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I do love weaponized autism.
I could do the various incarnations of the Doctor in Doctor Who. An example info-dump from memory without looking stuff up:
So the first Doctor was played by William Hartnell, and later Richard Hurndall and David Bradley after Hartnell passed away. Second Doctor was Patrick Troughton who (tangent incoming) originally pitched playing the second Doctor in black-face which thankfully got nixed. Third Doctor was Jon Pertwee, Fourth was Tom Baker who is still the longest-running Doctor by episode count, Fifth was Peter Davidson, Sixth was Colin Baker, Seventh was Sylvester McCoy although (tangent 2) he also played the Sixth Doctor for the regeneration because Colin Baker got fired and refused to film his last scene so the Sixth in that scene is just McCoy in a wig. Eight Doctor was Paul McGann who was the longest-running Doctor chronologically even though he’s only been in one full episode (the 1996 TV movie) because the show didn’t come back until 2005. He’s done some cameos in the show since though. Ninth Doctor in canonical order is John Hurt, although he was added in retroactively during the 11th Doctor’s tenure so he’s referred to as the War Doctor instead of the Ninth. Tenth Doctor canonically is Christopher Eccleston, who is referred to as the Ninth Doctor because of the aforementioned retconning. Then it gets complicated. David Tennant is the Eleventh, Twelfth and Sixteenth Doctor because he regenerated into himself and then came back again later on, which we’ll get to in a bit, but he’s referred to as the 10th and 14th Doctor. Thirteenth Doctor is Matt Smith, who’s referred to as the Eleventh. He was also supposed to be the Doctor’s final life because Time Lords are only supposed to have 13 of them, but then he got a new cycle of regenerations because it would be silly to end the show because of some arbitrary plot point from the 1970s. So then Peter Capaldi was the Fourteenth (or First if you want to start counting again from the new cycle, which nobody does) and is called the Twelfth. Fifteenth (or Second) was Jodie Whittaker, who in the show is called the Thirteenth. She then regenerated into David Tennant again (hence him also being the Sixteenth/Fourteenth) for a couple of specials, and then he split into two separate Doctors, the other one being Ncuti Gatwa who is the Seventeenth or maybe co-Sixteenth or maybe Fourth but is referred to as the Fifteenth in the show. He then (SPOILERS if you haven’t caught up to the last episode) regenerated into Billie Piper, who played Rose Tyler previously in the show and also a sort of sentient bomb called The Moment and who might not even be the Doctor at all, we don’t really know yet. There’s also all the Timeless Child stuff which throws off the numbering even further, and Jo Martin who plays the Fugitive Doctor who is possibly some sort of pre-First Doctor Doctor but the show never really explained it. There are also some other pre-First Doctor Doctors shown in flashbacks and things in The Brain of Morbius and The Timeless Child, but who knows if they’re even real or not. There’s also another David Tennant who is a sort of human clone of the Doctor who lives off in some parallel universe, and another Tom Baker who is a character called the Curator who seems to be some far-future retired version of the Doctor who revisits some of his old faces.
I could go on but you get the idea.
click
I’m sure you were very good, but I doubt that you had that good a name memory as a five-year old.
I taught myself how to read as well, so I ain’t the dullest of pens either but somehow I just doubt you could’ve rattled off that many correct names and titles as a five-year old. Although, it might just be projection from my almost 40-year old weed-smoking soon-to-be-some-serious-memory-problem having ass. If so, apologies.
never read the ‘wall of text’. that’s for the bots
Answer the phone like you are a business receptionist.
“Hello, this is Fronz Frunickal with Yogurt O’ Try-it Froyo, how can I serve you?”
It’s funny listening to them silently process what they just heard before hanging up.
what? actual human calling? sounds like something an ai would say.
I am 34 and i have never received robocalls before this year, in which I’ve already gotten a dozen or more calls. I think it has something to do with me living in Denmark. New hot scam just dropped in Denmark.🤪
they destroyed landlines with constant auto-dialing calls. when you pick up they either play a recording or in early days switch to a live scammer in a boiler-room somewhere. i moved my landline to google voice and silence is golden. get emailed transcripts of talking or it’s a few seconds of silence. brave new world
I saw a video saying that it was just a matter of tele companies just verifying and blocking callers, but that they had no incentive to do so.🤷 Google voice sounds so awesome. A shame it seems like it’s only available in the US
it was complicated moving the number since they only accept mobile numbers. had to move to a burner AT&T phone, then to google voice. been 20 years so far. nothing but spam there now. you can pick from available numbers. maybe VPN would work. expect google will just end the service one day. https://voice.google.com/
A drop of water falls in an endless, still lake. The ripple spreads out, leaving a circular wave spreading out endlessly. Tiny disturbances create their own ripples; one side travelling with the main ripple, causing wonderful interactions in the wavefront; but the main ripple grows faster than these disturbances spread across it.
The beings of the ripple look across the main ripple, seeing the disturbances as their interactions propagate across the main ripple. Looking back far enough to the earliest disturbances, one thing becomes clear; the entire ripple comes from one drop, and most of the ripple is moving away faster than a disturbance can propagate.
An expanding universe where every point of the universe started from the middle is pretty easy to conceptualize with the right analogy.
The disturbances propagate at the same speed as the ripple, unless it’s some crazy nonlinear ripple.
It’s the weak point of the analogy, surface gravity waves like you’d get in a shallow lake do have nonlinear behaviour though.
Maybe a more accurate description would be to describe the wavespeed of the medium having tiny variations that cause extremely small, close range kinks where the wavefront crosses past itself, relating speed through time vs speed through space as the radial and tangential propagation of the wavefront. But that’s a less clean analogy, and the lake ripple is still good for describing how an entire universe can appear to be in the middle no matter where you look, despite originating from (suspectedly) a singular point.
Nobody wants my info dump. I know way too much about networking and computers. The topics are massively deep, like iceberg levels of deep. One for each topic.
I could lecture for an entire day on the nuance and considerations of picking a Wi-Fi channel, or you can ignore me and just hit “auto” which may or may not take some, or all, of my considerations into account when selecting a channel.
If anyone is keen to hear some generally good advice about home networking, here’s my elevator speech:
Wire when you can, wireless when you have to. Wi-Fi is shared and half duplex, every wired connection is exclusive to the device and full duplex. If you can’t Ethernet, use MoCA, or powerline (depending on what internal power structures you have, this can be excellent or unusable, keep your receipts). Mesh is best with a dedicated backhaul, better with a wired backhaul. Demand it from any system you consider. The latest and greatest Wi-Fi technology probably won’t fix whatever problem you’re having, it will only temporarily reduce the symptoms and you won’t notice it for a while. Be weary about upgrading and ask yourself why you require the upgrade. Newer wireless won’t fix bad signal, or dropouts.
For everything else, Google. That’s how I find most of the information I know.
Good luck.
I’ll be around in case anyone has questions. No promises on when I’ll be able to reply tho.
If you can’t run cables through your walls you could look into fiber that hides in plain sight https://youtu.be/Z2FbzCyiNr4
every wired connection is exclusive to the device and full duplex.
That doesn’t seem quite right in reality, since the moment you have multiple devices connected to one switch and both sending data to the router, they’re sharing the connection. Switches can handle multiple connections at the same time way better than an AP, being able to receive from multiple devices at once, but the bandwidth will ultimately still be shared between the devices.
I see what you’re saying and this is a good inquiry. The reality is that most networks are what we call North/South traffic exclusive. In this context, we use “North” to describe towards the Internet, “South” to be from the Internet, and east/west to be LAN to LAN traffic.
Networks that are primarily or exclusively North South, your contention will always be your ISPs committed speed (the speed they’re allowing you to use). So most of what’s South of that is pretty trivial, as long as it can keep up with, or exceed the speed of the North connection.
That changes if you do any East/West traffic. Whether that’s a home lab, a home server, or even just a NAS, or computer to computer file sharing… Once that traffic is more than a trivial amount of the network traffic, then you see a lot of benefit from wired connections to your computers. The switch backplane can handle a lot more bandwidth than any individual port, and the only way you’ll see that bandwidth is if some traffic is going somewhere other than your router, or the Internet.
To say most home networks are North/South heavy is obvious. Business networks frequently have servers and other LAN resources that are frequently utilized. So East/West traffic is usually non-trivial.
To spin an example, if your ISP is providing a 100mbps committed rate, and you gave full gigabit ethernet inside and at least 802.11ac wireless, with almost all traffic going to the Internet and back, you’re going to see little difference between Wi-Fi and Ethernet. The only major change moving from Wi-Fi to Ethernet is that your ping time will be more consistent and lower overall. It won’t be a huge change, something in the range of 10s of ms, but it’s literally the only thing you’ll notice a difference with.
Another example where it will make a big difference is if you have a NAS or home server, where you have files stored. Compared to a file storage service like drop box or Google drive. The LAN specific traffic will move at line rate, or the speed of whatever storage the data ultimately rests on, whichever is slower. In that context, the East/West traffic benefits greatly from Ethernet, and the full duplex connection between the two devices.
It’s all subjective to how you are using your network. You’ve made a good point, so thanks for that. Have a good day.
Dude these type of replies are what had made reddit such a great time sink, even random browsing you may find something incredible in the comments. Thank you
Thanks. I’ve been on hiatus for a bit. I’m around.
I still won’t go back to that place either way
5 or 6Ghz backhaul on the mesh?
Should I buy consumer or small business hardware?
Recommended brand(s)?
High end consumer aka prosumer, which is only really one brand, ubiquiti. Specifically their unifi stuff.
Or used mid range business stuff, Cisco, Aruba, juniper. The pinch here is that you usually need specialized knowledge to configure this class of device. I’ve also used Cisco, watchguard, Fortinet, Sophos, sonicwall, and probably others for firewalls. I prefer Sonicwall for some very specific reasons about how they structure their configuration, but for anyone who isn’t a certified sonicwall tech, I’d point at Sophos. Their stuff seems to be a fair balance of configurability and user friendliness. If you’re instant on new business stuff and you have the money for it, Sophos for the firewall, Aruba instanton for switching and Wi-Fi.
The benefit to unifi is user friendliness and a unified control console. If you’re not an IT professional or a similar technical job, unifi will provide plenty of what you need and leave out the unnecessary knobs that needs like me want to see.
Be prepared to spend several hundred on the networking if you’re going to do it right, there are some places you can trim some costs, but before you nope it from sticker shock, consider how much you spend per year on Internet service, and then consider how much the router/firewall + switch + access points are in comparison… And those are things you don’t need to buy every year.
