Latest / Around the House with Eric G®: Home Improvement Remodeling & DIY / Smart Home Myths: Smart Thermostats, Home Security Devices, Wi-Fi Routers and Phone Chargers

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Smart Home Myths: Smart Thermostats, Home Security Devices, Wi-Fi Routers and Phone Chargers · Around the House with Eric G®: Home Improvement Remodeling & DIY

• 0:04
  From coast to coast, it's the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with certified kitchen designer Eric G.
• 0:12
  And co host John Dudley, a former contractor and online technology expert.
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  Delivering real fixes, smart tech and trusted advice.
• 0:22
  Remodels, repairs, energy savings, smart homes, diy.
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  We've got your answers.
• 0:29
  It's around the house.
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  Dive in and get inspired.
• 0:33
  Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
• 0:37
  I'm Eric G.
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  Thanks for joining me today.
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  Well, we are going to have a great two hours here for you today and this is going to be a great show because we are going to be talking about.
• 0:47
  Yeah, those big myths.
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  There are so many myths about your home that we see on the Internet and we are going to go through and figure out if they're real or if they're busted.
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  And so a lot of these are going to be, well, things that you're seeing on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, you know, all those different things X now, I guess, and then of course, Instagram and all the different things out
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  there.
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  Because I tell you what, there are a lot of influencers out there that are throwing stuff up on the Internet.
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  And you know something, many of them don't know what they're talking about.
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  And I really saw some yesterday that I'm like, oh my gosh, these are going to cost.
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  They're selling something on the Internet, of course, and it's going to cost people thousands to tens of thousands of dollars if you follow their advice.
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  And so I thought, you know, it is time for us to dive into home myths.
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  Busted.
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  Yeah, we're going to take care of those today.
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  So we're going to start out here in the first segment of the show talking about some of the home tech myths that we see out there.
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  And there are no hard and fast rules.
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  So we're going to talk about kind of maybe the myths about home tech.
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  The first one here, smart thermostats always pay for themselves fast.
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  You know, it doesn't always work out that way.
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  If you're moving it all over the place and at night you change it to this and the day you change it to this, that can was that is where it really can save you some money.
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  But it depends on if you just set it at 70 and you haven't touched it for years, except for a change of seasons, you know, it might not change that much.
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  So here's the thing, it depends on what thermostat you put in there.
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  And let's talk about this for just a Second, with smart thermostats, these are not going to be a set it and Forget it for 10 years.
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  Like that old thermostat, you know, the one that came with the unit and it's been there for 15 years.
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  Yeah, you might want to do the upgrade on this every three to five years.
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  So there's going to be a little bit more because you want it to work.
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  And the problem is, is as these things get smarter, they kind of outdate the other ones, because if they give everybody a smart thermostat once, they want to sell you another one in five years.
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  So it's kind of like your cell phone.
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  If you're four versions back, the thing's barely working.
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  We see that with smart items as well.
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  So they're a lot like your phone, so you got to be careful of that.
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  And so your savings on a smart thermostat solely depends on your current habits, the climate, how well insulated your home really is, if you're already good at about adjusting manually or you live just in a mild climate that
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  might not pay back what's advertised.
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  And so it's something to be careful with.
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  Now the next one is more smart devices, more secure home.
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  Not always the case.
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  Every connected device is also a potential entry port if it's not maintained, updated, and properly networked.
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  More devices without proper setup can mean more vulnerabilities, not fewer.
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  So make sure when you're putting all these smart things in that when it says auto update, you click it, make sure that they're going through, or once a month go through.
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  And when you're looking at it, whether it's the smart home app on your phone or the one that's working with that, make sure that you're resetting things, as in powering things off, powering them back on from time to
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  time.
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  Just like your router at home, you should be doing that at least once a month.
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  And if you can do that, it keeps things updated, it gets things connected, and it makes sure that that update doesn't get lost.
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  Same thing goes with your smart TVs and anything else, do the updates, because most of the time those are security updates and that's going to show and plug up those vulnerabilities as they get found.
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  So that's a big one right there.
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  Smart home tech is plug and play.
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  That's another myth.
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  Well, it's getting a lot better.
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  There's a lot more interoperability between things where your TV could talk to your thermostat and your appliances are Talking together.
