The internet upgraded a smidge

It wasn’t more than a few weeks ago that we were still using Starlink as our home internet provider. Upgrading from 16 Mbps to Starlink’s 100 Mbps was a huge moment for us. There was no way our original network pipe could have supported working from home and a family addicted to streaming video. Those were rough times that would’ve got worse as the kids grew up. Starlink was a massive improvement. It solved all our basic internet needs, with the only downside being some latency during work meetings.

Then one magical day, we heard a whisper. Fiber was being installed next door. Our neighbor did his best to explain what was going on, but a lot was lost in translation. He’s not a “nerdy nerdy four eyes geek face” like what my childhood friends called me, so I had to do some digging. Turns out Frontier was not only able to install fiber internet, but it was $20/month cheaper than Starlink. So of course, we jumped on it without hesitation.

I would have given my last kidney for fiber internet - but now I don’t need to! It’s not as dramatic of a jump as going from 16 Mbps to 100 Mbps, but there’s something oddly comforting about knowing that speed and latency are no longer things we need to worry about.

There was a minor issue, though. I had to upgrade everything on network layer 1-3. That means all the switches, Ethernet cables, and routers needed upgrading. We (i.e. “I”) got everything working smoothly now, but it was a bit of an adventure getting every device and wire replaced. We’re also on WiFi 7 now, but that doesn’t matter much to me. I’m still pushing the Pixel 4.

I also had the opportunity to design and 3D print some ethernet switch brackets. If you want to wall-mount your network gear, 3d printing custom brackets is perfect. You can get creative with your setup and spend pennies doing it.