Edit: I forgot to mention the backhaul. The decision will depend on the wireless environment. You might be able to save some cash having 5ghz backhaul, but it’s going to struggle in dense environments, so consider spending some extra on 6ghz if you’re in a medium to high density housing situation. Good luck
Love the Unifi gear; their first gen stuff used isn’t terribly priced. And the single pane of glass is very nice.
No argument here. The earlier stuff is still very bandwidth constrained, some pieces are incapable of meeting line rate, like the UDM pro. It has 10G connections but the throughput of the unit is around 6Gbps. Still much faster than most people’s Internet connections (who in their right mind has a 5+ Gbps Internet connection at their house?) but it’s a limitation worth knowing before you buy.
Solid gear otherwise. I haven’t seen how their end of life looks, so I can’t really comment, but most companies just announce that they’re no longer supporting a piece of gear and suggest a replacement. Called an EOL notice, or something similar. EOL being end of life. Usually includes a recommendation for an upgrade to something supported that’s a similar class of device.
Time will tell on that one. I have a UDM pro in a network I manage so I’m waiting for that EOL notice.
Tell Me everything you want about MAC addresses
Is this a kink?
The first six hexadecimal digits of the Mac address are referred to as the oui, or organizationally unique identifier. They are supposed to all be registered, but with modern systems, mac address randomization is common, so the Mac address in use can be little better than nonsense.
I have a theory that some of the more budget oriented manufacturers (think Ali express), just don’t bother using a registered mac address at all.
This all makes my job harder as a network admin, I usually need to look up what a device is by mac address to help identify what it is and what it’s doing. I need to make sure everything is on the right network, and I can’t do that if I don’t know what anything is.
The last six hexadecimal digits of the Mac are simply to uniquely identify the interface that the Mac is burned into. This also means that any systems with multiple network ports, have different mac address on each port. Some things are exempt, like network switches, but for the most part, every interface has, or is supposed to have, a unique mac address.
Also, the mac isn’t hex, it’s binary. Hex is just how we’ve decided to present it to users. The switches, routers, and interfaces don’t work with the hex, only the binary. Same for IP addresses, which normal are shown in “dotted decimal notation”, but are just binary. But you didn’t ask about IP.
Did you need me to whisper ouis into your ear and you can guess what company is registered to that oui?
So if you plug the same device into a different network using the same port, it’s the same MAC?
The device mac doesn’t change unless mac randomization is on.
I hate that, as far as I know, on Android you can’t choose the “randomized” MAC
You want to pick your own MAC? At least you can set it to not be random for a specific network.
Yes, by picking my own MAC as with my linux laptop I could share pre approved network access on both devices (although not at the same time)
The MAC, at least as it was conceptualised (as they said, MAC randomisation etc. mess with this), is a unique identifier for that specific device. It doesn’t change, and only one device has that specific MAC.
Or more specifically, that specific network adaptor, the hardware responsible for connecting to networks. So one computer might have multiple MACs if, for example, it has an Ethernet port and a wifi card.
Nothing sexier than someone who knows what they’re talking about.
Sorry, I’m married.
:p
My wife doesn’t think it’s sexy, she usually just falls asleep whenever I get into a topic I’m passionate about. Oh well.
Haha, you win some, you lose some.
Fun fact, when I worked for Alstom and programmed their electric substations, they had a 10bit network and proprietary network cards, and the prototypes sometimes had the same MAC address 😁😅
Thanks a lot for sharing you experience! I recently saw some people I follow on youtube talk about fibre as an alternative for ethernet cables, do you have an any experience with that?
Alternative? Sure. Though why?
If ethernet works, you’re just using a more expensive option to go with fiber.
Unless you need something unique about fiber, like distance (which can still be dubious for consumer grade hardware), or a non-electrical based signal (dubious requirement in most cases), then you’re just throwing money at being able to say you use fiber.
Additionally, fiber is more fragile than a copper cable. One bad hit with a vacuum cleaner and it’s toast
Maybe you shouldn’t vacuum your cables?
I don’t vacuum them, I vacuum near it. But you can always accidentally go too far and bump the cable
I feel like fiber only makes sense for long runs or extremely high bandwidth needs. For a typical home network, I don’t see any benefits for fiber over ethernet.
Yes. Fiber is great but extremely nuanced. SMF, MMF, UPC, APC, OM3, OM4, OS2… All different parts of just the cabling… Not to mention the connectors, LC, SC… You get the idea.
Everyone I tend to talk to about it seem to think multi-mode is cheaper, and it can be, but in my experience, single mode is usually the better choice and usually not much of a price uplift if you’re buying from a good company. Look at FS.com and do some comparison shopping against them. They make some high quality stuff, and it’s at pretty incredible pricing for what you get, but the equipment can add up fast.
Multi mode can only really carry one connection per fiber and usually needs to be duplexed (two strands per link) while single mode can leverage WDM to carry multiple independent signals on different wavelengths. This can be leveraged for bi-directional single strand links, multiple links that are aggregated into a single connection in hardware (this is how 40Gbit works, it’s actually 4x10G connections on different wavelengths)…
It’s still more costly and requires more specialized equipment and training to work with, compared to copper Ethernet, so it’s pretty uncommon to see in residential or home networks.
YMMV. Good luck.
Fiber is complete overkill for home networking. Also, POE is very nice to have for things like WAPs or cameras.
I wired my house with cat6 when I moved in. The overall setup looks like 10G fiber to the house -> 2.5G capable router -> 2.5G capable NAS running *arr stack. Also off the router is a single cat6 run downstairs -> 8 port 1G unmanaged switch, which is connected to my desktop, work dock, parters dock, TV, and backhaul run to the back of house wifi extender. The desktop, both docks and wifi extender are 2.5G capable. The TV is 100M. This has been extremely reliable. I plan on upgrading the switch to a 10g capable one at some point, and then the router. Since the switch is unmanaged, is there a good way to know when it is the limiting factor and I should update it?
An unmanned switch? Nothing concrete.
A managed switch can give you telemetry, like port utilisation, and you can observe how much upstream is in use.
My concern is that you have a 1g switch connecting 2.5g capable devices to a 2.5g capable upstream network. That’s a bottleneck that I would want to eliminate. I know serve the home has a roundup of 2.5g switches that might be useful for you. I’m not saying you should switch to managed either, you may be well served by an unmanaged switch, and it will save you money. The telemetry for managed switches usually requires a system to collect and store it, usually an NMS, or network monitoring/management system.
Some manufacturers build NMS style telemetry into their products, ubiquiti does this to a limited extent. Other vendors may be better or have nothing at all. Something to think about when picking gear, if you like that sort of visibility. NMS usually operates over SNMP, which can become a whole thing; but for monitoring, setting up read only SNMP can be rather easy.
A word of caution. 10G and 2.5/5G were developed independently, and 10G came first. It was expensive which is why 2.5/5g Ethernet became a thing. Because of this checkered past, there’s a lot of 10G equipment that will not support operating at 2.5 or 5gbps. So if you get a 10G switch, check if there’s 2.5G, or 5G capability separately, or included on the 10G ports.
In my experience, most 10G ports are 1 or 10G, with nothing in between. Most 2.5G ports can’t do 10G. So the best idea would be to have a switch with a couple of 10G for fast uplinks and some 2.5G connections for your devices. Unless you can find a unicorn of a switch that supports all speeds on all ports, a switch split between 2.5G and 10G ports is probably your best bet.
Good luck.
Oh, ok thanks! I’ve been wondering about the split 2.5/10G switches I’ve seen and wondered why. That makes a lot of sense now! I’ll take a look at them again.
What’s the pros & cons of a managed vs unmanaged switch? Or of just running multiple cables out of the router? (Assuming your router has sufficient ports.)
My router only has four downstream ports, and due to the layout of my house I only want to run one cable from the router to my home office anyway. If it had enough ports and the house was laid out differently I wouldn’t have bothered with the switch.
Unmanaged switches are usually quite a bit cheaper and just work. You plug everything in and that’s it. Managed switches need configuring and cost more. I paid $25 for my 8 port 10/100/1000 switch, while the managed version is about $120. With a managed switch you can do things like turn individual ports on and off, traffic limit and monitor per port, and other fancy networking things that I’ve never bothered with.
Ah that’s interesting. Thanks!
What does 10/100/1000 mean?
That’s that speed the ports are capable of. 10/100/1000 megabits per second. Most things with an Ethernet port nowadays are 10/100/1000 capable, and 2.5Gb is becoming reasonably common.
Weirdly, Roku and other smart TVs are often only 100Mb capable since 4k streaming only requires about 60Mb and if you are squeezing pennies a 1Gb port is a bit more expensive.
10Gb is just starting to get available for high end consumer devices.
So is it some ports support 10, some support 100, and some support the full 1000? Or how does it work with the three different speeds?
All of the ports support all three speeds. When you first plug in, there is a quick round of negotiations where both sides basically say “Here are the speeds I can work, what about you?” Then they go with the highest that both support.
The elevator pitch is wonderful and I’m glad to be following your recommendations already. Wired everything is not practical for me without drilling through the floor, so a mesh router with dedicated backhaul and a wired connection to the downstairs node is working like a charm.
They mentioned MoCa. If you have cable (like for the tv) you can probably use MoCa. It’s fantastic.
Just read up on that, seems very interesting. I don’t think it’s a great option for my setup since there’s only one coax port in the house, but I learned something new today.
And if you can’t use MoCa - say, bc the cable installers cut all the other coax cords on the house (true story!) - you can also consider powerline adapters to send Ethernet over your electrical wiring. It’s a crapshoot depending on the quality of your wiring but I can usually get at least the same speed as my wifi with it.
Awesome. That’s good to hear.
I know not everyone can run Ethernet. Whether it’s because you’re in a rental, or you simply don’t have the budget for it, the reason doesn’t matter all that much. There’s plenty of good reasons not to.
Usually mesh nodes have Ethernet on them as well and it just bridges into the LAN. Using that can actually cut down on wireless traffic overall. Maybe something to look at which could help if you have any troubles.
Good luck friend.
I’ve been switching a lot of my devices to ESP-NOW instead of WiFi so that they can just fart out their data to anyone who can hear it and then go back to sleep, no connecting or handshaking or authenticating or overhead. Should clear up my wifi network I think.
If I’m not mistaken, they still use 2.4 GHz, which is also used by wifi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, a bunch of other stuff… Microwave ovens…
And anything operating on a frequency, regardless of protocol, will interfere with eachother. I think the main benefit for you would be the brief amount of active time, could reduce the airtime being used by the devices.