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  But really it has to come down to you planning ahead, that real integration.
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  So to make sure you're getting devices from different brands to talk to each other, that takes work.
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  You need to plan that they're all in the same language.
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  Sometimes you might have to even get some professional help with that to come in and get it all set up correctly.
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  If you're jumping in and go, okay, I'm doing everything in matter.
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  Got to make sure everything uses matter.
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  And that's another smart home language.
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  So think of it as smart home is like a language.
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  If it's all talking English and everybody's speaking English, it's great.
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  But if you get somebody in there speaking French, it can make for an issue.
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  So that can be a big one.
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  Do you use the router that comes from your Internet service provider or the one you have at home?
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  And this really, you know, if you went down to Office Max or Best Buy or whatever, and you pick something off the shelf as a router and you're like, I'm not going to pay the three or four dollars
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  a month to make sure that, you know, I don't want to pay the rental fee or whatever it is, depending on the service provider, that can be an issue.
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  Now we have some issues going on right now, and this is what we're seeing.
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  All new routers come into the country.
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  If they're coming in from overseas, they're basically banning them.
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  So they're making it so all Internet routers like this have to be made in the usa.
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  That's an FCC thing, Federal Communications Commission.
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  So right now, if you are not, you know, the, the super tech person, your best bet is to use the router that comes from your service provider because they are going to do a better job of updating it
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  and making sure that everything is working.
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  And then that gives them access into that router.
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  If you have issues, if you're like, where's my Internet going?
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  You can use their chat or their customer service can go in and reset it and do that.
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  If you're using your own router, that's kind of up to you.
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  And then you need to be making sure that you're getting the most out of your Internet.
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  I think that's one of the biggest things that we see out there in smart home technology is we're seeing people, they buy that I want 500 down, 500 up megabits per second download, I'm going to pay for a
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  little more premium service.
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  And then they have an old router that's only giving them 100 and the 400 will never get to them because of that old router or it's missing eight updates because you haven't logged into your router or done the
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  reset, which sometimes will force that into going into update mode.
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  So that's one of the big things that.
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  Making sure you've got that already uploaded, ready to rock, and using it safely because they have some, well, usually better security into those routers than the one you have at home, because they have to maintain that and they
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  want to keep it so people can't just log into their system.
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  So that's one of those things that I want you to pay attention to.
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  That router if you're using your own router or not using your companies, for instance, you know, I'm very familiar with Comcast Xfinity.
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  I have that for the home and office.
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  Works really well.
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  But I always use their router because I can jump on their app and control it.
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  I can go through.
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  It'll give me security warnings.
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  It will let me let someone log in and borrow it if I have a guest over at the house or somebody in the studio and we can do something like that.
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  And then they're managing that.
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  And I just go through on a day that I know I've got 15 minutes where I don't care if the Internet's down, I can go through, restart it, make it seem fresh again, and it always just makes things
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  a little bit faster.
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  And then you can go through and do something like speed test, go to speed test.
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  And I can check how fast my Internet provider is.
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  Am I getting what I pay for?
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  Then you can start finding out what are those kind of handicaps that are slowing it down.
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  Maybe it is that old router.
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  Maybe you have an old mesh system or some of those very old WI FI extenders that aren't meant for speed.
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  They just don't work.
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  Well.
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  That's where you want to kind of go in with a.
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  With a mesh network and get that dialed in, because that mesh network is going to get you.
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  So you can have cameras on the outside.
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  If you're out sitting by the pool, you could be streaming your favorite football or baseball game or whatever's going on.
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  Usually if you've just got that router, unless it's just a small apartment, you're really going to want to have that mesh network.
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  So better signal everywhere is good.
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  That will sure help you out and keep it.
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  So your smart home system is working correctly.
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  I know we've talked about it, but I Wanted to dive into these myths really quickly here and to make sure with that.
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  Now one thing to take away from this.
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  There are myths about a smart home stuff and if you pay attention it can work really well for you.
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  And I hope these tips help you.
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  When we come back we're going to talk about probably the most common one here.
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  That is a myth about data centers.
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  And this is a hot topic.
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  We'll be diving into that around the house.
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  We'll return after these important messages.
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  Don't change that.
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  Dial.
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  Foreign.
