Future proof? Yeah right

[Kevin]

My tv is 9 years old. It’s ok, but I know they’re much better over the years.

About 7 years ago, I got it mounted on the wall. Before that it was just on a big buffet.

When I had it put on the wall, we had AT&T internet. So this company ran some cat 5 cables and put in some access points to boost the internet wi-fi coverage.

I remember they kept telling me they would “future proof” my house. They told me that several times trying to sell me more.

What a joke. We bought a new television and I’m having someone else come install it tomorrow. And as I clean up behind the cabinet under the tv, I see these cables and hubs and switches.

They are covered in dust, not connected to anything at all.

Future proof my arse. Our internet is one of those Verizon cubes you just plug into the wall. Amazingly fast and so simple. No cat 5 cables, no hubs, switches or access points.

It will be interesting to see what the home internet/tv streaming is like in another 20 years. What will my daughter’s house look like?

 

[turd]

At the rate things are going, perhaps your question should be - will humans still be here in 20 years?

 

[GunnyGene]

At the rate things are going, perhaps your question should be - will humans still be here in 20 years?

Don't know about the rest, but I'm pretty sure I won't be.

 

[Yaworski]

Future proof my arse. Our internet is one of those Verizon cubes you just plug into the wall.

I have the T-Mobile version but I plugged mine into a router and have Cat5e cables going to my workstations. Don't really like "WiFi." I was installing "wifi" back when we called it "wireless networking" or "802.11". Oh, those were the days.

 

[Yaworski]

FWIW, future proofing with technology is always difficult. "We ran extra cables for expansion two years ago." "Sorry, can't use them, those are Cat99 and we're now using Cat1047, "

VGA? Wazzat? HDMI? Oh, now we're using DisplayPort.

Have a cool device that uses Mini-USB? Hard to find a cable for it.

And the beat goes on.

 

[Ride1949]

It will be interesting to see what the home internet/tv streaming is like in another 20 years. What will my daughter's house look like?

 

[Ale-8(1)]

By the time something hits the commercial market it's obsolete.

 

[Kevin]

FWIW, future proofing with technology is always difficult. "We ran extra cables for expansion two years ago." "Sorry, can't use them, those are Cat99 and we're now using Cat1047, "

VGA? Wazzat? HDMI? Oh, now we're using DisplayPort.

Have a cool device that uses Mini-USB? Hard to find a cable for it.

And the beat goes on.

So I’m glad I’m not the only one who put in cables.

I remember years ago looking at houses before we could even afford one. Many had “media rooms” and internet connections in every room. This was back in like 1997. So you know those are obsolete.

 

[Yaworski]

So you know those are obsolete.

Not if you're anti-wifi like I am.

 

[Kevin]

Not if you're anti-wifi like I am.

Not sure how to be “anti-WiFi” in this day and age. Not sure what that even means actually. You don’t use WiFi? How?

 

[3manfan]

My tv is 9 years old. It's ok, but I know they're much better over the years.

About 7 years ago, I got it mounted on the wall. Before that it was just on a big buffet.

When I had it put on the wall, we had AT&T internet. So this company ran some cat 5 cables and put in some access points to boost the internet wi-fi coverage.

I remember they kept telling me they would "future proof" my house. They told me that several times trying to sell me more.

What a joke. We bought a new television and I'm having someone else come install it tomorrow. And as I clean up behind the cabinet under the tv, I see these cables and hubs and switches.

They are covered in dust, not connected to anything at all.

Future proof my arse. Our internet is one of those Verizon cubes you just plug into the wall. Amazingly fast and so simple. No cat 5 cables, no hubs, switches or access points.

It will be interesting to see what the home internet/tv streaming is like in another 20 years. What will my daughter's house look like?

Get ready for another pitch from the guys tomorrow to future proof your future proof components by buying the latest future proof components.

 

[Yaworski]

Not sure how to be "anti-WiFi" in this day and age. Not sure what that even means actually. You don't use WiFi? How?

It's called Ethernet. I only have one thing that uses WiFi, my e-reader.

 

[txramfan]

The area I live in east Plano for 40+ years, is an area that AT&T hasn't ever been available since I moved here. GTE SW supplied my landline way back then.
Spectrum is the current cable connection here and Frontier is the fiber optic option ( I'm still using a Verizon labeled box for my tv signal but that is another branch on this odd post).
So , seeing a recommendation on the Verizon service and not really happy with Frontier I went to Verizon Wireless and learned I can not get that service. Cellphones are ok, not the cube for home wifi

 

[blume357]

I've got so many old now unused cables running under this house we've lived in for 45 years it is sometimes frightening....
As for the TVs, other than the plug for power they don't have a cable... they connect wirelessly to one of the two AT&T boxes that are connected to the little hair thin piece of glass running into the house... of course the 2nd time that fiber optic broke and the guy came out to replace it I said we are going to fix this... and he had to put it in the PVC conduit I had buried from the road to the house.... about 120ft.