I hope it works out for you and your wifi works excellently. Just be aware that it could still interfere. Use 5ghz when possible.
Sorry, I know there was more, but all wireless is half-duplex!? I never knew…
It’s a single frequency for all people, including those that are on the same or adjacent/overlapping channels. If you ever used walkie talkies, they don’t work so well when more than one person is talking.
Same idea.
Wi-Fi 7 is introducing multi link, which could improve the duplex operation, but it’s far from perfect. Even if you use one channel for download and one for upload, you’re still competing with everyone else on the channel - whether they’re connected to your network or not. They can still interfere with you if you’re on the same channel but different networks.
This is also why its generally better to turn your wifi signal power down to a low or middle power as long as all your devices can still connect.
Less range, less overlap, less competition for shared bandwidth between different access points. The more people that do it, the better the wifi gets for everyone.
Hallelujah.
Preach it!
Odd that my router has zero problem with seeding torrents, but at a friend’s place, downloads get clobbered whenever anything is uploading.
Doesn’t MIMO help with duplexing? Which was around since 802.11n.
Yes but also no. Originally MIMO, or multi-in, multi-out, was what is now called SU-MIMO, or single user MIMO. In wireless AC, they did multi-user MIMO on the access point transmission side, then AC wave2 brought it to the client as well. Wi-Fi 6 should have MU-MIMO supported on all points, but I forget if it’s a requirement of the spec or just a feature. In the later case, manufacturers would not have a requirement to include it.
The difference is in how many nodes are “talking” at once. They use beam forming to enhance signal strength where the recipient node is, which sacrifices signal strength everywhere else. That’s SU-MIMO. This came with the promise of MU-MIMO, which is using beam forming to transmit different messages to multiple nodes at the same time. Which effectively doubles throughput for that duration, but also requires very specific conditions in an environment that’s constantly changing, especially for mobile phones. Tapping the screen or rotating the device slightly could put your device into a situation where MU-MIMO may start or stop working. Millimeters of travel can be the difference here. Even a laptop slightly shaking from someone bumping the surface it’s on, or someone typing on the keyboard could affect it. It also may not.
The point is, MU-MIMO is great when it works, but you have no reasonable promise that you’ll get any benefit from having it. It’s especially useless in areas with a lot of reflections. But I digress.
The game changer tech is coming with WiFi 7 and multi link operation, we can basically go to a pseudo full duplex operation on Wi-Fi using it, which would be a huge boost for overall speed.
I’m side tracked. The issue you have on your friends network has nothing to do with the wifi. It is a matter of contention. Your upload usage is basically causing drops, or at least significant delays, for other traffic going up to the Internet. So when the client device requests to download a file, or a webpage, or a document, or start a media stream or whatever, the request can’t go out, and every so often the downloading client needs to tell the server “I have this data, send me more” and those messages (called acknowledgments) are not going through.
Two options to fix this. The easiest is to turn off your torrent software. If you must have it on, when the network is dormant, do a speed test, and set an upload limit in your software for less than the upload of the connection. 75% is probably a good place to be, so if they have 10mbps upload, set your software to 7.5mbps. (be weary of Mbps vs MBps) The other option is going to be a bit more involved and depending on what hardware your friend has, may not be possible at all. This will, however, permanently fix the problem moving forward, both with your computer on his network, but also with everyone else’s. Implement QoS. Some routers can fall over in terms of performance with QoS on, so your mileage may vary, and there’s no guarantee that QoS is even available on their router. If it is, you need some basic settings in place for it to work correctly, most importantly, it needs to know how fast the upload and download are for the WAN. I would also build in a margin here, and only enter about 90% of the actual speed of the connection, the overhead will be used for high priority traffic when the link is otherwise fully occupied. My recommendation, if you have the option, is to set QoS to drop instead of buffer. This reduces buffer bloat, and the information that’s getting dropped can and will be retransmitted (calling back to those acknowledgments I mentioned earlier).
QoS if implemented correctly will prevent the connection from being over saturated by any one thing, and traffic will continue in a high bandwidth use situation. It will still be impacted by how much is going on, but it should at least function. Acknowledgments usually have a slightly higher priority than other traffic, so those should be sent before other traffic.
Good luck.
Thanks! It’s just weird that there’s such difference in behaviour between routers in regard to the up-down contention. Mine is an about fifteen-year-old Asus, and it works splendidly, unfazed by torrents or whatnot.
Yeah, that can certainly happen. It really depends on how the router handles contention, it’s overall capability and performance, and what loaf balancing algorithms, if any, have been implemented. QoS basically guarantees that some form of traffic management is happening. With it off, it’s really just a guessing game whether something will work well or fall over, as you’ve discovered.
Have a great day.
The general rule I’ve read for wifi is to use channels 1,6 and 11 for 2.4 GHz as those do not interfere with each other. So I use a wifi scanner on my phone at the furthest point in my home from the router and check which is the least busy from the surrounding neighbors. Do you think that’s a good technique to use?
For 5GHz, I try to pick between 36,48,149,161 and pick by the same rules as above. I also keep my channel size at 20Mhz for both.
There’s some nuance with 5ghz, let’s talk 2.4 GHz first.
You’ve heard correctly, 1, 6, and 11 are the “non overlapping” channels, if anyone is on, say, channel 9, then everyone on 6 and 11 are going to have a bad time. But this is entirely based on everyone using 20mhz wide channels. Anyone using 40mhz wide channels are just going to fuck up the airspace. 40mhz wide channels basically occupy two of the three non-overlapping channels on 2.4ghz. never use 40mhz wide on 2.4 GHz. IMO, it shouldn’t have ever been an option.
5ghz is a UNII band, and there’s three, technically four or five, main sections of the band that are relevant UNIi 1 is the low end of 5ghz, I don’t have the channel numbers off the top of my head, but I know it ends at or around channel 90 or so? I’m tired and I’ve been ill today, so please forgive me. Some of the specifics are slipping away right now and I don’t have the brain power to cross reference it. You can look all this up anyways.
UNII 1 is pretty typical, very similar to how 2.4 GHz works, just on a different band.
I’ll circle back on UNII 2
UNII 3 is the high part of the band and the only nuance here is that the 5.8 GHz ISM channels overlap with a lot of this, so any consumer electronics like cordless phones that use 5.8 GHz, might cause problems with some of these channels. Use of the ISM band here has been on the decline for a while, so it’s probably not an issue, but something to be mindful of.
UNII 2 is a whole thing. You’ll need to look up what is allowed for your country, but some channels are off limits and this band actually interferes with radar operations, so anything operating UNII 2 channels needs to have radar avoidance built in. That’s pretty much automatic, or it should be. The key take away with these channels is that you need to let the system pick the channel or will use in the band, so that it can change the channel to avoid radar if needed. Setting a static channel on your Wi-Fi in the UNII 2 band might land you in hot water.
Some 5ghz channels can only be used indoors, some can only be used in specific countries, so look it up for your situation. Wikipedia has a comprehensive article on it, and I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with it.
6ghz regulation is starting to settle down but it’s looking to be a bit more open and consistent between countries which would be a nice change.
Also, there are different power restrictions on different channels, don’t worry yourself too much with that since most consumer access points and Wi-Fi routers don’t push enough power to exceed even the lowest restriction.
Feel free to move to 40mhz for 5ghz, there’s a lot more channels and 40mhz wide can really enhance your speeds. Stick to 20 for 2.4 GHz; but don’t feel limited for 5 or 6ghz.
Your methodology is good. But please understand that the graphs are an estimation, a real waterfall examination with an SDR that’s capable of observing the channel would be the only way to really know what’s happening in the airspace. Generally that’s overkill for residential installations. Just bear in mind, those scanner apps will only show other Wi-Fi networks. Non-Wi-Fi interference will not be shown. Don’t hesitate to try a different channel if one isn’t working great for you. Might just be alien interference (in this context, alien means non-Wi-Fi).
Thanks for the long reply. I was using 20 for 5GHz for the range as on the other side of my home, the signal is quite weak. So I figure its more stable at 20 than using 40, even if 40 would be faster. Actually reading up on it more, the lower bands would be better in my case as they offer better wall penetration, which I think is my problem. I’m currently set to 161, let me try to swap to 36 and see if my signal improves. And I’ll test it out to 40MHz, might as well go for broke.
The difference between high and low ranges in the 5 GHz band shouldn’t be significant. My understanding of the rule with penetration is that the signal will be attenuated by something that is half of the wavelength in thickness. Which for 5 GHz frequencies with a wavelength between 50 and 60 mm. Anything thicker than 25mm will impact performance. The lower end, channel 36 will be closer to 30mm
5mm isn’t significant enough to worry too much about. Certainly worth testing either way.
By comparison 2.4ghz has a wavelength of ~125mm.
For wall penetration 2.4 GHz is better, but you’ll suffer on speed. I think the phy rate caps out around 150mbps on 20mhz wide channels. I can double check that, but I don’t think it’s far off. I think you could get up to ~300mbps? But I’m pretty sure that was 40mhz wide… So as far as I’m concerned that’s not valid.
Good luck. Test, document it, see what’s what. Remember, the difference between science and fucking around is writing it down.
Would like to ask, is it worth entering networking as a career right now? I’ve been of the belief that it’ll be necessary as long as the internet is around, so certainly within my lifetime, but the current AI bubble and the direction it’s taking is making me think otherwise.
Networking is a pretty specific niche, the biggest challenge I’ve faced in my career is that I can’t find any local jobs, or remote work positions that are networking focused. It’s still a passion of mine, but I tend to be stuck in sysadmin type roles.
As far as I’m concerned, until AI can plug itself in and fix it’s own servers, humans will always need to be involved in the setup and maintenance of the hardware that connects our world. I don’t think it’s practical or realistic for AI to put satellites in orbit or run intercontinental fiber along the ocean floor. Not anytime soon and not in our lifetimes.
The thing about computers is that they’re not very adaptable to their environment, so the environment needs to be adapted to computers. We, as humans, are extremely adaptable to our environment. This is very slowly shifting that computers are starting to be able to adapt to different working environments; but I don’t think that will happen in fully within our lifetimes.
Programming can be a minefield right now, but that shouldn’t dissuade you if that’s your interest/passion. Networking will be required, and tech jobs are some of the most recession proof, though not completely recession proof. Tech fields have slowed but it’s extremely rare that we see negative growth in tech. The players might change but the jobs are there and need people in chairs to fulfill them.