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  Hey guys, welcome back to the around to around the house online dot com.
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  Well, we're going to steer into this one today.
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  This is data centers and it is probably the hottest.
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  We're going to dive into the nitty gritty on this.
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  And here's the thing, I'm not pro or against these.
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  It's all about putting them in the right places because we're going to be using them whether we want to or not.
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  And they are a big agenda.
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  There are people, counties, cities, townships that are dealing with this stuff who have never had to have a tech discussion before.
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  You're already using one probably before breakfast.
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  Before you jumped in the car and went to work, you probably touched the data center a dozen times.
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  Did you check the weather on your phone?
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  Yeah, that's a data center to unlock your phone with face id.
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  Yeah, that went through a data center.
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  Check your bank balance and a Venmo payment, get your paycheck direct deposited.
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  Yeah, it all runs through data centers.
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  The New York Stock Exchange itself trades out of data centers in New Jersey with backups in Chicago.
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  There's no physical trading floor moving that money physically anymore.
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  Now you're streaming this show, storing photos in the cloud, checking your smart doorbell camera video, calling your doctor, filling that, that prescription online, even calling 91 1.
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  Yep.
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  Every one of these everyday moments depends on the same infrastructure.
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  Data centers aren't just some new AI invention that showed up.
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  They've been quietly running your life for decades now.
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  What's changed is scale.
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  AI, cloud storage, streaming, demand are all stacking on top of each other at the same time.
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  And that's what's driving the current building boom.
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  Now location is big.
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  The China question, who should be building these now this is where it gets a little more serious.
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  And I'm just going to be straight with you on this.
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  This is a live debated issue in Washington.
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  This is a elected folks kind of thing, not a settled fact.
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  So congressional investigators have found real problems.
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  Chinese state linked telecom carriers kept equipment and network access inside US Data centers even after the FCC revoked their operating licenses.
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  House Select Committee reported that in August 2026 here that found one carrier alone China Mobile USA still had points of presence in 27 different US data center and interconnection facilities.
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  The FBI has also said Chinese state back hacking campaigns have already gained access to pieces of US Telecom, energy and water infrastructure, the same categories of critical infrastructure a data center plugs directly into.
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  Think of it like a bank vault.
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  You want to know who has the key, not just who poured the concrete.
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  A data center isn't a warehouse full of computers.
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  It's a choke point for financial transactions, your medical records, utility controls and communications.
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  Who owns it and physically maintains that building really matters.
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  That said, it's fair to note the other side of this Some policy researchers argue it's a China security risk gets used as a catch all justification anytime there's local pushback which can end up drowning out of the legitimate
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  water and power concerns that deserve their own hearing.
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  So the question is water.
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  That's one legitimate worry.
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  And it's part of the pushback that's really well founded.
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  So let's give it the respect it deserves here in this discussion.
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  A typical enterprise Data center uses 300,000 to 500,000 gallons of water each day for cooling.
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  A large hyperscale AI campus can use 5 million gallons a day.
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  That's comparable to the daily water use of an entire town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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  Nationally, U.S.
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  data centers pulled roughly 17 to 18 billion gallons of water directly for cooling in 2023.
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  That number is projected to more than double by 2028.
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  Now here's the part that a lot of people miss.
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  The power plants generating the electricity for these data centers consume even more water than the buildings themselves, roughly 12 times more by one federal lab estimate count that in total, US water footprint tied to data centers was about
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  228 billion gallons in 2023.
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  And that's the last great data I could find.
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  So nationally, it's still a small slice of US total water use well under 1%.
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  The real problem is concentration.
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  An estimated 40% of US data centers sit in areas already under high or extreme water stress, which is exactly why more than 50 cities and counties have pushed back on paused projects.
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  The water concern isn't the boogeyman here.
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  It's just simple math.
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  And it deserves a real answer at your next public hearing.
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  So that's a big one.
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  Now good news is the fix already exists.
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  It's the same trick that nuclear plants use.
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  So closed loop Cooling already solves most of this.
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  And it's not new tech because again, I grew up by nuclear power plants.
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  They've used a version of it for decades.
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  Most data centers today cool themselves with these big evaporative cooling towers.
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  The same principle as nuclear power plants iconic cooling towers.
