I understand the concerns about having a lot of “smart” devices in the home. The denizens of Ward Manor have decided the benefits outweigh the risks/costs. We try to have some dumb stuff available if the internet goes down.

One thing we have a bunch of are Kasa smart plugs. Also, the carriage lights are also Kasa. Normally, they’re used mostly when the Christmas decorations go up so we can use routines for turning lights on and off. But we do have a couple of “daily use” items on the plugs. For the second time, all of these stopped talking to the network. The only remedy I’ve found is rebooting the router. Which impacts everything else. So, it’s finding a five minute period no one is needing any other smart item to reboot. Then, there’s the worry as the router comes back up that something is going wrong.

These are the times I want to rip everything out. Which generally goes away after a week as I see the benefits of my various devices.