My advice is to pursue what interests you, and adapt to whatever life throws at you. Maybe you’ll start with cybersecurity and move into a coding role, or like me, study networking and then work as a generalist. When you get to that point, when interviewing for jobs, make sure you know what the job is, review the job posting with your interviewer if you are uncertain at all. The job should fit you as much as you fit it. I didn’t do that for one job and it was one of the most unpleasant years of my life working there. I got on the job and discovered that what I thought I’d be doing, was not what I was going to be doing.
Good luck.
Just adding my 2p, when it comes to cabling, unless you have a specific need (or anticipate one) for a specific connection to need more than 1gbps, CAT5e is plenty good enough for 99% of domestic usage. CAT6 maybe a good idea to anticipate future demands going up dramatically on your home network but anything more is just exponentially more expensive overkill.
I always recommend Cat6, mainly because it can carry 10G up to 55m, which is basically your entire house, unless you live in a mansion or something.
10G might work on 5e, but it won’t be reliable.
Even if you’re not planning to go for 10G any time soon, do yourself a favor and run Cat6. In 5 or 10 years when you want 10G for any reason, you can just upgrade the equipment on both ends and it will just work.
The cost difference isn’t significant enough for cat5e to make any sense for new installs.
CAT6 is so cheap you might as well get that by default now. 7/8 is where it gets expensive.
But if you can’t find 6 for a good price, 5e will do everything you need it to.
what i’ve done is simply lower the power of my 2.4GHz network so i have reliable coverage in my apartment, but by the time i’ve walked 2 floors down my phone is utterly unable to even see the network.
super simple way to avoid polluting the local airwaves, though i presume it’s not really something you can do on most standard router interfaces…
Yay!
Should I learn iptables or is it more sane to use a front end like ufw?
I have an RPI with dual Ethernet between my modem and consumer router so I don’t have to depend on the obsolete and limited consumer router software. I’m using OpenWRT at the moment but curious if you have other recommendations. I like the Luci gui so if I switched to headless Debian or something then I’d still want a luci equivalent.
I’m self hosting with docker and I want to set up a wireguard vpn container that joins a network with a select set of containers. So I’d have containers that are accessible only by actual LAN users and then others that are in this isolated group that only the VPN (i.e. WAN people) can access. I thought that’s what docker was all about! But by default it seems all authenticated VPN peers just get to be on the LAN. Sure, they can’t get at containers on a different docker bridge network, but they get to access the host itself! This is why I asked about iptables above, but it’s daunting. Any ideas on how to achieve “two levels of trust” for self hosted services?
Sorry this took me a bit to get to. Hello!
I’m hoping that not all of that is running on a single pi. I mean, it can, but you might hit limitations when everything is engaged with doing things. I just feel like, that’s a lot for one raspberry Pi…
Anyways, iptables are good to have a general grasp of, but they’re generally GNU/Linux specific. There’s other routing implementations that run on Linux, and hardware appliances generally have their own bespoke, vendor specific stuff. One project I’m aware of is free range routing. There’s a lot more, but this is one that I know of. Using FRR, vs iptables, they’re very different beasts. But you shouldn’t need FRR, it’s a monster in terms of memory use and designed to operate in ISP class networks. You don’t need it. I’m just using it as an example of what is out there.
The best advice I can give about this is that learning the concepts behind routing is more valuable than any specific product. Knowing the difference between an RIB and FIB, and how to structure routes, priorities, costs, etc… All very important. Can you learn that with iptables? Sure, and probably more, since iptables can also function as a low end firewall.
The important thing is that you learn the meaning behind what you’re doing in whatever routing platform you are working with.
I’ve worked with so many different ways of handling routing and firewall work that I get annoyed when vendors come up with dumb marketing terms that leak into the device user interface, for a very common routing, firewall, or VPN technology. I don’t care whether I’m on a router or firewall that’s custom and running open WRT, ddwrt, opnsense, or one from Cisco, Sonic wall, watchguard, Fortinet, Palo Alto, or any of the dozens of other vendors. A VPN is a VPN. IKE and IPsec don’t change because it’s vendor x or y. Don’t start calling the IKE identifier something else.
… Sorry, rant.
Anyways, I don’t really see the vendor’s interface as anything more than a code I have to convert into the industry standard protocol information that everyone uses. It’s a filter by which that vendor portrays the same options that everything else has. Some have quirks. Some are more straight forward. But they all have the same options in the end. Allow the traffic or don’t, do it by port and protocol or by IP. Apply content filters or don’t, use Ethernet, DHCP, pppoe, or something else like ATM or ipx/SPX for signaling. Who cares.
If you understand the concepts, the skills are transferable, no matter what platform you end up using, you’ll know what needs to be done, you’ll just be stuck figuring out how you do it on this platform.
Thank you so much for your response!
I feel the same way. I was looking into a Udemy course for those Cisco exams (not to take the exam, just to learn) and I was discouraged that the content is so vendor specific.
Do you have a recommendation on “neutral” learning? I have access to a fair amount of Udemy of that helps. Also happy to read static text, though preferably written as more of a tutorial than just a raw RFC or man page.
What about the SNMP protocol? And is ARP level 1 or 2? Edit 2 or 3 ofc!
I love low level network stuff, but nowadays nobody needs that anymore.
Well, SNMP is pretty great. There’s three variants in common use, v1, v2c, and v3. I’m a big fan of v2c, because I usually run SNMP over my trusted LAN, and read only, so there’s little or no risks there. I just want all the information! Haha I would consider v3 if I was doing any kind of read/write work with SNMP. To date, I’ve never had to, so I just don’t bother with it. It’s a bear to set up compared to v2c.
ARP is on layer 2/3 of both the OSI model and the 5 layer TCP model. The OSI model has never been implemented in a production network, it’s just a reference to visualize how things operate. TCP/IP and ipv6 generally stop around the OSI model layer 5. 6/7 is handled by the software, in theory, and layer 8 is where you get the most problems, by far.
ARP is considered to be both layer 2 and layer 3, sometimes noted as layer 2.5, because it’s bridging layer 2, which is Ethernet Mac addressing in most networks, and layer 3 which is IP addressing. It almost entirely operates on layer 2 however.
There’s a new, revised version of the TCP model that I’m aware of that blurs the line between what is known as layer 1 and 2 in the OSI model, kind of bundling them together. It’s weird, but something I’ve seen around.
The question I never got an answer to was about Ethernet. I have searched the internet high and low and have yet to find a credible reference that indicates what the real answer is. There’s a white paper but you have to pay to see it, I’m pretty sure the answer is in there, obfuscated by some fancy math algorithm… The question is: how much voltage is used for Ethernet baseband signaling when PoE is not used? What constitutes a “high” signal, and what is a “low” signal? A lot of sources seem to point to 5v and 1v, but never have any references to back up the claim. There are other sites that provide different voltages for high and low too. 5/1 is just the most common that I’ve seen mentioned.
Hey you know your stuff 🫡 well done!
It’s okay to message you?
I suppose, but I usually don’t check my messages on Lemmy very often, I look at my comment replies, but not my messages. I should have Matrix connected, if you use that… I have no idea if I set up Matrix right, or if I linked it correctly… I haven’t looked at it since I did the setup.
I’m curious why you would want to DM rather than discuss it publicly where the information might help others?
You don’t need to justify yourself to me. That question is intended for you to answer it for yourself, and if that doesn’t change that you would rather do the discussion over DM, then I won’t hold that against you.
Be well.
It was more of a general question if you’re open to that. I’m unaware if there is a profile section on Lemmy to know if people consent to being message directly. So, I just ask if it’s cool.
You seems really knowledgeable so I’m imagining someone might want to ask sensitive questions.
Well, I’m not opposed to it. If someone has an operational security issue that they want my take on, I’m happy to take that to DM.
The same promise, or lack thereof, for replies, will apply. Heh. I’m busy, so I can’t spend all my time on Lemmy. I love you all, but Shaka six feet dude.
I’m planning on setting up a NAS, so I will be reading into networking aswell. Hopefully I won’t get to frustrated lol
Good luck.
Basic configurations shouldn’t be too stressful. When you get into large segmented networks that use routing protocols, then you’ll have some headaches. I think you’ll be fine.
Thanks!
Yes, the only tricky part for me, I think, will be setting up external access for my familiy.
I did wonder about security though. Is it possible to set this up in a way where my families and my own ISP don’t see what is being shared?
Oh yes. You’re taking about a VPN.
But that opens a whole can of worms. You could go with something more tried and true, like Ike/IPsec, if your routers have that option. Usually that’s the way for firewalls, but it’s a bit hit and miss for routers.
Or you can go with something a bit more modern, like tailscale, wireguard, or zero tier. But then you need some way to put that on your NAS. I’m partial to zero tier, but there’s plenty of good options, even beyond what I’ve mentioned.
Researching this becomes a mine field without the right vocabulary, because having a “VPN” is such a broad definition that there’s a lot of commercial VPN solutions, designed to give you operational security when browsing the Internet, which are completely useless at securing traffic between computers on different LANs over the Internet. Services like PIA, NordVPN, surfshark, proton VPN, Express VPN… So many others. They’ll secure your traffic to the Internet itself, not between private locations connected by the Internet.
I don’t know what hardware you’re specifically using as a router at each location or what works with what. I know ubiquiti has some VPN features in their gateway products, and that could make quick work of the problem. Just food for thought I guess.
What are the nuances between APs and how they handle choosing a channel? Also, I was told at one point it’s better to “stack” on top of other SSIDs using the same channel than to go one channel higher (assuming there isn’t room higher up in the spectrum).
Thank you for your time and expertise!
I can answer the second thing quickly, “stacking” the ssids as you say, makes the inference into what we call “co-channel” interference. Most of the wireless headers are unencrypted, though your payload is encrypted (the data being transferred) but not so much for the headers. Because of this, and the fact that each ap is talking on the same frequency, there’s a small amount of collaboration that can occur between wireless networks. If someone starts a wireless multimedia (WMM) session that will last 8.2ms, then all radios on channel will know that the channel is occupied for the next 8.2ms, and basically go idle for that much time. If you’re on differing channels, but still interfering, aka adjacent channel interference, then those messages may not be understood, causing a lot more collisions. Collisions being when two radios transmit at the same time and the channel needs to clear and everyone backs off, and you try again (usually happening on the order of milliseconds, and possibly several times per second). Collisions will negatively impact your performance more than the channel simply being busy. The protocol in use for wireless collision avoidance is CSMA/CA or carrier sense multi access with collision avoidance, which is an amended version of CSMA/CD (collision detection) used in half duplex wired communication.
