Tech Tips
Smart homes are great....when they work like you design them. For the average home, a couple of smart bulbs or switches SHOULD work OK.
Over the past year, I have increased the number of light bulbs, switches, thermostat and Google assistants around the house to over 30 devices. The problems started with devices refusing to turn off or on through Google Assistant. THEN, in the KASA app (the app controls all TP-Link smart devices) started dropping devices. When I opened the app on my phone, the devices were greyed out. When a device was clicked on, I would get an error, "device is not available".
I attempted every trouble-shooting tactic in the book: 1) I reset the devices to factory settings and re-added them to the home network, 2) I uninstalled and reinstalled the KASA app, 3) I checked the Google Play Store for updates on the app.
The devices would work for a couple of minutes and then disappear again. The strange thing was that they would still turn off and on as scheduled, but I could not control them from the app.
Finally, in desperation, I called TP-Link technical support. Unfortunately, after a few emails back and forth, they were unable to come up with an answer. I performed search after search on Google to find a solution.
I finally landed on an obscure blog that explained the problem. When you use a company's app to turn on an Internet-based light, switch, adjust the thermostat, etc., you are NOT communicating directly with the device You are sending a command over the Internet to the cloud server for that company, which in turn sends the signal back to your home and to the device.
Now, this isn't really a problem with a FEW devices. But once you start loading your home's router with dozens of these devices, the router is taxed beyond reasonable limits. Routers are normally capable of handing up to 255 devices. However, the majority of these "smart" devices
communicate on the more traffic-laden 2.4gHz band. To make matters worse, switches and bulbs are constantly sending a "ping" over the Internet every few seconds. Multiply this by 20-30 devices 24/7, you can see how your router would be ready to literally throw up! To make matters worse, if you have cheaper devices from Chinese companies, you are trusting that the company is keeping your router's ID and password secure on their servers. If that information gets out and is in the wrong hands, a hacker could effectively have total access to your home network!
What is the solution? Buy a cheap second Wi-Fi router, connect it behind your ISP's router, assign it a separate set of wireless IP addresses and connect all of your lights and switches only to that router. That secondary router can handle that amount of negotiating traffic because the ping signals are very small and this router is ONLY tasked with sending "on" and "off" signals.
This is especially critical for those of us who have AT&T U-Verse accounts. Unfortunately, AT&T bundles the modem and router into one device. So, this poor gateway is not only handling Internet signals, but ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, television and possibly even digital VOIP phone service.
It is not very difficult to connect a "router behind router", but there ARE specific steps you have to take to make things go smoothly. There are tons of YouTube videos and articles that explain how to do these connections. NOTE: Don't expect your ISP to help you with this as they do NOT support 3rd party devices.
The bottom line?? Since I have switched all the smart devices over to the Netgear router, everything is working perfectly. All devices show up in the app and I can control everything by verbal commands through Google Assistant. Now, the AT&T Gateway is ONLY responsible for controlling TV, Phone and a couple of streaming Roku players. In addition, I don't have to worry about any of these companies being hacked and getting my main router's ID and password out onto the dark web. Since the Netgear router is on a different set of IP addresses, a hacker still cannot gain full access to the AT&T gateway and infect my PCs with critical information.
HAVE MORE THAN ONE AIR TIES AT&T EXTENDER??? Don't count on AT&T to help!
To begin, I apologize for the rant, but I am truly tired of the fact that most times I end up knowing MORE than the "helpful techs" at AT&T!!! I'm no genius, but I found so many times AT&T couldn't give the right information. I have to perform tons of Internet searches for the answer and an EXPERIENCED tech would know this information!
ANYWAY, if you have more than one signal extender, here's how to pair them properly so they can communicate with each other:
1) Temporarily locate the AirTies extender within a few feet of the AT&T U-Verse portal. Plug it in and wait for the green lights to blink.
2) Press the WPS button on the Gateway and then on the AirTies extender. Wait 2-5 minutes for it to pair. When it's paired, the green lights at 2.4 and 5ghz will light solid with occasional blinks.
3) If you only have one extender, you can now unplug and locate elsewhere in the house.
4) If you have more than one, leave the FIRST paired extender plugged in and near the Gateway. Plug in the second extender and wait for the green lights to both light.
5) NOW, press the WPS button on the FIRST extender and then press the WPS on the SECOND extender. Again, wait 2-5 minutes for pairing and solid green lights. They can now be placed around the house.
Create your own Website with Wix.com
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For years, I struggled with professional tools only to burn hundreds of ours trying to create an attractive website. I finally sold all of my "pro" software and gave Wix a try. Creating this site was an absolute joy. I had the basic site with 5 pages up and running in less than 3 hours, start to finish.
You can let Wix host your site free of charge, but your website address will start with www.wix.com OR you can register your own domain (Wix takes care of the nitty-gritty) for a small yearly fee, and for less than $15/month, they will host your site on their servers but under YOUR domain name.
Give them a try - it's free, so you have nothing to lose. I'm sure you'll be impressed (and no, I was not asked or paid to write this article)