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  Water vapor evaporates to pull the heat out and the water's genuinely consumed, not borrowed.
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  Closed loop or dry cooling recirculates the same water indefinitely in sealed pipes, rejecting heat to the air instead of evaporating it away.
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  But the numbers here are dramatic.
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  Vantage's closed loop campus in Wisconsin peaks at about 22,000 gallons of water a day compared to the roughly 5 million gallons a day for comparable evaporative cooled site.
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  That's a 99% plus reduction.
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  Now Microsoft Zero water cooling design saves an estimated 33 million gallons per facility every year.
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  A new closed loop AI facility going up outside Chicago is projected to save 277 million gallons a year compared to a conventional build.
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  So the big question, why doesn't every project just build this way?
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  Comes down to cost guys.
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  Closed loose closed loop Systems typically run 20 to 40% more expensive to build than comparable evaporative system.
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  And traditional dry cooling can use more electricity than evaporative cooling, especially if you're in a hot climate.
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  The same reason a closed cycle nuclear plant loses a few percentage points of generating efficiency compared to the once through cooling.
• 17:02
  Newer direct to chip closed loop designs kind Oracle and Microsoft are building now cool the chips directly instead of the whole room which can actually cut power use rather than add to it breaking that old trade off.
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  Nuclear power figured this out a long time ago, decades ago because rivers and lakes couldn't take the strain of pulling straight from the source.
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  Data centers can do the exact same thing and cut water use by 99%.
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  It costs more to build.
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  So the question your county commissioners isn't block it or approve it, it's why isn't this one closed loop and who's paying the difference?
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  Now there is one huge thing going across the country here and we're seeing it here in the Pacific Northwest.
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  No, wildfires are not being set to clear land for data centers.
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  There's just such a reoccurring claim on social media that's saying that all the wildfires are being deliberately set.
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  Blaming arson and on a directed energy weapon theory specifically to clear land for data center construction.
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  They haven't been using this just for data center, they've been doing this for all the big fires.
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  Oh, it's going to be for affordable housing.
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  It's going to be for billionaires.
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  It's going to be for this.
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  It's just an old conspiracy pattern.
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  So there's a lot of that.
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  It's not helpful and there is absolutely no basis for this.
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  That's my opinion.
• 18:33
  We'll talk about this just as soon as around the House returns.
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  Where's the best place to put them?
• 18:38
  You might be surprised.
• 18:39
  Around the House will return after these important messages.
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  Don't change that dial to contact us.
• 18:43
  Head to aroundthehouse online.com and send us a message right there.
• 18:49
  Around the House.
• 18:49
  We'll be right back.
• 19:01
  Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
• 19:06
  Thanks for joining me in this lively discussion today.
• 19:09
  We've been talking here about those home improvement myths, things around your house that maybe aren't true and we're getting down to the facts here.
• 19:18
  Now if you want to comment on this, head over to aroundthehouse.com you can send me a message there.
• 19:24
  I'm sure there's a lot of dissenting arguments on this chapter here where we're talking about data centers and so love to send them over there.
• 19:33
  Now let's get into the next chapter for Data centers might not be here on the ground at all.
• 19:39
  The next generation of data centers might not be built in your next door woods here at all.
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  They might be building it in orbit.
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  And this isn't crazy science fiction anymore.
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  So Google's project Suncatcher is targeting a demonstration mission for 2027.
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  The startup Star Cloud already put an Nvidia H100 trip in orbit in November of 2025.
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  SpaceX and XAI have filed FCC applications for up to a million data center satellites.
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  Axiom Space is building towards an orbital data center is part of its planned space station.
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  The appeal is real.
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  Solar panels in orbit soak up constant unfiltered sunlight.
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  No clouds, no nighttime, no atmosphere in the way, delivering roughly 1361 watts per square meter versus 150 to 300 watts per square meter effective in the ground.
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  It's not close.
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  Star Cloud is making claims that could eventually mean power roughly 10 times cheaper than on Earth.
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  And there's no zoning board, no water permit, and no neighborhood hearing to fight.
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  Here's the part that surprises most people.
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  Cooling is actually harder in space, not easier.
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  On Earth, we cool data centers with air and water, the vacuum of space.
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  There's no air and no water to carry heat away.
