Usually the DSL and cable modems built in WiFi has a weak signal, and does not provide complete coverage to your home and the land around your home. In Minnesota, we had a one acre lake front property. The cable modem WiFi signal was way too weak to cover the two story home and basement, and almost no coverage outside the house. I added an Ubiquity access point, which I bought from Microcenter. Microcenter doesn’t have a Florida store, but has an online store.
The Ubiquity access point provided strong coverage to the whole house, which was about 3,700 square feet in size, and almost all of the land around the house. The WiFi signal was a little weak at the farthest point from the house by the lake shore. I thought about adding a second Ubiquity access point to cover the backyard by the lake better, but I never got around to doing that.
I had two Orbit B-Hyve 12 zone sprinkler controllers at the Minnesota house for two 12 zone sprinkler systems. The Orbit B-Hyve sprinkler controller is the best choice for a WiFi sprinkler controller. It is aware of the weather conditions and can automatically rain delay the irrigation. It can easily be monitored, controlled, and programmed from you smart cellphone or computer. The B-Hyve controller comes in a 12 zone model, and less zone models. The 12 zone model is about $100, which is dirt cheap for a WiFi smart sprinkler controller. I think it’s smarter to buy the 12 zone model because it’s only about $20 to $30 more expensive than the smaller zone count model, because it gives you the flexibility to expand your zones in the future.
One more important device to consider buying is a Internet sensing electric power switch. The reason to buy the Internet sensing switch is that occasionally the cable modems, DSL modems, and camera systems lose their Internet connectivity. The DSL or cable modem then has to be manually power cycled. If you’re a snowbird, you’d have to call someone to drive to your house in Florida or in the snow belt state to manually cycle the power. The Internet sensing electrical power switch eliminates that hassle, since the Internet sensing power switch automatically pings Google, Yahoo, and other sites. When the Internet connection is lost, the switch power cycles you DSL or cable modem, which fixes the problem. The switch also logs the switching operations. Usually, the switch power cycled my Minnesota cable modem about 2 to 4 times a month. The Internet sensing power switches cost about $100, and are sold at the 5G Store online.
At the Florida house, we have Frontier optical fiber Internet service, which is 500 megs up and down, with no data caps. In Minnesota we had Comcast, which was 300 megs down and 12 megs up. The higher “up” speed is very helpful for the encrypted cloud automatic backups for all our computers, iPhones, and iPad. It’s about $80 a month for the 500 meg service, including a landline. It costs $30 more for 1,000 meg up and down service, but so far, we don’t need the faster speed. We went over the 1,200 gig Comcast data cap once and almost a second time in Minnesota. In Florida, Frontier doesn’t have a data cap, which is nice.
In the Florida house, I changed out the Rainbird dumb sprinkler controller with an Orbit B-Hyve 12 zone smart WiFi sprinkler controller. My Frontier WiFi doesn’t cover the whole house, so I’m going to buy an Ubiquity access point to fix that problem. I haven’t noticed any need to do a power cycle on the Frontier device yet after buying the Florida house last December, so I haven’t bought the Internet sensing electric power switch yet.
Another thing you should do is to buy and install a SunPass toll transponder on you vehicle. They cost about $6 and you set up the SunPass account online. It’s a no brainer to have a SunPass. You get a discount on tolls and you don’t have to stop, and hassle with keeping coins in your car. Some exits don’t have a “cash” toll option. On weekends, the cash line can be over one mile long on the Skybridge that connects St Petersburg to the south. The SunPass users don’t have to wait in that long line, plus they get a discount on the toll! It’s helpful to prepare yourself for the tolls. There’s a lot of toll roads around Orlando. There’s a lot to do and see when you drive all around Florida!
|