian $39 just to play.

Heat and Communication Disruptions

In the photo, Jay is busy cleaning the inside of our gas fireplace. Last night the wind blew it out and today it wouldn't start. 

He was able to start it after removing a lot of carbon and soot. It was a little as though Santa decided to bring us a few lumps of coal. 

However, I'm pretty sure we've not fixed the problem and a new thermocouple is in order. I wrote an email to our fireplace guy but he is swamped and didn't think he could make it until the end of December. 

Yet, we leave in just 11 days. Perhaps, we'll have to turn on and crank up the electric baseboard heaters.  We can get it sorted out when we get back in the spring.

Our Internet was out for a few hours today too.  I'm sure it had to do with the 'winter stop' I arranged.  Our provider cuts service during the dates we leave for winter.  I'm sure there was a mix-up with the instructions I provided yesterday; however, they never acknowledged the reason for our temporary outage.

It's always one thing or another, isn't it?

I Like Finding Technical Solutions

I pay only a small fee for access to local television via my Internet provider. I don't pay for any extra channels but we find that we require the local feeds for BCTV and Global Vancouver. We watch TV news in the mornings and evenings. Occasional the guys at Surf TV update their app. 

This morning, I downloaded a version called 16.3 from their website. I was running an app named version 18.1 and assume they've changed their numbering conventions.  Next, I had to sideload onto my Nvidia Shield.  However, as the app isn't designed for Android TV, I have to create a menu icon so it can be easily selected from the home screen. 

It doesn't take a whole lot of time but it's inconvenient. I did this just now. 

 

Pier Park for Internet in the Morning

This morning, we went to Pier Park so I could use the free, city WiFi. I had already written an email on my phone. It was addressed to the Surf Internet guys and detailed the MAC address of modem/router. I couldn't send from the apartment as we were without Internet, TV and VoIP.

I had upped service speeds when we got back from the winter but started to run into problems with the old device. It first became obvious when I was trying to upload 12GB video files to YouTube. The whole modem would crash and it'd require a physical reset in order to get back online. It was hard to pinpoint the trouble but it generally occurred during uploads.

I finally decided it was a problem with the technicolor hardware. The guys at Surf Internet, the ones who provide fiber into our building, were very helpful. They said they'd drop off a different modem to our building but the tech guys weren't able to come into apartments at the present time. I didn't see that as a problem and a guy stopped yesterday to drop off a different make and model.

I didn't want to fiddle with things last night, but this morning after the routines were finished, I plugged in the new one and it wouldn't access the Internet. I had already changed over the WiFi names and passwords for 'WINDTALKER' and 'WINDTALKER-G5'. That would ensure it wasn't necessary for me to have to run around and update the Google Minis, Hub, and nearly a dozen lightbulbs and switches. I've used that SSID for years and years!

Down in the park at around 9:30 am, I pressed ENTER and sent off the email and then Skyped to their support number. He said it appeared as though my modem was okay at that point. Sure enough, after a pleasant hike to the 'W' public-art containers, we returned to the apartment to find everything up and running.

Getting-Home-for-the-Summer Business

Day 142 - We realized, when we were at the airport yesterday, that we have exactly two weeks left in Kuala Lumpur. That means our winter is rapidly coming to a close. (Pretty soon, when I create an entry from British Columbia, I will stop prefixing each entry with a day number and winter 2018-19 will be complete.)

Seeing we've less than two weeks remaining, I have allowed myself to start thinking about the logistics involved in our return to New Westminster. Today, I wrote an email to our Internet / TV guys at surfinternet.ca. I want our snowbird account to be reactivated before our arrival, so when we switch on the power to the apartment, everything comes back to life. It's been a long time since I asked a Google Mini any questions!

I also allowed myself to get excited about our new vehicle. A shiny, new Hyundai KONA Electric is waiting for me at a Coquitlam dealership. I wrote an email indicating when we will be back in the province and that I'd like to complete the purchase within a few days of arriving. I asked if there were any details about the process I should know.

On both situations, I received responses. The Internet will be on when we get there. On my other query, I was informed I could make the online application for British Columbia's Scrap-It program. I will be letting the old Ranger go. As we are buying an all-electric vehicle, a provincial incentive program will provide $6,000 cash to get the old gas vehicle off the road. This is in addition to the standard $5000 EV incentive. 6K is quite a bit more than the Ford is worth, so it is with little trepidation that I'll let them crush the pickup which has been so good to us for 23 years!

Remember OTA Television?

Earlier in the summer, we moved to a local provider for 75 Mbps Internet service through our city's fiber network. Saying so long to our old provider meant saying goodbye to their TV over IP too. Luckily, Surf TV was offered as an add-on to our Surf Internet package.



There have been very few hiccoughs with our new guys. The Internet TV is an app which runs on a standard Android box. They've been working on it for some time as it's currently on release 16. I commented via their site that I was having trouble pulling up the list of recorded PVR shows. They promptly sent me the newest APK of their app. It is, indeed, a bit better.