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  The only way to shed heat is by radiating it into space as infrared light, which is A far slower process than convection.
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  Star clone engineering white paper estimates that a radiator would need to be roughly the size of a hockey rink just to cool a data center a fraction of the size of a single earth based facility.
• 21:24
  Solving that cooling problem, not just the sunlight or the zoning, is the single biggest engineering hurdle the entire orbital data set industry is racing to crack.
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  So my point of talking about this, you're seeing this in your county and city planning meetings.
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  This isn't just something simple.
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  And this is where your voice as a homeowner has real leverage.
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  Skepticism is super healthy.
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  Misinformation is it?
• 21:53
  Ask great questions about water and power.
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  Ask specifically about cooling technology, evaporative versus closed loop, and who's paying the difference.
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  Don't get taken off into left field by fringe theories and investors have already run down that combination.
• 22:13
  Informed skepticism instead of reflexive opposition is how communities actually get a say in how these things get built instead of just getting steamrolled or getting nothing at all.
• 22:25
  So that wraps up my take on data centers.
• 22:29
  And you know something guys, there's a lot to it and I'd love to hear your comments.
• 22:34
  I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that know way more about it than I do, but that's the facts that I could come up with.
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  So take your time, get informed and see what happens.
• 22:46
  Now let's get into some security tech myths.
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  Right here.
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  A loud alarm siren is the best deterrent.
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  Sometimes it's not.
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  Response time and verification matter more than noise.
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  A siren can even prompt a faster smash and grab since the intruder knows exactly how long they have.
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  Myth number two, cameras alone stop break ins.
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  Here's the thing guys.
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  Cameras are everywhere.
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  Almost every front door.
• 23:17
  And assuming that having a camera installed is a deterrent itself in the solution doesn't work like it used to.
• 23:25
  Your camera is going to document what happened.
• 23:29
  They don't usually intervene.
• 23:31
  Footage is useful after the fact, but it's not going to stop someone already committing that crime.
• 23:39
  Now there is an asterisk to this.
• 23:41
  Companies like Deep Sentinel that have AI and a live person that can jump in when a threat is detected outside of the building.
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  That works really well and that can really deter that theft.
• 23:55
  But just putting an alarm on, just putting in some cameras isn't going to do it for you.
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  So live monitoring doesn't matter if you have cameras.
• 24:05
  It's all about having someone to jump in and go, whoa, we got to stop this.
• 24:10
  That live monitored response is the key to making cameras work in your favor.
• 24:16
  And that's the big part of this.
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  Now I have one trick for you that they're saying now is probably one of the best deterrence and you're gonna be surprised by it.
• 24:29
  A welded American flag out front deters crime by suggesting an armed homeowner.
• 24:37
  The idea that flying and lighting a flag prominently signals patriotism and by extension gun ownership, making the home a riskier target.
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  Now, I don't have some crazy study to show this, but this does make sense.
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  It's a symbolic signal, not a documented deterrent.
• 25:01
  But you know something, if a criminal comes by and goes, that house could present a fight back.
• 25:09
  Maybe I'll go to the next one.
• 25:11
  That's all you need to deter a thief or a criminal for breaking into a house.
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  So it's not a bad idea.
• 25:20
  You can be patriotic and maybe deter some theft.
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  There's a lot of people talking about this and to me it makes sense.
• 25:30
  A lot of my friends that I can go over to their house or people that I see that I know they've got the flag out front, guess what?
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  They've also got safety for them inside.
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  So think about that one.
• 25:45
  Your next deterrent could be as simple as a light at night and a well placed flag out in front of your house.
• 25:53
  And that could be a game changer to, to help you on security around there.
• 25:58
  Now here's the other thing with this real quick.
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  And this is one thing I do want to talk about with security.
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  We talk about this all the time, really making sure that your home is well lit.
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  And if we get down to the facts on this and making sure there's no place for someone to crouch down and hide out front of your house and having a clear view from your house to every point of
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  the yard out there is going to be a lot better.
• 26:24
  That is something that's going to really help you as far as theft deterrent.
• 26:29
  It's the houses that have the, that are dark at night.
• 26:32
  They've got plenty of places to hide.
• 26:34
  They've got the big shrubs in front of the window where somebody could literally stand up in front of that bedroom window and jimmy open the window and get in the house without anybody on the street seeing them.
