FiOS Internet Update for Colonial Heritage

Finally, after a seemingly endless wait, Verizon FiOS Internet is beginning to expand its access in Colonial Heritage. Fiber trenching throughout the sections of Section 1, 2, 3 and 4 was completed in July and many homeowners are being notified that they can now enroll in the new service.

If you have not been contacted by FiOS via a door tag or by an official Verizon representative at your door you can contact them directly at (800) 922-0204 to confirm Internet availability at your home and to arrange an installation date.

Here is an overview of the installation process: (the installation charge should be waived)

The FiOS installation technician will trench a fiber line from the street to a junction box on the side of your house. They will then typically install their fiber modem (ONT) inside the garage. They will connect the ONT to an existing Ethernet cable or they will re-purpose one CAT-5 telephone line in the house. If you don’t plan to use Mesh, select a phone jack that is as central in the home as possible. The Ethernet cable can be connected to a modem-router (Gateway) which Verizon will provide to you at no cost. For improved coverage, you can connect directly to a multi-node Mesh router. You might want to refer to this article written by the CH Tech Club on how to connect a Mesh router to an ONT. Whichever router you decide to use, it is recommended that you select your own network name (SSID) and password, not the default provided.

The US is transitioning from cable TV to streaming. According to the latest statistics from Grok 83% of US TV viewing is done using Internet streaming! This means if you are switching from Cox Cable TV and are not already a streamer you will need to select from one of the available services which includes YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, DirecTV, Fubo or Sling TV. We encourage you to use this handy table of subscription streaming providers and available channels compiled by CNET to help with your selection. For maximum cost savings, you might want to consider an over-the-air antenna to receive free local network channels. If you are unsure of the monthly costs and savings to stream, our Tech Club streaming calculator can help you make this decision.

For help with any of this information, reach out to the Croucher Group for assistance.

How to rescan for local OTA Channels in SlingTV

By: Calvin Croucher

Many people love SlingTV.  It's the ultimate in subscription, Free Ad Supported TV (FAST) streaming content as well as free local channels with the use of a antenna and digital tuner. This can save you about $30/month compared with other services ( i.e. YouTubeTV, Hulu, DirecTV, Fubo TV) that must pay to rebroadcast local channels.

One of the requirements for receiving a good antenna signal is to need to rescan channels quarterly. For those of you with Sling and an AirTV digital tuner, here are the simple steps to follow:

From within the Sling mobile App:

• Select your account icon in the upper right corner of the app
• Select Local Channels
• Select Connected Device
• Select the name you assigned to your local device, the default is "AirTV"
• Select Rescan Channels
• Select "outdoor antenna"
• Leave the device name - click Next
• Enter your local zip code - click Yes
• Antenna placement (make no change) - Click Next
• Antenna connection (make no change) - Click Next
• Start to Scan which should complete in 1 minute.

You now have the option to accept all channels or to personalize the list.

• Click "Personalize my guide now"
• Click "Deselect All"

Tap on each channel to be added.
Tap twice to "favorite" a channel
Tap 3 times to unselect
Only select strong (green) channels

Here are my filtering suggestions:
  3.1 CBS
  8.1 ABC
10.1 NBC
15.1 PBS
15.2 PBS World
15.4 PBS Create
27.1 CW
43.1 Fox
49.1 Ion
49.2 Scripps News
49.3 Ion Mystery

• Click Finish to save your settings

Now you can select Sling Free or their monthly subscription plan.

A quick background about Cox email service transition

It has always been the position of the Colonial Heritage Tech Club that Internet Service Provider (ISP) email services should never be used. Email is not their core business and as such alternate email services such as Gmail, Live Mail, Yahoo Mail and other more robust sustainable services should be considered. 

Changing email can be traumatic and disruptive so pick the right service that likely will never require future changes. 

On August 15, 2019, Cox stopped offering new email accounts. They are now taking the final step to discontinue their email service and contracted to transition to Yahoo unless you make other arrangements such as Gmail or Outlook.

Will you lose your Cox Email address if you move or transfer service? No, if you transfer your email service you can keep your XXX@cox.net email account address if you decide to switch to Yahoo. However, if you discontinue your Cox service without accepting Yahoo Terms of Service, you may lose your email account after the 90-day grace period has ended.

