I hope I’m not the only person who puts off projects and tasks they know should they should be getting done.  Today I’m going to tell you about the time and money I have been wasting in a specific area and how I fixed it with a recent weekend project.  The subject matter is a bit on the technical side but I think any reader will find it interesting and might even find a few areas where they could save money too.  Here is how I have wasted hundreds of dollars over the last 18 months…

Our Home Network Center (The Rat’s Nest)

Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that when we built our home in 2007, I ran all the network, phone, and cabling myself.  I did a ‘home run’ style install where all the cabling for our TV, internet, and phone comes into one central location that is in our pantry.  When we first moved in the installation was fairly neat and organized.  Six years later my network center had become a confused mess of inefficiency and wasted money.  Take a look at my shame…

Wasted Money

Would you believe that there is at least $100+ of wasted money captured in the photo above?  Just over a year ago our cable modem went out and I replaced the one provided to us by the cable company with an upgraded model from Best Buy.  The modem cost $90 to purchase.  The old modem was set aside and added to the mess and clutter in our network center.  I found out this weekend that I have been paying for the old broken modem all this time.  One of the dangers of online billing and payments is that it is easy to miss details in the billing, like a $5 per month charge for a modem.  I have wasted $90 in monthly payments over the past 18 months for a broken modem.  Ooops!  Every cable/DSL company is different but if you are technically proficient you might be able to buy your own modem and save the monthly fee for using their modem.

There was other money being wasted in my technology wasteland.  We have a thermostat that is hooked to our electric provider via an internet gateway.  This connection allows me to adjust/program the thermostat via the internet from anywhere in the world.  It is also part of a unique program that allows my electric provider to turn off my AC for 5 minutes each hour if they are close to not having enough electricity for customer demand.  I had unhooked this gateway at some point and our electric provider had not been giving us a 5% discount on our bill per contract terms.  No connection to the thermostat, no discount.  I can’t put an exact dollar figure on this mistake but I am guessing it is at least $100.

Just Plain Dumb

In the chaos and confusion of cables there was other waste taking place.  Our telephone service is through our cable provider and the phones have a separate modem that makes them work.  I discovered that this modem had been unplugged from the network as well.  Sometimes when I go to solve a problem I use the finesse of the Tasmanian Devil.  I think this modem has only been unplugged for a month or two, but during that time our security and fire alarm has been without a phone signal.  That also means the home phone that we have trained our oldest daughter to use in case of emergency has been without a dial tone.  Paying for services that I have made inoperable in our house is just plain dumb.

Wasted Time

The catalyst for finally fixing this problem was a horribly slow internet connection.  Using Speedtest.net I found that my internet speed had slowed to 1.1mbps when we are supposed to be in the range of 25-30mpbs.  For the non-technical, my cable internet was working at about the same speed as dial-up.  Before I called Charter I decided to rule out any issues on my side.  The best way to do this is to shut every thing down and plug the network cable from the modem directly into a computer.  Boom!  My internet speed was a blazing fast 33.6mbps.  Through a process of elimination I found that a piece of equipment that distributes the signal through our house (cable router/switch) had gone bad.  I can’t tell you how many hours I have wasted over the past 6 months with a super slow internet connection because I have been procrastinating solving a problem that took 15 minutes to fix.

The Solution

I am not 100% finished with cleaning up and organizing our network center, but I have the cables cleaned up, labeled, and organized.  Extra equipment has been removed and is in the process of being returned (old modem), recycled, or sold.  Our network center consists of:

• A distribution panel for TV and phone.  (That’s the thing mounted on the wall with all the wires coming in and out of it.)
• A cable modem for internet
• A phone modem for phone service via our internet provider
• An Apple Airport Extreme for wireless internet and wired internet distribution via the built in router on the Airport.
• Two network switches that can distribute internet via network cable to as many as 14 different locations.

Future additions include:

• A battery backup to provide better electrical protection for all these components
• The addition of a 3TB Lacie hard drive to the Airport Extreme for easy backup of all the computers in the house.

Conclusion

I know this was a very technical piece today, but I wanted to share this project as an example of how clutter and procrastination can cost us.  I didn’t mess with my home network center because I spend a lot of time fixing these problems at work or for others.  If I had tackled these issues a year ago then I would have a bit more money in my pocket and a bit more time.  What is disorganization and procrastination costing you???