 

[GasGuzzler]

GM requires a wired ethernet connection to shop PCs and many vehicle programming events require the diagnostic tool be hardwired to the PC. I have a Cat5 to USB 2.0 adapter for the PC. We had new junctions installed in the shop last year because there were too many programming issues using WiFi. The diagnostic tool comes from GM with a cable that has USB on one end and a proprietary connector on the other. I found a serial to USB adapter in my desk two weeks ago looking for some other weird adapter. At home I have 1 Gb fiber optic internet provided by a local company and it's just a cube.

 

[Mobuck]

Sometimes it's just better to say: "Good enough" and stop all the hoopla about improving this or that.
We've had three different approaches to 'satellite' based TV followed by a couple of other failed attempts to provide service out here in the sticks. Finally settled on a ROKU TV and whatever that provides running off our local telephone landline service ( I guess--it's all too technical for me to waste brain cells to figure it out). It saves $100/month and is 'good enough'.

 

[vito]

My house was built in 1990 and I bought it in 2005. There are phone outlets in almost every room and cable outlets in most of the rooms as well. When the cable company put in the latest router/WiFi device, I had the technician pull as many of the cables that I no longer needed, cleaning up the system considerably. With WiFI the only thing my printer needs is the power cord. I can sit anywhere in my home and use the laptop, connecting with WiFi to the internet. And WiFi lets me connect my Iphone to my flat screen TV via "mirroring", which is nice way to view videos of my grandchildren that my kids sent to me via texts. I can't imagine why anyone would not want a secure WiFi system in their home.

 

[Johnnu2]

SIMPICITY WARNING...!!!!!
We have a basic cable coming into our house; I know it's not fiber optic, I expect it's the original cable my wife decided we needed back in the mid-1990's. We have an older wi-fi modem which the cable company keeps trying to upgrade bec. they say it's the slowest modem they have, and we really NEED the faster version which costs more each month. As far as I know, we don't stream anything. We watch whatever channels you can get for free other than her football/baseball/boxing "channels" which she usually negotiates a discounted fee to obtain (don't know how she does this and I DON'T ASK). SHE has a somewhat large screen TV to watch her sports; we also have a normal size (?) TV in the living room cabinet (just in case); and the most watched TV is in my workshop; THIS TV is a 40+ year old, 13" color TV that she gave her grandson back in the day when he was a teenager. He gave it back to us in a few years saying it was too small. Each TV is attached to it's own cable box but there aren't a lot of loose cables and wires other than one to each box and one to the modem. There's no ALEXA, none of the TV's are "smart TV's". Life here is SIMPLE, uncluttered and VERY HAPPY..... oh yeah, we still pay $196 a month for this level of simplicity (via a monthly personal check). They get you either way.
J.

 

[Yaworski]

I can't imagine why anyone would not want a secure WiFi system in their home.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to use a laptop when they can have a nice big monitor and a high quality keyboard with tactile feedback.

 

[Yaworski]

SIMPICITY WARNING...!!!!!
We have a basic cable coming into our house; I know it's not fiber optic, I expect it's the original cable my wife decided we needed back in the mid-1990's. We have an older wi-fi modem which the cable company keeps trying to upgrade bec. they say it's the slowest modem they have, and we really NEED the faster version which costs more each month.

When I had my internet coming by cable, I bought my own modem/gateway/router rather than pay Comcast for one every month. It paid for itself in about six months.

 

[Kevin]

I can't imagine why anyone would want to use a laptop when they can have a nice big monitor and a high quality keyboard with tactile feedback.

I use both interchangeably. With a big monitor for example reading this forum is like watching a tennis match. My neck gets tired.

But for pictures and Adobe Photoshop, a big monitor helps. The monitor on my desktop is 42”. And NOT a TV, an actual computer monitor. There are differences.

Re Anti- WIFI: You know, not to have an argument, but I thought about your statement of not using WiFi. I was curious if people interact with WiFi on a day to day basis and not realize it.

Answer? You do. Many of the electric store payment systems use WiFi.

This is just one example. I’m sure there are more. So I’m sticking with my statement, “not sure how to be anti-WiFi in this day and age.” I don’t think it’s possible.

 

[Yaworski]

Answer? You do. Many of the electric store payment systems use WiFi.

That's the store using it, not me. However, simple way to avoid it is to use cash.

I use both interchangeably. With a big monitor for example reading this forum is like watching a tennis match. My neck gets tired.

Try resizing the window.

 

[blume357]

I mentioned all the wires running under my house, also up in the attic too and was thinking about this and realized one of the sets of wires were used for the intercom system I installed for a short while ... then I realized I still had the workings for it stored under the work bench in my shop... here are two of the units: talk about old school... but I bet they still work.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

I mentioned all the wires running under my house, also up in the attic too and was thinking about this and realized one of the sets of wires were used for the intercom system I installed for a short while ... then I realized I still had the workings for it stored under the work bench in my shop... here are two of the units: talk about old school... but I bet they still work.

View attachment 75083

The one on the left is an old field phone.
I have used one of those many times , in a former life.

 

[blume357]

I probably aught to figure out a way to pass these on.... like I said... I bet they still work...I think I have a couple more of the army field phones.... I haven't got a clue where they came from.....