How’s that for a “short” answer?
For channel conditions, I’m looking at walls, building materials, open air distances, appliances, furniture… Anything that may attenuate, reflect, refract, or otherwise degrade signal strength whenever I start to assess an area for wireless. This is important so I know how many access points I need and how close together they need to be to overcome the obstacles placed in the environment. Once I have a rough idea of how many access points I need and how close together they should be, my next consideration is the expected client density and the objectives of the network. Something made for a busy stadium will have more access points than something made for a local cafe. If I’m doing a large number of access points my focus will be on maximizing how many clients can be connected, and driving that number as far down per access point/radio, as possible. Fewer people on a channel means more free airtime for their traffic, which equates to faster speeds. I’d be looking at using most of the 5ghz spectrum on the smallest channel width and have each radio be on its lowest power setting. You’ll have clients moving between access points a lot, but you won’t end up with more than a couple dozen per radio. I’d look into directional antennas, to minimize the broadcast range so I can reuse channels closer together. In such a high density space I would want to have some kind of Wi-Fi blocking or attenuation tech installed in the exterior of the building to prevent outside signals from coming in and inside signals from going out. Both for security and control over the airspace. Fewer things to interfere with; you only have to worry about what’s inside that perimeter. Then it’s a matter of setting up the channels for use in accordance with local laws, and letting the system handle channel assignment. With a huge number of access points, manually setting the channels is impractical. So everything I’ve said about it until now isn’t even for channel selection, it’s all things that support channel selection.
For small networks, especially in high density scenarios where the density is due to neighbors, whether that’s commercial neighbors in a plaza or mall, or residential neighbors if you’re in a suburb, an apartment, or a condo; for this, you want to pay careful attention to not only what other networks are around, checking from multiple points not only inside but outside of the premise as well, but what channels they’re on and what their relative signal strength is. If signal strength is low then not a lot to think about. Avoid the channel if you can, but if you can’t, there are worse selections. I’m also looking at the attenuation obstacles here, environments with large obstacles will benefit from lower band channels, either 2.4ghz or UNII 1 for 5ghz, and environments with a lot of radios on the 5ghz spectrum, may benefit from enabling the UNII 2 DFS channels (dynamic frequency selection). A lot of cheaper gear can’t operate in the UNII 2 DFS space because they haven’t bothered to implement DFS, which is a legal requirement for anything operating in that band. So the guys in the apartment next door that are using an off the shelf, cheapo router on sale from best buy probably won’t have the ability to even select those channels for use, and you’ll be free to use them with little to no interference… Unless the DFS triggers that is… For less dense areas I want to tend towards UNII 1 and 3 for stability, and only have enough 2.4ghz to cover the area. 20 MHz wide channels on 2.4ghz, 40 wide on 5/6Ghz. Should net about 400mbps or so per radio, and unless you have gigabit + Internet, with everything on Wi-Fi, some remarkably clear airspace, and only a single access point, going to 80mhz channel width is usually unhelpful. I’m looking at not only the channels with low/no occupancy, but I also want to look at how busy those channels are, but this aspect usually requires monitoring over a duration of time, with specialized hardware. I would choose to overlap with a dormant network with a stronger signal, than overlap with a network that is much weaker in signal strength, but very busy all the time. I also prefer channels 1/6 on 2.4 GHz because channel 11 is near the upper limit of 2.4ghz, and just above that limit is the frequency used by microwave ovens. If any microwave ovens don’t have perfect shielding and you’re on channel 11, you’re going to have a bad time. In environments with more than one access point on 2.4ghz, I don’t worry too much about it since any affected client can hop to another access point when interference ramps up.
There’s more but my brain is tired today.
Also, don’t use the wifi routers provided by Cocmast. Cocmast uses them to provide their xfinity-branded wifi, so as their customer you are literally sacrificing bandwidth and paying their electric bill. I assume all cable companies do this but Cocmast is the only one I know about for sure.
ISP provider doesn’t matter. Put your ISP modem into bridged mode and get your own router.
ISPs usually don’t buy good, or reliable stuff for their clients, they buy whatever gives them the marketing buzzwords and costs them the least. Usually, they’re great at doing modem things, not so good at anything else. Bridged mode just limits them to just doing what they’re good at.
Why use the ISP router at all? If your ISP uses IPoE or can provide you the PPPoE connection details, can’t you use any router you like?
Yes and no, usually the ISP router is also the modem, converting from either VDSL, DOCSIS, or some flavor of GPON, and most people don’t have the knowledge or patience to figure out how to do a modem delete for their ISP.
Having the ISP put the modem in bridged mode usually nullifies the instability of it. Bridged mode turns the ISP modem router thing effectively into just a modem.
You can improve communication by removing it entirely, if you can sort out the modem delete, but unless there’s a pretty clear demarcation between the line handling gear and the ISP router, you might be up a creek.
The other caveat is that with a modem delete, you won’t get help from the ISP. You have to revert to their gear before they will troubleshoot your connection. To them, that modem router is their demarcation line, so it must be in the path somewhere, or they get pretty grumpy about it all.
But, if you have the skill and the aptitude to do it, you can cut ping times by quite a bit. On my VDSL line, when I did a modem delete, replacing whatever lowest bidder modem router my ISP gave me with a Cisco 1911, and a VDSL2 line card, I got my, already quite reasonable ping times (somewhere around 10ms? Or so, to the local datacenter), down to about 4ms. Over VDSL2. That’s crazy good. Nearly FTTH speed.
I did something similar when I was on FTTH for a bit, I got a fiber ont SFP transceiver that could be reconfigured, programmed it with the MAC and other critical information from my ISPs device, and used that in my own router. Which also cut ping times from ~5ms? To ~2ms maybe? So, yeah. There’s benefit to it, but it requires specialized expertise most of the time. If you have an easy path to a modem delete with your ISP, then it’s a no brainer.
Disabling the routing in your ISPs combo router/modem, is essential for any mid sized household that values their performance.
Sorry, what is a “modem delete”, and how does all of this work if you just don’t choose to buy a router from your ISP at the time you first order an Internet plan from them? Like, it’s included there as a standard option with most ISPs, and they have instructions that at the very least seem simple (usually just making sure you have PPPoE with the right connection details, or IPoE set) to use.
How would I setup MoCA in a house when it has a really large splitter?
The size of the splitter isn’t super important, though if there’s enough branches the signal may degrade to the point of not working, so it can be a problem. I would break out the splitter, as in, buy a couple of new splitters, MoCA compatible, and put half the connections on one, half on the other, then use a MoCA blocking splitter to join them to the upstream coax. This will prevent the two halves from talking to eachother and from talking to anyone outside your home. Then use two MoCA connections, one on each coax “segment”.
It will cost more to do it this way, but you’ll get a better, more reliable connection, no matter where you connect.
Since you would need all the gear for the split that you would for the single node, I would say, buy one node for the “head” end first and test if it works, if not, plan for the split idea. Also be mindful that MoCA is a different frequency than cable TV, so not all TV splitters will bridge MoCA connections. You can look up the frequencies in use, they’re all published on Wikipedia. There’s also different coax splitters for cable vs satellite, etc so it gets a bit nuanced. The supported frequencies should be on the label of any coax splitters. Make sure they all include the MoCA frequencies.
Good luck.
Will keep that in mind. The original application was for my friends place but they’re moving. Lease ends next month and they’re not renewing. My moca setup was for my router and now it’s a cat 8 cable. (I have fiber).
I never really got a straight answer regarding splitters and moca. That’s super cool
That’s fair. I feel a little called out, rightly so.
What you want to do is look at the MoCA frequencies, which is ~450-1625mhz or so and see if your splitters include that range. If so, you’re golden, if not, there’s a good chance your MoCA signal will be attenuated by the splitter. Each splitter will cut the power by the number of connected branches, so 2 branches will be half power per branch, 4 will be a quarter. Etc. MoCA can handle some loss, but too much and it will fall over. There are splitters that you can buy that specifically include MoCA frequencies, some that don’t, and they’re will be some that specifically block it. The last type is good for separating MoCA segments, or at service entry points so you don’t end up sharing your network with neighbors.
Each splitter will have a label that specifies what frequencies it’s been tested with and that are validated to work. It should be printed on the splitter. If it’s not, throw it out and buy something that’s not in disrepair.
To clarify what’s going on a bit, the coax is just an antenna line, with no antenna. It can handle many different frequencies of transmissions. Like with the radio in your car, you can “tune into” different radio stations. The other radio stations on air don’t interfere with the one you’re listening to and vice versa. It’s the same idea with coax. Some frequencies are used to send cable TV, others are used for Internet (otherwise known as DOCSIS) and some are used for MoCA. All coax handling gear will support and be tested for some frequencies, and unless otherwise stated, anything outside of that range will be unknown. Most cable splitters support cable TV and DOCSIS frequencies primarily. There are different coax splitters for satellite, which uses all different frequencies, and there’s others that support much broader frequency ranges. Some can connect a wide spectrum but are only validated for a small part of what they can carry.
Your mileage may vary, and it’s really up to what you have and what the manufacturer did with the design of that specific splitter.
I’m sorry the answer isn’t more straight forward.
Every single time I looked for an article I got confused. Explaining it like “coax is just an antenna” was the gap in my knowledge.
Thank you
You are very welcome my friend.
Actually makes me wish I had kids, this is brilliant.
I’ve been getting a lot of spam calls lately. Eventually said fuck it and screwed with them as much as possible. The best times were where I had something to do that didn’t require much brainpower but had to be done. I eventually was able to keep them on the phone for up to a half an hour by pretending I was following their instructions until they realized I was bullshitting them. Everything from the internet being slow (and going on a rant about “ever since I moved to [made up town] I’ve had to deal with this shitty Internet, and they promised it to make it better X years ago”) to fake accents and changing my voice, or sometimes just not having a clue if I have an iPhone or Android and getting walked through how to figure it out. Once they figure out I’m bullshitting them they get furious. Absolutely hilarious.
Unfortunately for the fuckery with the scammers I don’t have as much brainless stuff to do at the moment. Though I still do fuck with them, I keep it short. Some things they really hate:
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go into the bathroom, and when they’re explaining their stuff flush the toilet so they can clearly hear it
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answer in a voice like you’re getting off. Instead of “yes” answer “Oh God yes”. At a fitting moment say “Oh God I’m going to cum”
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go really far away from the microphone and speak softly, and when they ask you to speak louder tell them you’re already speaking loudly, something must be up with the line. They’ll most likely turn up the volume. Once the conversation goes to their scam and they’re not thinking about it anymore, scream as loud as you can into the microphone.