I like working with this company early-on in their growth. I feel as though I'm participating in the development and improvement of their services.

Surf TV v16.1

One major advantage of signing up for Surf Internet was access to New Westminster's fiber network. Only copper snakes up to the tenth floor, but fiber now comes right into our buildings at a very, very reasonable cost.

I was getting television over IP with our former provider, so I wanted to do the same with Surf too. My old Android box had pretty good features, including optical audio out. However, part of the signup process for fiber included my purchase of a slimmed-down one for Surf TV too. The set up is a little less refined than Telus, but it gives us what we want with live TV. Most of our recreational TV viewing includes services such as Netflix; however, when we switch on the morning and evening news, we want it live!

Surf TV V16.1 is definitely usable. The PVR is obviously a work-in-progress but the on-demand programming is generally okay. Our former TV service from Telus cost over $30/month for the most basic tier. On the other hand, we paid for one full year of Surf TV at a cost of just $80 in total. I will gladly live with a bit of inconvenience for the chance of participating in the improvement of this more economical option.

Here is the first bug I'd suggest repairing in the next version of Surf TV:



A) The launcher on the provided Android box is pretty awful. I decided I'd much prefer using my own substitute. I have used Top TV Launcher 1 for a long time, so I loaded that onto the Surf TV box. My first icon now launches Surf TV.



B) However, the Surf TV APK interferes with my selection. Every time the box starts up, or whenever I exit an app, I must select which launcher I wish to use. Selecting ALWAYS has no lasting effect.



C) Even under Android's permanent settings, the selection of my choice will not remain. Something about the Surf TV APK is causing this. When attempting to delete the Surf TV launcher, the entire app disappears. Clearly, the problems shown here must have an easy fix. I'd like to see this problem disappear in v16.2.

Removing Dust from Behind a TV

It seems I have to buy new crap in order to clean behind the TV.

I had the opportunity to remove a few old devices, put in all the new hardware from the week, simplify some wiring, and suck up a few dust balls with the vacuum cleaner.

Old Things Removed

Telus ADSL Internet service: 25 Mbps Download / 5 Mbps Upload

Optik TV Essentials

Equipment: Telus modem, router, tuner PVR w/ harddisc

Monthly Bill: $125.93 (US $95.71) with taxes included

An Original Chromecast

New Things Added

Surf Internet Fiber (copper to 10th floor): 75 Mbps Download / 75 Mbps Upload

Basic TV Package

Equipment: Surf Internet modem, router, Tiny Android TV Box with cloud PVR

Monthly Bill: $41.06 (US $31.21) with taxes included

A Chromecast Ultra

Pick a Network, Any Network!

What's smaller than a breadbox, black, and brings the world into our living room?

I've outgrown most riddles, but today has included the type of work I love. I really could have been less of an 'English instructor in technical environments' and more of something in the technology space. However, liking something doesn't mean it would've made a good career for me. Teaching had its many joys!

Last evening, a technician from Surf Internet dropped off a router. We will finally be ditching DSL now that fibre runs into our condo buildings. The Internet will come up to the 10th floor on old copper cable but it traveled over our city's fiber project to get to us. Thankfully, this means a private company was granted use of the infrastructure to give New Westminster residents cheap access. I'm getting three times the bandwidth for about one-third of the price we'd been paying Telus for Internet and IPTV. Furthermore, these rates are guaranteed to remain fixed for a period of five years! Wahoo!

I had a lot of things to change today. I decided to keep my wifi called WINDTALKER. Now, I have that name in 2.4 and 5 GHz versions. All the Google Home light bulbs, outlets, and things such as my Ooma VoIP still stay on the slower network. I had to find the admin router screens for old and new. I hesitated unplugging Telus until I'm sure things are all set up on Surf Internet. So presently I have WINDTALKEROLD, WINDTALKER, and WINDTALKER-5G networks available in our 715 sq ft space!

New Paint Outside / Future Fiber Inside

Finally, the painters have gotten to this side of our building! We have had a pretty bare balcony since we got back from the winter. The painting of both towers is taking some time, but when they finish our corner, they're done! It sure takes a lot of work to complete two highrises.



One of our tasks today was to do some banking. A number of account updates come due for renewal in July. We have successfully changed everything to come due during our summers in British Columbia. For example, I recently changed our condo insurance to a different company but the starting and renewal dates will always be on August 1. It feels good to jet away in November and know there's nothing to which we'll need to attend until the spring.

Something else big happened this evening. We have known for a while that Surf Media Inc was coming to the lobby of our building. A few years back our little municipality installed fiber throughout much of the city. Businesses now resell Internet and data to residents over it. We arranged to do so. We gave up our Telus landline in 2017 when opting to use Ooma for a VoIP residence phone. Once, we had satellite TV but have used Telus for TV for at least a half-dozen years. Our ADSL Internet through them is years and years older than that! Pretty soon it'll all be history. We signed up for just 75 Mbps service today, but it is theoretically three times faster than what I'm using to post this.