Why is Cox doing this? Internet and mobile provider Cox is stepping away from email hosting services. “To ensure the best email experience possible for our customers, we have decided to transition email service and support of your cox.net email to Yahoo Mail,” Customers were informed in a post on Jan 3, 2024.

Most experts consider Gmail to be an all around better email service by nearly all metrics when compared to Yahoo. Cox has partnered with Yahoo so for some Cox customers accepting the Yahoo terms of service may be the simplest choice because your email address will remain unchanged. Whereas moving to Gmail will require that you update your email address to XXX@Gmail.com. With either choice, all of your email content will be retained.

Here are the steps for how to complete the transition if you choose to move to Yahoo. Remember, you must accept Yahoo TOS: https://www.cox.com/residential/support/completing-the-transition-to-yahoo.html

Here are the steps to follow to access your email if you've chosen to use Yahoo after the transition: https://www.cox.com/residential/support/access-and-log-in-to-yahoo-mail-after-transition.html

Here are the steps to follow if you would like to move your Cox email to a service other than Yahoo such as Gmail or Outlook: https://www.cox.com/residential/support/transfering-cox-email-content-to-another-email-provider.html 

If you decide to move your email to another provider and will use a new email address, don’t forget to let your key contacts know you’ve changed your email address! Set up a permanent away note in your Cox.net webmail account by using their Vacation Reminder service. Here are the simple steps: https://www.cox.com/residential/support/cox-email-settings.html#VacationNotice  

Add a statement similar to the following in your Vacation Notice, “Thank you for writing. I will no longer be using this email address. Please replace my XXXX@cox.net with my new XXXX@Gmail.com address in your address book.”

If you decide to send a mass email announcement to a large group of your contacts, please make sure to put all of the addresses in the BCC section to avoid exposing everyone’s email addresses to each other!!

Colonial Heritage Resident Directory: Regardless of your decisions, please make sure that all of your contact information is current in the ColonialHeritage Resident Directory. 

Yahoo Support should be able to provide additional assistance and can be reached at 866-562-7250.

If you still have any additional questions you can reach out to the Colonial Heritage Tech Club or The Croucher Group

Tis the season to Drone…

By Kevin Kimmel

As the holidays approach, lots of drone options will become available for all those well deserving, children, grandchildren and kids at heart!  After my drone presentation to the Tech Club this past September, I thought it would be a good followup to post a few links to some decent drone holiday gifts.

If you're looking for outdoor flight options with high level video and photography, I strongly recommend any of the dji products.  Their flight control systems have been perfected and they are rock solid flyers - if you READ THE DIRECTIONS and follow the recommended preflight preparation!!! 

For the young (or old) pilot in training and you just want to have some fun indoors, I recommend some of those very small mini copters.  Search Amazon using the phrase “Drones for kids indoors” and you’ll be overloaded with options. They are so small and so light that they can crash into things and usually come away without damage.   Because when you are learning, you WILL crash into things. Indoors and outdoors.   It’s not a question of “have you crashed” it’s more like “How long has it been since your last crash?” 

For little ones (children) that have not developed fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination of older adults something like the hand motion controlled indoor drone below would provide some fun.  I would recommend that any indoor drone definitely include a safety cage around the blades.  The drone and your household will last much longer than without the cage and those little blades may look harmless but they can hurt little (or big) fingers that get in their way.

I do not have direct experience with any of these products so I recommend you read the reviews and see how they hold up.  Like any electronic toy, they have a limited lifespan in a child’s hands (or an adult that thinks like one) so don’t expect them to last for months.

There are combat drones for more than one person operation or racing drones.  Racing drones can be fun for 10 yr olds and above but I recommend racing in a room or rooms with the least amount of breakables.  While they are small and light, they can really gain speed. 

I recommend Amazon as a purchase platform, because you can read the reviews and if you are a Prime member, get free shipping.

You can attempt to go to a toy store (Walmart) but I prefer reading about things before purchasing.

If you want my opinion on a future purchase, shoot me an email with a link to the product. I will review it and tell you if I think it’s worth the effort or what to expect.

Happy Holidays and Happy Droning! 

Kevin Kimmel

Google Photos as a Roku Screensaver

By Calvin Croucher

Did you know that you can use the PhotoView application on Roku to display your Google Photo albums as a screensaver? Here's how to set it up.

