Random Thoughts - Part III The Search for Spark (No Politics)

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by cjd

Well, sure. I'm suggesting you embrace the strugglers which won't give up. Give them names! They're great listeners, never talk back.
You might be able to smother them with newspaper. 5-6 sheets and it'll break down reasonably quickly. Not the prettiest but far less poisonous to things other than plants...or just keep rooting them up.
Getting a large area completely plant free is hard without poisoning water runoff pretty badly. And it won't last long. Seeds blow in, come in with birds and such... It's hard to know exactly what you're after but it might not be reasonable. Layer of newspaper topped with an inch of sand might do better... Sand is good under the artificial stuff f I remember right.

Huh newspaper? Didn’t know that. Thanks for the info

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Huh newspaper? Didn’t know that. Thanks for the info

Anything that block the light really. Newspaper has the advantage of being biodegradable but the disadvantage of potentially rowing a nice crop of mold, mildew or fungi.
For the little bit you seem to be talking about I would just pull whatever comes up. Bit more work but only sure way to keep ahead of it.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Huh newspaper? Didn’t know that. Thanks for the info

Cardboard works just as good/better. Basically the idea is to both reduce sunlight and rain while baking the plants underneath. Takes a few months.

[NoHaveMSG]

Anyone have any experience with 5G home internet? Exploring some options and less than thrilled with local service and contracts. I also may be looking at picking up a cell phone and T-Mobile and Verizon have 5G home in my area so I could bundle services and hopefully save some.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Anyone have any experience with 5G home internet? Exploring some options and less than thrilled with local service and contracts. I also may be looking at picking up a cell phone and T-Mobile and Verizon have 5G home in my area so I could bundle services and hopefully save some.

Not directly, but do have some indirect experience. The biggest issue is how many on your cell tower have it? It's a shared service so each added user reduces the bandwidth over time. You may think it is great at first, then it slowly degrades as neighbors here how good is for you.

Several of my coworkers use 4G Home Internet, and it's OK for most things but none of them are what I would call heavy users (gamers, etc). Primarily they use it for VPN services to work and streaming. Let's face it, basically it works like a phone hotspot, so if that works for you, this should work.

This is a decent article I read on it recently. I wouldn't usually go to Clark Howard and team for tech advice but this one sounds pretty well thought through.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Not directly, but do have some indirect experience. The biggest issue is how many on your cell tower have it? It's a shared service so each added user reduces the bandwidth over time. You may think it is great at first, then it slowly degrades as neighbors here how good is for you.

Several of my coworkers use 4G Home Internet, and it's OK for most things but none of them are what I would call heavy users (gamers, etc). Primarily they use it for VPN services to work and streaming. Let's face it, basically it works like a phone hotspot, so if that works for you, this should work.

This is a decent article I read on it recently. I wouldn't usually go to Clark Howard and team for tech advice but this one sounds pretty well thought through.

I am just looking for something for browsing the internet and streaming. I don’t game online anymore. Not a lot of people in my area. The entire county is less then 350k and the vast majority of that is in the 3 major cities 10-20 miles away. I know there are towers out my way and beyond to service up the canyon.

I had one of the old setups back in 06-07’ when I was working out of state all the time. I’m not sold on the 5g home, just not thrilled with my other options either. I’m considering just going without too.

[Stephen W.]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Anyone have any experience with 5G home internet? Exploring some options and less than thrilled with local service and contracts. I also may be looking at picking up a cell phone and T-Mobile and Verizon have 5G home in my area so I could bundle services and hopefully save some.

Don't know what's in your area but here where I am located there is basically only two types, fixed wireless from Xplornet or cell phone from Rogers or Bell. I have a 5G Samsung Note 20S on Rogers and use blue tooth to tether to my computers/tablets etc. I game on this setup but I don't think it's anywhere near what others get with their fiberoptic cable broadband.
My son-in-law has Elon Musk's Starlink system and says the internet connection is as good or better as the broadband high speed he had at their last house. He games alot more than I do. However Starlink is not available in my area yet.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

I am just looking for something for browsing the internet and streaming. I don’t game online anymore. Not a lot of people in my area. The entire county is less then 350k and the vast majority of that is in the 3 major cities 10-20 miles away. I know there are towers out my way and beyond to service up the canyon. .

You could always go with just using your phone. We do that in the car while traveling all the time and even with 4G have good results.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

You could always go with just using your phone. We do that in the car while traveling all the time and even with 4G have good results.

I was looking at just doing that too. I am on a unlimited data plan with my work phone but it throttles back the data heavily once I go over 25GB a month. Im looking at getting a personal cell phone anyway so just getting one and using it as a hot spot is something I was considering.

[spcmafia]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Anyone have any experience with 5G home internet? Exploring some options and less than thrilled with local service and contracts. I also may be looking at picking up a cell phone and T-Mobile and Verizon have 5G home in my area so I could bundle services and hopefully save some.

I believe T-Mobile is offering the 5G Internet service and Toms Hardware did an extended ownership review with very poor results. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/t-...rnet-customers

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by spcmafia

I believe T-Mobile is offering the 5G Internet service and Toms Hardware did an extended ownership review with very poor results. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/t-...rnet-customers

Ahhh thanks.

I think I am just going with Dadhawks suggestion of using a phone as a hot spot. I need a personnel phone again anyway so it will basically be just that for now and even the top level plans are less than local ISP's are charging per month.

[spcmafia]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Ahhh thanks.

I think I am just going with Dadhawks suggestion of using a phone as a hot spot. I need a personnel phone again anyway so it will basically be just that for now and even the top level plans are less than local ISP's are charging per month.

Also, for example, our plan, we have the not so unlimited plan (25GB), and the unlimited hotspot, which is again, not so unlimited, first 15GB are at 4G LTE and then it throttles down.



I think Verizon sells, or used to sell personal hotspots with different plans.

[ichitaka05]

At the Toyota dealership for my Highlander 5k maintenance. Surprised to see no oil changed. They recommend every 10k… which I’m not comfortable w, so requested to get oil change too.

While I was waiting, I was hoping to see if they had GR Supra or GR86… but sadly they didn’t have any

[cjd]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Huh newspaper? Didn’t know that. Thanks for the info

As already noted, you do need to be careful about mold... I've used it under a topping of soil/compost/sand when installing a garden over grass. No mold issues there, really. Soak it out and it's probably OK if more exposed; it probably works best under something.

But I really do suspect a little elbow grease will be your best bet.