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“How would you like to get fucked in the ass?” (Works best with men, considering those men often seem to be pretty prejudiced)
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in a crazy voice: “HEY, WHAT DO YOU WANT, I’M TAKIN A SHIAAAAT”
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"You say you’re from [insert company they’re pretending to be from]? Shit, your ex was right, you are a liar!
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"you work for [insert company they’re pretending to be from]? Is that what you tell your mother?
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“Hey [insert their fake name they gave you, the way they pronounced it], if you’re going to use a fake name, at least learn to pronounce it right”
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if you recognize the name from an earlier call, reference what happened in that earlier call and rile them up further about it
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when they’re about to hang up: “don’t be a chicken, don’t hang up! I have a bet going with my friend here, if you hang up, I win!”
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after getting insulted because you told them you know they’re not who they say they are: “you’re insulting me, which means I’m right, thank you!” [Proceed to laugh loudly]
Anyway, I have more, it’s just not popping into my head at the moment. But creativity is the key here, and it’s fucking entertaining.
I feel like behaving like this is just kicking down. People doing scam calls are also just people and usually in a financially worse situation than who they are trying to call. Not even that, it is especially often people from the global south that we comparatively rich people from the global north exploit and gain our wealth from. And instead of trying to look at the big picture and seeing who the biggest scammer is (the capitalist system itself), most people just bully the ones that are worse off than them… I get that it feels way much more personal and tragic when a grandma loses all her savings to a small group of scammers. But the damages and losses done by large corporations (that also created the desperate circumstances and the motivation of the scammers in the first place) outweigh these scams billions of times. So please show some decency and treat them like normal people.
The scammers will often try to portray themselves like that, but it’s far from the truth. Very often, the scammers end up getting way, way richer than you and I could ever dream to be. That’s not some Robin Hood like action, that’s theft, plain and simple. If they were going after those big companies and distributing the wealth in their communities, that would be one thing (in fact, the communities around them often hate them as well). But they’re going after the most vulnerable and using the money to drive around in overpriced cars.
So no, I will not treat them like normal people, I will treat them like the organized criminals they are who do not stop harassing me.
Making suggestions about their heritage seems to really get the blood pressure up.
“I would have been your daddy, but the dog beat me over the fence!”
Instead of “yes” answer “Oh God yes”. At a fitting moment say “Oh God I’m going to cum”
I wish I would get actual spam calls so I could try this out :D
the one where you go away from the mic / speak softly and then scream is so fucking hilarious
Makes me feel bad for those who aren’t doing it by their choice and might get east damage from it
I like telling them “My start menu? I don’t have a start menu, I’m running Arch Linux.”
This is legit the funniest comment I’ve seen on the fediverse. Bravo and thank you.
Thank you and you’re welcome!
Only robots are calling me 😭
Usually the robot asks you to press a number, as soon as you do that you’ll be talking with a “representative”
Nah they are getting way smarter, you have a whole conversation before they even have a human (or another robot!) call you back another day.
I think next time I’m going to tell them all about bees! And I could throw in a few facts about chambered nautiluses, too although I don’t know enough to center the call about them.
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Except now they record your voice and use it to train voice ai and scam you harder. My coworker’s ex-husband got a call from their “daughter” distressed “kidnapped” needing money for ransom. Sent it and called the ex-wife. Daughter was sleeping at home.
I wonder if they do. That seems like a lot of effort to go to for the average person for a scammer.
It seems easier to have a generic voice, rely on the fact that phone audio quality isn’t great to bridge the gap, and use a shotgun approach.
Some places do, since there were a few high profile attacks, but they were nearly all targeting organisations by pretending to be the CEO or something.
Once it’s automated it’s the same either way. Probably something even vibe code could pull off.
I still have an ace up my sleeve: I don’t pick up the phone unless I know who is calling or am otherwise expecting a call.
Right now I just get the occasional one liner email: “hey Sahara what are you doing tonight?” Who the hell falls for that?
that’s why they only get one word from me. and it’s said like a jolly game show host.
HELLLOOOooooo!
I’ve heard of this scenario as an example of why not to put your face on the internet. Now with AI it’s actually happening.
Twice we got scammed. Well once for real, I caught the second one. I only realized the first one after my parents were already gone. My brother went on a solo psycho-journey when I was like 14, trans-Siberian railway through Russia and Mongolia, ended up in China. He was perhaps 19 at the time. A couple months in we got a call from China. Chinese embassy say my brother is in trouble. They read back his information, everything on the passport, is this him? Yes, it is. Keep in mind this was in the 90’s when international calls to the other side of the planet cost actual money by the minute.
My parents spoke very broken English, and I was too young to speak properly to handle something like this, so there was a bunch of back and forth over several days, but it was clear to all of us that he was in trouble, and needed us to send money to get him out of whatever it was. China, ffs. I don’t remember, shit I don’t know even how much they ultimately sent, but it was likely by my estimates around $1500- a very solid chunk of change for our not necessarily struggling but not exactly thriving family either.
He came back a year later or so, and I don’t know why but the whole debacle kind of never came up at the dinner table, until just like a year or so before my mom and dad both passed. We were all sitting after dinner, drinking and telling the usual family stories, and it came up, and we all laughed about how crazy that shit was to deal with back home when he was on his crazy first trip of his life and had to send money to China. He didn’t laugh. He hadn’t any clue what the fuck we were talking about, and nervously laughed it off.
At the time I just shook my head, of course he wouldn’t remember when someone else bailed him out and saved his ass, narcissistic piece of shit as he is. Only after they passed did I realize, oh shit. There was no embassy, there was no emergency. Some entrepreneurial Chinese hostel manager just took down his info, somehow tracked down our parents (likely he had just straight up given them their contact information, just in case), and scammed us out of a decent amount of money.
My parents were hard working, we never wanted for anything, and they never let on we were actually not particularly well off and struggled at times. If they were alive, I still don’t know if I would tell them. What was, was. What good is that heartbreak gonna do anybody thirty years after the fact? Anyway, that moment has passed either way, and well, we survived anyway, but damn it stings being the only one knowing this such a long time afterwards. My brother stayed a piece of shit and our remaining family have all gone no-contact with him, so even he doesn’t know, it’s just me.
The second time was possibly even more heart-breaking, but at least nobody lost any money. My parents, my father specifically, I mean both of them but this concerns my father- they grew up in a war torn country. My father had three brothers. He was youngest. When he was three years old, war broke out. The big one, number two, and in the worst possible place. He loved his brothers, and the eldest one got drafted, the story is unclear and lost to time, but joined the airforce somewhere abroad. The second one, I can’t even recall, but he disappeared somewhere, sometime, somehow, and none of dad’s family ever heard anything from him again- MIA, basically.
It was a big thing for my father, my grandmother too, she lived with us for years in the new country after the war, and just like in the story above, it’s first after I got up in years and some that I realized what that haunted look was on her face as she zoned out and pulled her fingernails along the armseat of the leather chair that was hers, as the family watched TV together. Dad used to say, “Grama! Stop scritching!”, it was a thing and we all laughed at it because grama scritched. She was thinking of her two lost sons- one of them went into the airforce but was also never heard from again, the other, who knows. Nothing good, probably. But they never knew.
Dad was like her, he just never got over it. He had kind of reconciled the fact that his eldest brother either died fighting, or after the war just relocated somewhere in another country and couldn’t find his family back home again. But the other brother, it just itched him until the day he died, he used to light a candle every Christmas and make the table for one person extra, just so that in case he happened to come knocking, the table would be set for him to sit down and have Christmas dinner with us. We didn’t think much of it, only, again, in my older years did I understand what emotional luggage was being brought out and put on display on that one night every year.
Sorry for being long-winded, but it kind of matters- decades go by, no more grama, parents getting old, and one day there is a letter. Dear so-and-so, it has come to our attention that a lost relative of yours, by the name so-and-so, has been trying to get in touch with you. Disclosed are his personal information, we are reaching out to you to make sure that you are actually related to this person, and would you want to accept his communication? If so, please get back to us by sending $100 to the following address for verification purposes, and he will be passed along your contact information.
My dad called me at work, “Something amazing has happened, get over here straight away after work”. So, of course, I did. By then I was coming up on 40 working IT, I’d been around. I took one look at that letter and just laughed at it, “dad, this is a classic scam. Like, do you mind if I keep this? I have never seen an actual printed Nigerian Prince letter with stamps and all, like, they really went the extra mile with this one!”, and he looked at me with despair, and I will never forgive myself for not being quicker on my feet and realizing the trauma I was casually laughing off, and said, “are you sure? His name is in there, and all, and our name is too, this is clearly real!”.
He wanted so badly for it to be real, my mom sat by him, they both started arguing with me, like, clearly it was real, and that is when I knew for sure that it wasn’t, because they weren’t arguing with me, they were arguing with reality, or god himself, pleading for it to be real. I just shook my head, ever the bitter cold rationalist, “no, this is a very classic trick, and your long lost brother is not trying to contact you”.
I don’t know how I should have handled it, to me it was just another Nigerian scam letter, I was just overcome with the novelty of having a physical copy in my hand, but to my father, and to my mother, it was the one tiny spark of hope they had been waiting for, for decades.
That is the type of sorrow and grief that scammers prey on, and cause. Fuck them all to pieces.
worst place possible to be at the start of WWII? setting up an extra plate at the Christmas table?
your dad was either dedicating this polish tradition to his new intention, or reinvented it from scratch just for him
Is this the weaponized autism I keep hearing about?
It is weaponized autism (positive). Weaponized autism (negative) is like charlie kirk shit.
I am into old back-of-the-archive Korean historical dramas. They’re lost? Even better. I’ve been scouring old newspapers for plots of old dramas (mostly dailies because they were the popular format in 70s SK) and plying them on an equally old forum dedicated to the topic. I’ve also been cataloguing them and trying to identify the oldest ones (TV guides between 1964 to 1970 didn’t always list the name of the program, sometimes they’d just list it as “historical drama”). So far it seems I have the plots to most of the 70s historicals, which then opens new realizations that a lot of the more popular 80s shows are remakes of the 70s dramas. And those 80s dramas were then remade into 90s/2000s dramas and the occasional 2010s drama (there’s been a major artistic shift starting from the Korean wave in 2003 that’s stopped this cycle in TV dramas though). I can post the plots to a lot of these dramas and even started subtitling the ones that are more complete.
