You try to get out… but they keep pulling you back in

I’ve been trying to simplify my life.

Not having a job has actually gone a long way toward that simplification. I don’t have to buy gas too often (as opposed to every other day).

What’s ironic is that without realizing it I’ve become a network administrator / computer troubleshooter / general fixit man in my own house.

I have Wifi, here at the house (Who doesn’t these days?) within my computers range are three other WiFi networks all with enough signal strength to be useful. 

For years now I’ve been happy to provide WiFi to my next door neighbor. This is more a matter of public service since Verizon won’t install a DSL line to their house.

Recently, I was trying to do a little troubleshooting on the network and had a bit of a panic moment. 

There were a lot more devices connected to my network than I thought there should be.

I was sitting here counting the obvious devices like the computers. But that didn’t come close to the numbers I was seeing.  I mean I could count 3 computers but I had over 25 devices on the network. So it was a WTF moment.

Then I started really looking at the network and realized many of the connections were innocuous things like my smart phone, the DVRs, my BluRay players, the TV, the iPod, iPad, the godbrats devices, iPod, iPhone, etc.

Most of these devices were pretty static once I accounted for them. But a few came and went and I had no idea what they were or who they belonged to.

Here’s a list;

The thing is, not all the devices are even turned on in this sample. 

There are other devices that come & go. I’ve identified everything and the spooky thing is that they’re all legitimate and authorized devices on my network. 

This brings up interesting points.

I’m now in a position to need network scanning and maintenance tools.

If I didn’t have my network set up the way I do, which Verizon HATES by the way, I’d not be able to have all the “Normal” devices in my house connected to the internet.

Verizon has, or had a limit. I think the last time I tried to configure my network the way Verizon wanted it… I could have 15 total devices online at any one time. Which means that someone in this list would get booted off the network.

I can understand Verizon having a limit on the number of devices they will allow to be connected directly to their network. What I can’t understand is that Verizon WANTS all the devices connected.

My suspicion is that some bright asshole in marketing fro Verizon was thinking that they could charge the customer per device. Needless to say, that’s not going to work when TVs, BluRay players, gaming consoles, and appliances all are being built to connect to the internet. There’s not enough IP addresses for that unless Verizon goes IPV6.

It’s amazing to me how many devices I’ve connected to my network without really considering the implications. I really didn’t think about how many devices are “Network Aware”. It’s also interesting to think that if the internet is down many of my devices will work in a limited fashion or not at all.

More amazing to me is that I’m doing network administration in my own house.

Many small businesses don’t have as many devices networked as I do.

So I guess all of us will become network administrators….

I wonder if thats a new business niche? Should I bill myself as a Home Network administrator? I wonder if I could get paid what a pool guy gets? With the right remote administration software,  I could actually handle things like software updates, and work at keeping systems running at peak efficiency. Hummmmm….

I think a little investigation is in order.

And yep… there it is…

I’m pulled back into the computer / technology world… I suppose if I could do the computer stuff on my own terms, it wouldn’t be bad. 

I do enjoy making systems and machines work better.