By Charles Miller
There is one thing about modern technology I believe most everyone understands. If you plug in too many electrical appliances to the same circuit, or if you plug in some device that is defective, it can overload that circuit and blow a fuse or trip the circuit breaker. When that happens, the electricity to everything plugged into that circuit immediately goes off. A similar thing can happen to your internet connection, but with a difference.
When you have electrical problems that cause you to blow a fuse, that is hard not to notice. Lights go off, televisions and other appliances all stop working at the same time. Connectivity problems with your internet-connected devices are sometimes harder to spot because it is often the case that things keep working albeit slower, intermittently, or less reliably. Some devices connected to the internet might still work while others fail to do so, or others might connect erratically. This is because of the internet’s design that allows for this rather than every connected device failing at the same time. The internet was designed to be self-correcting so that a single point of failure would not take out the whole system. Some say this story is apocryphal, but it is said that the internet was designed to withstand a nuclear war with the surviving pieces of the net connecting as best they could.
There are times I wish that the internet did not have this self-repairing capability. It camouflages problems, making them more difficult to locate and correct. The growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices being connected to home networks makes finding the source of problems a challenge. The never-ending list of IoT devices now includes mattress covers for the bedroom, egg trays for the refrigerator, electric toothbrushes, and toilets for the bathroom—and I could go on.
A friend of mine in the states was plagued for months with intermittent internet problems, and it was eventually determined that this was the fault of his lawn sprinklers. To save water the sprinkler control system checked online with the National Weather Service to see if rain was forecast. The plumbers who installed the irrigation system obviously failed to configure their internet-connected IoT devices so as to not conflict with any of the other devices in my friend’s house.
In someone else’s home, I was called to troubleshoot a wireless printer that refused to stay connected. The home Wi-Fi network was typical—haphazardly thrown together of mismatched components. I explained to the client that a permanent solution was available at a cost of several hundred dollars, or actually it was possible to do the same thing for no cost by manually unplugging and reconnecting various network components. The zero-cost option might get the printer to work, but I also cautioned that doing that ran the risk of degrading the internet connection to their smart TV.
I am not entirely sure the client believed my explanation, and I just hope they did not call tech support at Netflix saying, “My tech expert says it’s YOUR fault my printer doesn’t work!”
Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 415 101 8528 or email FAQ8@SMAguru.com.