If you ask, I’ll post a plotline here!
Edit: I didn’t realize this was a science lemmy, might just delete soon lolDon’t delete, give us your
favoriteweirdest plotline!Hm, not the longest but definitely the weirdest - this one’s a daily historical called Oknyeo (1978) from channel MBC (who’s still around today), a remake of a 1970 weekly drama of the same name from channel TBC. TBC was the biggest SK terrestrial channel of the 70s, abruptly ended when Jeon Du Hwan’s military dictatorship shut them down in 1980 and incorporated them into government channel KBS. TBC’s corpse remains today as KBS2, while a cable channel jTBC started in 2011 as a resurrection by the original channel owners, the Joongang Group.
The original plot was:
Lee Gil Jae (Geungjae in some episodes, probably a mix-up with the male love interest from competing drama My Lady), a nobleman, loves Heo Oknyeo, a fallen noblewoman from a different political faction, but his parents arrange his marriage to Yihwa, a noblewoman from their political faction. Gil Jae tries to run off with Oknyeo, but they are caught by Kim Yun (don’t know his relation to anyone). Unable to do anything, Gil Jae marries Yihwa in despair, and promises to build a future with Oknyeo one day. Oknyeo becomes Yihwa’s servant, and is greatly favored by the sickly Yihwa. Gil Jae has secret meetings with Oknyeo, which lead to a murder attempt by a certain Scholar Song (don’t know his relation to anyone). Unaware of the whole situation, Yihwa misunderstands and believes Oknyeo is having an affair with another scholar Park (don’t know his relation to anyone). Oknyeo gets pregnant with Gil Jae’s child, making Yihwa extremely jealous, and Oknyeo’s father Secretary Heo, formerly presumed dead, reappears as a beggar. Court strife comes between Oknyeo and Gil Jae, as their families are from different factions, and they are forever unable to attain happiness. Oknyeo dies at the end.
Pretty tame. But then 8 years later MBC extended the plot to (I’m including the marketing catchphrases and description from the newspaper ads because wow tv marketing sure has changed)
“Mother, what do we do about Oknyeo? The Young Master’s love moves one to tears. His father hates her to death. But there’s nothing Oknyeo can do!” “The tragic story of one woman of the Lee Dynasty, wandering in search of her lover, determined by a fate that transcends time and space!”
Plot:
During Prince Gwanghae’s reign in Joseon Korea (1608-1623), Yun Sang Heon’s only daughter Oknyeo dies of illness. During her funeral, Oknyeo climbs out of her coffin to everyone’s surprise. Her prospective fiancee Kim Shijin backs out of their future marriage after this, and all chances of her getting married are broken after he finds out Oknyeo can now predict the future by looking into her mirror. Rumors spread to Kim Gae Shi (Gwanghae’s closest confidante and the most powerful Court lady in the Palace, more powerful than the Queen) who invites her into the Palace to act as her fortuneteller. Oknyeo becomes famous and acts as Gae Shi’s helper for a while. One day, Oknyeo sees the ghost of her mother Lady An, who predicts that her true love is ex-suitor Lee Se Young, son of Lee Myeong Ha. Seyoung is set to marry a maiden named In Shil, but he’s still very much in love with Oknyeo, and confirms it before the official engagement arrives.
Suddenly, Oknyeo and her father are caught in conspiracy, and by Kim Gae Shi and Lee Myeong Ha’s schemes, Yun Sang Heon is ordered poisoned. Oknyeo too, but she manages to escape punishment. This enrages Lee Myeong Ha, who lies to Kim Gae Shi and tells her they’re both dead. Oknyeo runs to Mount Dobong, Lee Myeong Ha at her heels. She dresses as a man and hides out at the house of a woman named Suwon. Oknyeo uses her shamanic powers to exorcise Suwon’s husband, who is haunted by the ghost of her sister-in-law, but Suwon sells her out to Lee Myeong Ha anyway. When the officers arrive, Oknyeo has already disappeared.
Seyoung and Inshil are about to be married, but Seyoung gets a shock when Inshil’s maid Gyehwa turns out to be Oknyeo. Seyoung loses his mind for like a week, then gets locked up because everyone thinks he’s faking. Oknyeo begs Inshil to be Seyoung’s concubine. Inshil gets married to Seyoung, to Oknyeo’s frustration. She looks to her mirror again, wondering if Seyoung and her are truly destined to be with each other. However Seyoung leaves the bridal chamber after the wedding and goes straight to Oknyeo, getting her pregnant. Oknyeo then predicts Prince Neungchang (Prince Gwanghae’s distant relative who is a threat to his legitimacy as King)'s death, which starts more chaos. Somehow Seyoung gets himself involved and Inshil ends up protesting outside her own house on a mat, refusing to eat. Queen Yu (Prince Gwanghae’s wife), who’s been working with Kim Gae Shi the whole time, reveals Oknyeo’s identity.
Meanwhile in Court, Court officials Kim Yu and Jeong In Hong try to kill Lee Myeong Ha, who is still out for blood. Oknyeo hides in Jeong In Hong’s house and tries to kill herself, but her suicide attempt is foiled when she realizes Kim Yu switched out her poison for baby medicine. In Hong dreams of Lee Myeong Ha killing Oknyeo with poison, but Oknyeo ends up trying to poison someone named Song Sa Cheon because he found out who she really is. Song Sa Cheon reports to Kim Gae Shi, and pressures Lee Myeong Ha to prove if Oknyeo can really see the future.
Now everyone’s on the run for Oknyeo, including Lee Myeong Ha, Queen Yu, Kim Gae Shi and Song Sa Cheon. Oknyeo hides with Suwon again and everyone’s about to find her when… the issue of deposing Queen Inmok suddenly comes up and everyone in Court gets distracted. Kim Gae Shi starts the chase again when she needs to know if she’ll be successful in deposing Queen Inmok, and with nowhere left to run, all chances of leaving the Capital dashed due to her imminent delivery, Oknyeo gives birth at the same time Lee Myeong Ha coincidentally dies, and then kills herself. Queen Inmok is then deposed (but that’s its own story)
Edit: come to think of it there’s one more I think is crazier than this but it’s based on a novel
Woah, intense! Thanks for sharing. Random fact I learned while traveling: Iranian TV plays a lot of Korean soap operas, I think they’re almost all period dramas.
Don’t delete. :(
If you delete this I’ll cry pls share a plotline i love it when people infodump
Since you asked, I’ll share another one! This one’s from TBC’s 1976 daily drama “Lady of the Side Chamber,” an adaptation of the Joseon novel “Legend of Lady Park”. The show itself was Season 6 of a 14 part anthology on famous women real and fictional from the Joseon Dynasty. Only two episodes of this season remain.
Plot:
Deep in Mt Geumkang there lived a Taoist Master named Master Yujeom and his daughter Lady Park. Yujeom was best friends with Court official Lee Deuk Chun, and they swore to marry their children together. One day, Deuk Chun takes his son Shi Baek to Yujeom’s house, but Shi Baek nearly dies on the mountain. He’s saved by a mysterious woman in a black veil, and falls in love with her immediately. Upon reaching Yujeom’s house, Shi Baek finds out the veiled woman is his bride to be, but becomes afraid of her veil that she can never take off (it’s because she’s really ugly), and won’t enter the bridal chamber with her.
After marrying, Shi Baek, Deuk Chun return to their mansion, named the Chwihee Hall, and her new in-laws are frightened by how ugly Lady Park is, so they avoid her. Lee Shi Baek distances himself from his wife and stays with a courtesan named Sanwol, whom he loved since before getting married. Sanwol lives in a tavern with her mother Kang Shim. Shi Baek’s mother Lady Kang and his aunt pressure Lady Park to get divorced and go back to her family. Only Lee Shi Hwa, Shi Baek’s sister, befriends Lady Park and frequents Chwihee Hall.
As time goes along, Shi Baek treats Lady Park even more coldly, while the other in-laws scorn and bully her even more, to the point that she begs them to build a side chamber where nobody can see her. They name it the Pihwa Pavilion, a really insulting name as it means “avoiding disaster”. Lee Shi Hwa suggests wearing a white veil instead of a black one, and Lady Park agrees. Lady Kang, Sanwol and Sanwol’s mother Kang Shim are eager to chase her out, and scheme to get Sanwol into Chwihee Hall as Shi Baek’s concubine. Kang Shim finds an extraordinary fortuneteller and curses Lady Park, but Lady Park uses her powers of endurance to overcome it.
One day, Lady Park thinks of a way to make money for her father-in-law and spends $300 on a sick horse in the marketplace that’s worth $7. She asks her father-in-law to feed it everyday with sesame seed rice porridge. Aware of her abilities, Lee Deuk Chun does as she asks, and after three years, it becomes an excellent horse with supple skin and sheeny hair. She sells the horse to a Ming emissary for $38,000. As Lady Park expected, the money from the horse startles the Lee family.
Three years into their marriage, Lee Shi Baek’s civil examination approaches and Lady Park has an unusual dream, where her husband gets first place after touching a special set of brushes, paper and inkstone that she sent him. The theme of the civil exam was denoted in the shadow of the inkstone. Lee Shi Baek is inspired and regrets his actions towards her. He passes the civil exam, but finds out Lady Park promised his mother to kill herself if he passes. Fortunately, Lady Park’s father Master Yujeom visits and uses magic to fix her face, which is now as beautiful as a fairy’s. Lady Park’s marital chemistry with Lee Shi Baek has improved, but Lady Kang’s fear changes to jealousy, and continues to find fault with her. Even so, Lady Park treats Lady Kang with sincerity. When she gets pregnant, Lady Kang is moved and begins to treat Lady Park with love. From then on, the family begins to get along. Lady Park gives birth to twins, now served by new servants Gyehwa and Gil Bo. Lee Shi Hwa also marries her fiance Ju Il, to the joy of the entire family.
Meanwhile to the North, the Manchu nation of Later Jin is growing more powerful, and the clouds of war begin to hang. Lee Shi Baek, who’s just come back from Later Jin as an emissary, prepares for an attack and petitions the Court to reinforce national defense, but the Court officials oppose and King Injo doesn’t believe Later Jin will attack. Lady Park is frustrated and uses her supernatural powers to appear in the King’s dreams. She speaks to him of the situation and lets him know that Later Jin will change their name to Qing and attack. She suggests that he think of a countermeasure. Soon after Injo awakens he summons the Court officials and asks Lee Shi Baek in detail about what he saw in Later Jin, but the Court officials still oppose.