To enable the PhotoView screensaver in Roku: 

• Go to the Roku home menu.
• Select Settings.
• Select Theme.
• Select Screensavers.
• Select the PhotoView app. If missing, search for "PhotoView" and install.
• Link your Google Photos account by scanning the QR Code and entering the 6-digit code provided.

You can also customize the screensaver in the Roku Change screensaver settings menu. 

To select a specific Google Photos album on the screensaver:

• Navigate in Roku to ‘Change screensaver settings’ menu.
• Scroll down to ‘Select Linked User and albums
• Select the user to choose albums
• Hit ‘Right Arrow’ and select the albums after the list has populated.

To use the PhotoView channel, you can: 

• Link your Roku device to multiple Google accounts.
• Browse your albums.
• Select an album.
• Start a slideshow.

Have fun and enjoy your photos!!

How to Post Content in the Nextdoor App

By Calvin Croucher

There have been questions about how Colonial Heritage residents can limit their posts to the CH community. In the Nextdoor app, you can read, comment or write your own posts. The Nextdoor News Feed contains information from as many or as few neighborhoods as you’d like to follow. You can choose to view news about all of the neighborhoods in the area or just your own. The same options are available when posting.

You can address your post to:

• “Anyone” which is the default,
• Our Colonial Heritage Community,
• Specific Groups to which you belong, or
• Nearby neighborhoods you have chosen in your profile to follow

For example, if you are writing about speeding within our community, it is best to address it to just Colonial Heritage rather than to the tens of thousands of residents in surrounding neighborhoods! On the other hand, sometimes information posted on Nextdoor is relevant to nearby neighborhoods.

How to control who sees what you post:

1. On the main menu click on the “Post +” button.
2. Compose your text, polls, photos, videos, etc.
3. Click on “Next” and select your audience from the dropdown list. The default is to post to “Anyone”.
4. Optionally select any Group you’d like to include.
5. Review and press “Post”.

How to control the neighborhoods you see in your neighborhood list:

1. Click on your name, “view profile”.
2. Click the Gear Symbol and select “Neighborhoods”.
3. From the menu select “Neighborhoods”.
4. Turn off the neighborhoods you don’t want in your list by selecting “Unfollow”. These Neighborhoods will no longer show in your list of nearby neighborhoods when posting.
5. You can selectively turn area neighborhoods on/off during the posting process.

We hope this help Colonial Heritage homeowners post Colonial Heritage specific information on Nextdoor.

Wireless Network Optimization

By Calvin Croucher

This is a story that may sound familiar to some of you and your own home wireless network.

Recently, I was contacted by a homeowner who expressed concern that his wireless network wasn’t working correctly. He said, “My internet seems to cut on and off”. The homeowner scheduled an assessment. I asked, “What speed are you paying for?” He answered, “150Mbps”. First, I rebooted the modem-router, aka the Gateway. Then, I checked that the router's firmware version was current. Next, I measured the speed in megabits/second and signal quality in milliseconds by connecting directly to one of the available Ethernet ports. Results were well above the subscribed service level. Now here is where things got interesting. I measured the wireless bandwidth and signal strength at key locations throughout the house. The speed test results were “very disappointing”. None of the measurements were within ¼ of the rated speed! That means for a service that might be costing $90/month the homeowner was only receiving service that should have cost him $25/month!

So now what? Well, since the router was over 5 years old and runs on wireless N technology the recommendation was clear. Time to upgrade. But to what? There are generally two options. A Gateway, which is a device that contains a modem and a router or a modem along with a multi-node WiFi-6 mesh network. Generally, the cost is very similar so the clear choice, especially for multiple floor living, is to implement a mesh network. A Mesh network provides whole house coverage and can be expanded to three or more nodes as needed. Most mesh networks operate with wireless, beamforming, blended 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz technology. They are good for Gigabit speeds between nodes that can support more than 100 networked devices. An added bonus is that each mesh node generally comes with 2-3 Ethernet ports so TVs and computers can be hard wired to receive very stable signals.

So, after registering a new cable modem with the ISP, providing them with the make, model, serial number and MAC address and configuring a 3-node mesh network strategically placed in the customers house, how do things look? As Captain Kirk likes to say, “Warp Speed Scotty!” All points throughout the house now receive speeds well in excess of 100Mbps. Mission accomplished. No more buffering, no more dropouts.

If you have questions or would like to see if your home network is performing at its best contact me for help.

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