• 26:47
  That is an open invitation for, for burglars to come in and do that.
• 26:51
  So the more that you can do to prevent that, the better off you are.
• 26:57
  And of course making sure that you're locking things up at night, that every window is locked, that, that you've got things secure will be a good move.
• 27:06
  And putting in a High quality safe for those valuables.
• 27:10
  And that's one thing that I've learned here, too.
• 27:12
  And this is not a myth.
• 27:14
  You get what you pay for with safes.
• 27:15
  Do some research.
• 27:17
  If you just run down to Costco and grab the safe off of there or down to your home improvement store.
• 27:23
  I have seen horror stories of people that have lost their homes in fires and that fireproof safe didn't do the job it was intended.
• 27:32
  Yeah, I kept the direct fire off of it, but it got so hot inside that your documents burned up anyway.
• 27:37
  So do your research on the safes you're gonna buy and see the ones that have done the testing that are going to get you there.
• 27:44
  Every safe, especially if you jump online and get Amazon or one of those things.
• 27:50
  Many of those aren't rated or if they are, they're not really rated.
• 27:54
  They say they are, but that's where the issue rises.
• 27:57
  So if you want something that is going to be hard for somebody to get into that is going to withstand a fire, rating of having a house fire, get a better safe.
• 28:09
  Spend the time, do the research.
• 28:11
  And if you jump on YouTube, you can see a ton of safes where they go head to head and they'll show you what happens in a fire and you'll know what's going to work for your house and what's
• 28:23
  going to save those documents and make it so at least you have something in there in case of an emergency.
• 28:28
  Whether it's someone breaking into your home or that wildfire that overtook it, you'll have those things safe and need them when you can get them.
• 28:37
  All right, guys, we come back.
• 28:38
  We've got more.
• 28:40
  We're going to be talking a few more things here about robot vacuums, smart locks, and a few other things about lighting.
• 28:47
  We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.
• 28:50
  Don't change that dial.
• 29:00
  Welcome back to the the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
• 29:04
  Thanks for joining us today.
• 29:05
  We've been talking about in this first hour of the show all the home myths and tech realities out there.
• 29:12
  What is the truth?
• 29:13
  What is just a myth?
• 29:15
  And we're going to dive into some more here in just a second.
• 29:18
  But do me a favor, if you're listening on the podcast, make sure you jump on and leave us a review.
• 29:23
  Love to hear it.
• 29:25
  We love those reviews because it helps get us in front of other people so they can help with their home improvement journey and we can give them a hand.
• 29:34
  Now, the other thing is, if you want to see some of the videos we've got out there, take a look on our YouTube page.
• 29:39
  We have two of them.
• 29:40
  Just look for around the House Eric G.
• 29:42
  Or at around the House.
• 29:44
  We've got both channels out there for your viewing pleasure.
• 29:47
  The next one here I wanted to jump into is a big one and I wanted to talk about your phone.
• 29:54
  The thing that's in your pocket, whether you're an Apple or you're an Android or whatever else you got running out there.
• 30:00
  Here is a big one.
• 30:01
  That cable and charging block that you're using to charge that phone with, that can be the Achilles heel of getting your phone charged fast, quickly, without hurting the battery or anything else.
• 30:15
  All USB cables are not the same.
• 30:20
  Now the thing is, if you look at the Apple ones, if you're an Apple person or just a generic one, maybe something that came with your last Samsung or whatever phone you're using, you have to be really careful.
• 30:32
  Now I have bought things off Amazon that were labeled Apple because I'm gonna iPhone guy been for a long time and it works well.
• 30:41
  But the problem is that USB C, which is just the connector on the end cable can be very differently depending on what you're getting.
• 30:51
  There are ones that work great for high speed, there's ones that are made for data transfer.
• 30:56
  And you want to get something that's name brand and a little bit better.
• 31:01
  Because if you're plugging that into the side of your computer, maybe you're going to be taking data off your phone, we're going to be moving pictures over.
• 31:09
  Or if you're just working out in the field and you've got your laptop, you're sitting at the coffee shop getting a couple things going, you want to charge your phone, how that works is a big deal.
• 31:20
  So I like to get the name brand cables so I know I get the best.