Some time later, a beautiful courtesan named Seoljungmae appears at Kang Shim’s winehouse and entrances Lee Shi Baek. Lady Park is anxious over these news and invites Seoljungmae to meet her herself. She finds out that Seoljungmae is secretly a Qing Princess here to assassinate Lee Shi Baek, and then scolds Seoljungmae before sending her back. At the same time, she tells Injo that the Qing troops will be here soon, so he should urgently avoid disaster. The King sentences her to capital punishment, and the Court requests in unison to kill both her and Lee Shi Baek.
Over in Qing, Hong Taiji leads Tatara Inguldai (Long Gu Da/Yong Gol Dae) and his brother Long Hu Da/Yong Hol Dae to begin their attack on Joseon. As the Qing army of 100,000 approaches, Injo escapes to Namhan Mountain Fortress. Inguldai chases Injo to the fortress while Long Hu Da attacks and plunders the people. Long Hu Da’s soldiers break into the side chamber at Pihwa Pavilion but Lady Park slits their throats with her magic and locks the door.
King Injo finds out Namhan Fortress only has provisions for 50 days, and regrets not listening to Lee Shi Baek. A heated debate arises when he suggests a surrender, saying Lady Park represents Heaven’s will and that they must surrender to Hong Taiji. He writes a correspondence and takes the Crown Prince with him in common clothes to go kneel before Qing.
After the Manchu Invasions, Lee Deuk Chun becomes Chief State Councilor, Lee Shi Baek becomes the Crown Prince’s mentor, and Lady Park becomes Lady Jeonggyeong (First Class Noblelady, highest rank a non-Royal woman can attain) for repelling Inguldai and Long Hu Da with her magic. The family gets a Gate of Loyalty and a Pavilion tiled with Palace tiles.
Master Yujeom’s dying day approaches and so he praises all of his daughter’s achievements, visiting one more time to see her twins. Master Yujeom looks at their faces and predicts that they and their children will become State Councilors one day. Then, he chooses his day to die. Lady Park is extremely sad.
The King joyfully spends his time in the new Pavilion, calling Lady Park and Gyehwa to compliment them. 14 years later, King Injo dies and his son Hyojong comes to the Throne. Hyojong, who spent years as a hostage in Qing after Injo’s surrender, is resentful against the new Chinese dynasty and plans the Northern Conquest, a military plan to conquer the Qing Dynasty. Lee Shi Baek is now Chief State Councilor, busy with State affairs. He and Lady Park have sown resentment in their hearts and are impatient to one day conquer the North, but both know their time is coming soon. They both find a corner of their mansion and spend their last moments together, leaving behind one words as advice to the family: Loyalty [to the nation].
Historically the Northern Conquest was doomed at inception because Joseon simply had no money or resources to prepare for something like that after 4 invasions in 60 years. Hyojong died without realizing his plan, and his son Hyeonjong disbanded it upon ascension.
With no insult to you, what the fuck
Too much?
Not at all its just a wild plot
Sadly phone scams are the 3rd most profitable bussinesses in the world. They aren’t going anywhere unless we give up having a phone or our phone carriers do their fucking job on actual scam prevention
Just romance scams out of SE asia by chinese gangs using forced labor/slaves lured to their compounds are estimated to bring in 40 billion a year. I got on a dating site, and had 3 of said romance scams on me, the pig butchering ones wasting a significant amount of time as they play a long game and don’t give away their game until a week or so into it, they ease you into how they make money on some investment to get you hooked to milk you and show you fake returns on it but you need money to get your money and more and more and then when you are out of money or refuse to give more fuck you, we scammed you.
It’s mostly dudes they have captive they beat, it’s not even a woman you are talking to in these pig butchering scams. And the migrant laborers that get lured there from other countries oftentimes, like India, if they don’t speak english well enough they might sell them to Palm Oil Plantations, which is another level of slavery hell.
And we keep doing business with those countries.
I literally would if I could. Text and Internet only. I already never answer my phone because of these fucking people.
Right now they are calling my entire family with their scam lies.
Just wait till they call your family with a AI clone of your voice. “You” are in trouble and need cash now!
While they do make a lot of money i dont think they are even close he third most profitable businesses in the world.
Third ‘legal’.
Not that the top five should be considered any more legal than a drug dealer.
I can only info dump when I’m prompted to start talking about something now. I have special interests, but I have no interest in talking about them with people that I can feel aren’t really engaged. And the only people who ever engage eventually do get worn down after a while, or they’re more knowledgeable than me about something and that makes me fall in infatuation with them.
So if anyone wants to talk about modding video games and get married, hmu. Modding specifically is my special interest, and the games I mod include:
Elder Scrolls series (primarily Oblivion/ Skyrim but I have played some modded morrowind within the last 5 years)
Fallout series (all of them! Ok, I haven’t played 2 or the offshoots, but… shut up. New Vegas is my favorite :3)
Stardew Valley (I have 2700 hours in stardew :3 burnt out rn tho lowkey)
Dark Souls 1/3, Elden Ring
Baldurs Gate 3
Dragon Age (mostly origins, it continuously went downhill from there for me. I have done a couple modded replays of inquistion tho)
Minecraft
If you were to ask me what I could go on for the longest about? Probably New Vegas? Especially since I recently put in a fresh 200 hours. I finally got into TTW (a mod for new vegas that utilizes your copy of Fallout 3 goty to combine both games into a single experience) and installed it alongside some modernization modlists and HOLY SHIT.
I hadn’t played since 2021, an era that seemed like New Vegas was dying. People had long moved onto Fallout 4, quest mods weren’t coming out at the same frequency, etc
There was a total renaissance right after I left. If you haven’t played new vegas in a while: consider coming back and finding a guide or using a program like wabbajack to mod your game.
I personally followed the Viva New Vegas guide, then after deciding to jump into TTW, I found that the VNV people have a guide for a TTW list called TBoT (The Best of Times). Both of these lists are,'in my experience, more stable than the base game. A lot of important performance and configuration mods came out.
Then, there’s another list called WSG that I followed (wasteland survival guide), which added new content to the game and made it more hardcore.
If you made it this far and you really want to hear more, ask me a question. :3
click /S
Sir, this is a Burger King.
Can I get uh… chimken numget?
Go for the chicken fries, my dude!
If you like modding new Vegas, you should totally get into CP2077.
I also want to get into fallout 3. I’m so very tempted to set up ttw but my copy of 3 is on EGS and fnv is on steam.
Yeah man, I know I need to give cyberpunk a try sometime, but there is truly such a back log! On your recc, I’ll definitely move it up in priority tho.
TTW has been so good because Fallout 3 was my first Fallout game and New Vegas is my favorite.
It’s awesome. But yeah, the installation I think is more complex when you have it like that.
Something I noticed after replaying Fallout 3 for the first time in like 10 years, also, was how bad the voice direction in the game was. Like it isn’t always bad but it is obvious that the voice actors weren’t given much to work with at all.
There was a huge mod release the other day called DLC 2. It has so much stuff now.
I’m playing the game for the 4th time.
I took a look! Hell yeah, I will get on it… as soon as I put down No Man’s Sky, which I picked up recently.
Shit. That’s a game I want to play. Once I finish space engineers
They just released a large content update lmao. 10 years after the initial release.
Make sure you know what you’re signing up for, tho. It’s very much a minecraft-style game. There is some story, and it isn’t bad, but it definitely isn’t the focus. It is a fun mystery to kinda discover tho. The game has a lot of mystery/exploration aspects.
Have you dabbled in game design of your own?
I have! Another interest of mine is TTRPG, specifically I am a frequent DM. I love designing custom encounters with unique mechanics to engage my players.
I have also dabbled in coding. I started with HTML and BYOND (I never made anything beyond a 2d tile map of grass, an icon to move around on it, and a “hello world” message).
When I was a teenager, I tried to get into modding New Vegas via the GECK, but it was complicated and tedious looking. I wonder if I could go back now, as an adult, and make something I’m really proud of.
More recently, I got into making a mod for Stardew Valley. Idk what the code language would be called, but it’s an extremely simple text-based system. I was making a mod to add a pop media character to the game because my close friend really likes him. It was going pretty well and honestly the scope creep got big, I was really fleshing the character’s custom story out. Until I realized I had missed something in my testing, and noticed that certain triggers weren’t working, and realized there were character limits for triggers. Which meant that I couldn’t set up events with complex enough decisions to meet the goal I wanted to reach.
So I’ve taken a step back from that for awhile.
I did want to design video games as a kid, but it seemed like such a lofty goal that I never even tried pursuing it.
When I was in graduate school, I used to call the 700 Club’s prayer hotline and talk about my dissertation. To their credit, those people were remarkably patient and would only occasionally attempt to steer the conversation back in the direction of Jesus and his need to have some of my money. “Oh, I don’t have any money. Anyway, it turns out that there’s a perfect correlation between the giving of dowries and engagement in plow-based agriculture.” Completely true but for some reason they didn’t really care.
I do love the idea of educating scammy christians while they’re doing scammy shit.
I want to hear more about relationships in plow-based agriculture.
First you pay the dowry, then you get to plow
You’re thinking of brideprice, which is basically the opposite of dowry.
Have you heard about our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, and his need of your money?
This would be a great way to learn how to debate as well. The phone people wouldn’t know what hit them.
For people who think they’re winning by fucking with scammers, unless you are tying up hours of their time, you are doing the opposite by engaging with them. And even if you tie up hours, they aren’t really losing.
Obviously, falling for the scam is their ideal outcome, but ANY engagement beyond silence, a generic VM, or a disconnected/fax line marks your number as ‘active’ which can then be sold to other scammers.
So they still get a profit, and your number winds up on more scamming lists.
We are also getting close to the point where it won’t even be an actual human you’re talking to, it’ll just be some AI, making engagement even more useless.
If you get a call from an unknown number and you don’t have call screening, answer and SAY NOTHING! Not hello, not “may I ask whose calling”, mute your phone so they don’t even get background noise. The only numbers they can’t get anything out of are the ones that are brick walls.
Is this what you say to scammers when they call you?
Surely, if they’re selling your numbers to other scammers, other scammers are losing that same amount of money?
Then why do scammers get so angry? This doesn’t even make sense, except for the AI part.
As scummy as it is, it’s still how they make their living. Not at all taking their side, but I get pissed when someone wastes my time at work too. No idea how their pay structure is, but if it’s commission based, yea, more anger for having time wasted make sense
Just because tying them up doesn’t hurt or stop the overall operation, you still wasted that one guys time and probably hurt his metrics 🤷♂️
Still not worth it to me
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