• 31:26
  And a little bit of research goes a long way.
• 31:29
  Now the big one here is that charging block.
• 31:33
  What are you plugging into?
• 31:35
  If you're plugging into your side of your laptop, it's really basically what's going to be coming out of that battery or out of the charger that's hooked into the wall for your laptop.
• 31:44
  But if you're sitting there going, man, my phone didn't charge.
• 31:47
  I got to plug this into my office, I need a quick charge.
• 31:51
  That cable and your charging block could be your problem.
• 31:56
  And now what happens is some of those only put out 20, 25, 30 watts of energy, which can take hours.
• 32:04
  This happened to me today, which is really Crazy.
• 32:08
  This is something that happened to me today that quickly.
• 32:11
  And you know something, that can be a pretty big issue.
• 32:14
  If you want that to charge quickly, find a very high watt charging block and a cable that goes with it.
• 32:23
  You will be surprised at how well that will work for you.
• 32:28
  You can change, you can double, you can triple the charging time in your phone without hurting your phone.
• 32:33
  That's the great thing.
• 32:35
  Most of the new phones will limit charging, depending on the battery and what your settings are.
• 32:40
  And that's the other thing too, if you need a quick charge, because, man, I had this happen last night, put my phone on the charger, it's one of the mag ones, guess what?
• 32:49
  Didn't charge overnight.
• 32:50
  But it was sitting there, it was held up, something happened.
• 32:54
  And so I Woke up with 7% phone charge, put my phone back on the charger, I fixed it, but now it's going to take hours if I don't have the right block.
• 33:06
  And it's depending on what you're trying to do.
• 33:07
  If you're traveling, this is a big one, maybe you're on the plane.
• 33:12
  And again, depending on the airline, they will actually limit how many watts come out of that.
• 33:17
  A lot of my laptops are good enough that when I plug it in, it cuts the power off.
• 33:22
  So it takes too much power, which means on a long flight I can't charge that.
• 33:26
  So that's where some of these other charging blocks and things can help you.
• 33:31
  But just make sure you've got the right cable in the right block to charge it.
• 33:36
  Now here's the other thing too.
• 33:37
  If you installed three or four years ago, those USB outlets where they've got the two little spots or one little spot to charge, those can have the same issues.
• 33:47
  So all cables are not the same, all chargers are not the same, and all outlets now, because if they've only got 25 or 30 watts now you can get one up at 60 watts, 80 watts, and it'll charge
• 34:00
  things much faster.
• 34:02
  Because back in the day when these things came out, that was more than enough.
• 34:06
  How our phones work and how they operate are completely different now as far as how much power they use.
• 34:14
  So that's the thing.
• 34:15
  Take a look.
• 34:16
  Now the next one here we've got Starlink is cheaper or comparable alternative to wired Internet.
• 34:23
  So there's a growing assumption that satellite Internet is now a primary or a smart primary Internet choice for anyone, not just people with no other option.
• 34:32
  That's not the case.
• 34:33
  I did some looking here at my place and when I was coming up with the shop Internet, I thought, wow, wouldn't it be nice to have Starlink there?
• 34:42
  I can work around, get stuff done.
• 34:44
  If I want to take that with me to go camp and I can do it, that would be awesome.
• 34:49
  Here's the problem.
• 34:50
  This can get absolutely insanely expensive quick.
• 34:55
  Like here in the Pacific Northwest, there's a lot of people out there that were signing up for Starlink.
• 35:01
  So when I went into a residential plan, I was having a 1500 surcharge to get just the basic Starlink setup because of high demand in my area.
• 35:14
  Sorry, guys, not a chance.
• 35:17
  And so standard residential plan when I looked last time was about 120 bucks a month and you had probably 349 to $499 in upfront hardware, while your normal cable or fiber routinely deliver comparable and quite frankly very faster
• 35:35
  speeds for 35 to $80 a month with little or no equipment cost.
• 35:41
  So the gap is structural.
• 35:43
  So here's the issue.
• 35:45
  I like the Starlink, but if you're doing video meetings or doing stuff that I'm doing, yeah, it's great for streaming movies, it's great for checking your Internet.
• 35:53
  All that stuff's great, not a problem.
• 35:56
  The biggest issue is when you dive into these other things like now is you want to work with something that's going to be a faster speed Internet, like you're streaming or you're doing video conference calls.
• 36:07
  Now all of a sudden you have to get into the commercial Starlink stuff.
• 36:11
  On the commercial side, that's a whole other another cost.
• 36:15
  So right now, if you want the fastest Internet, it's not going to be through Starlink.
• 36:20
  Not yet at least.
• 36:22
  That's why I went with Comcast Xfinity on mine, because I could have something that was wired in.
• 36:28
  I didn't have to worry about the satellite and I didn't have thousands of dollars of upfront costs.
• 36:33
  I was going to have to drop like 2300 bucks on this thing to get it going.
• 36:36
  And it wasn't going to give me the speed that I needed for my business.
• 36:41
  Now might I get something like that if I'm running around and I'm camping?
• 36:45
  Absolutely.
• 36:46
  For the rv, probably a great one.
• 36:49
  But I'm waiting for the prices to come down before I do that.
• 36:51
  Because I'm out camping.
• 36:53
  I don't need it that badly.
• 36:54
  Would it be nice to have.
• 36:56
  Yeah.
• 36:56
  Would it be nice to have.
• 36:57
  If I'm out camping and something needs to happen on the show and people need to get a hold of me and I got to send a file, yeah, that'd be great.
• 37:03
  But it's not $2,000.
• 37:05
  Great.
• 37:06
  So we'll see what happens with that.
• 37:07
  But that's a big part of why these expenses are getting up there.
• 37:12
  Now, Starlink is going to be coming out here with phones in the next couple years.
• 37:15
  That's going to be interesting.
• 37:17
  It'll be interesting to see how they deal with it inside a building, because Starlink would be great on my phone if I'm standing outside.
• 37:24
  But when you hook up, that satellite dish has to be clear sky.
• 37:28
  If you're at a campground, for instance, and you got it on the back of your trailer and you got trees in the way, probably not going to get the satellite.
• 37:34
  So in a building, you're going to run into problems.
• 37:36
  How they're going to solve that will be interesting.
• 37:39
  But I think there's going to be some disruption in the cell phone game in the next 48 months, probably even 24 months.
• 37:47
  We'll see what happens out there.
• 37:49
  That could be a big player.
• 37:50
  So be careful with your costs out there.
• 37:52
  Do your research and figure it out, because that stuff can get pretty expensive.
• 37:57
  And you'll learn some hard lessons by not having the speed you need.
• 38:02
  The last one here is about your computer at home.
• 38:04
  Is it better to shut your computer off at night and come in in the morning and restart it, or is it better just to let it run?
• 38:12
  You know something?
• 38:13
  This is something I changed this last year.
• 38:15
  I've been shutting it off more and more at night, unless I've got something going on where I'm downloading or uploading.
• 38:21
  That sometimes can take a while, especially with big 4k videos.
• 38:25
  But really turning that thing off at night and saving the energy just, just a little bit, and then letting it refresh and restart every day is much healthier for the operating system.
• 38:38
  So always run a backup.
• 38:40
  Make sure you've got a black backup on all your information.
• 38:43
  But that'll make life a heck of a lot easier if you can do it that way.
• 38:47
  So upload it, make sure it's great.
• 38:50
  Make sure that backup is good.
• 38:52
  Same thing with your phones.
• 38:53
  That's not a myth.
• 38:54
  This is just good operating.
• 38:56
  If it's on your computer, put it in the cloud so you can have it there in case something happens where it never reboots.
• 39:03
  You'll have it where you can recreate it and get it going again.
• 39:07
  So that's a big one.
• 39:09
  Now, coming up on our second hour here, we're going to have a lot to talk about, and we're going to be continuing this inside your home on a lot of the myths that we see out there.
• 39:18
  So if you're listening on the radio and you get our number two, stay tuned for that.
• 39:22
  If they're not, don't worry.
• 39:23
  You can always catch it on your favorite podcast player.
• 39:26
  Just search for the Round the House show and you'll find us right there.
• 39:29
  Now, if you want to find out more information about us, head over to aroundthehouse.com around the house.
• 39:35
  We'll be right back after these important messages.
• 39:37
  We'll see you in the next episode.
• 39:39
  Thanks for tuning in.