Managing Home Maintenance Costs

This website is all about saving the homeowner and the consumer money on their maintenance costs for the home as well as operating costs on a monthly basis. We decided to tackle a common issue more and more people are dealing with – WiFi vs Data Plans.

Most cell phone or mobile subscription plans require that you sign up for a data plan. In fact unless you turn your data off on your phone, you could incur huge monthly bills for accessing the Internet and just updating your apps if you do not have a data plan or unless you use WiFi exclusively .

If you must access data for app update , Browsing the Internet, getting your email, and downloading music or movies on your phone then you must have either a data plan with an unlimited amount of data that you can download or you must turn off your cellular data so that you do not incur any data charges. If you do not believe this try using data for a month without a data plan and prepare to be shocked.

Turn Cellular Data Off

If you can purchase a smartphone without a cellular data plan, make sure you turn the cellular data off to avoid any unnecessary charges. There is a solution to turning your cellular data off.

Using WiFi wherever it is available is usually sufficient for most people unless you must have real-time access all the time. WiFi is now available in most hotels, coffee shops, home hardware stores, and even some laundromats. It is amazing how much free WiFi is available. WiFi is becoming more available all of the time and it is usually free. There is a down side to free WiFi. Security issues can be a concern and also if you using WiFi at a hardware store for example, they are learning information about you. what products you are looking at, the area of the store you are in, time of day to shop and on and on. They can also have access to your email and social networks if you chose to use them.

WiFi vs Data Plans – Reduce Charges

This is a great way to reduce your monthly charges from your cellular carrier and still have access to the Internet for all the things that you like to do from a smart phone perspective. Most high-speed modems for consumers now come with the option of WiFi as well as a wired Internet connection. Most people will turn the WiFi on and make it available to their friends and families. Whenever you’re visiting someone always ask if they have WiFi available and ask if you can connect to the WiFi system to browse the Internet and retrieve your email.

These private systems should always be protected by passwords that are not easily broken. This is for your protection as well as the protection of your host as well.

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There has been a big push in the last dozen years for consumers to use less energy in their every day lives. From cars to appliances. Even the grocery bags that we use when we purchase our groceries has come under the gun. We now have fluorescent lights. LED lights which use far less energy and all of our appliances are also designed to use less energy. There is hardly a person among us that does not take into account how much energy we use. How can we reduce the energy we use when we purchase something? The energy pyramid is one persons view of where to begin with regards to reducing your energy foot print.

But is It Enough – Energy Efficient Things

The latest report out of the IPCC for 2013 suggests that we need to do more. Much more to lessen the impacts of global warming. In fact we have made some progress. We apparently are not heating up the earth at the same rate that we were. But it is still going up and projected to continue unless we do something drastic.

What do they mean by drastic? Even though our cars and trucks are probably twice as efficient as they were back in the 70’s and 80’s. There are more and more cars on the roads and we are burning more fossil fuels than ever before which contributes to global warming. We have to wean ourselves from fossil fuels if we are going to really make a difference.

In our estimation, we need to make major strides towards electric vehicles, towards wind energy generation, and solar power to really make a difference. We have started with a number of cars on the road that are electrical only, but we really need to make it much further where the car that is adopted the most is in fact an electric vehicle.

Power generation even if it is generated by coal or oil burning plants is still more efficient than all of the cars that are on the roads burning gasoline,  however where we can make real strides is a giant shift to renewable energy such as solar and wind technology.

What Are the Road Blocks

There are many, but in this writers mind there are two major ones. First the cost for consumers to switch over are still too high. No one wants to buy a car that is $5000 to $10000 more expensive than it’s gasoline counterpart no matter how cheap it is to operate. And this is assuming they solve the distance issue and the rapid charge issue.

The second issue that industry is struggling with is the massive infrastructure that is set up to process oil, make gasoline and distribute it to the consumer. There are millions of jobs at stake and there are literally billions of dollars at stake as well.

The social engineers among us must solve these two major problems before we will see a major shift from fossil fuel technology to renewable energy technology that will make a real difference in the amount of fossil fuel energy that we consume.

This is an intensely interest issue and it will take many twists and turns before being resolved. In the mean time we will continue to endure increasing temperatures around the world and global warming! Thoughts and comments are welcome.

There are lots of alternatives to pure gasoline powered cars. Fortunately there are more and more of them available on the market for consumers. Some are not priced well as of this writing. In other words it is still cheaper to buy a gasoline powered car than it is to purchase a hybrid or an all electric car. But once they are mass produced, the prices will cone down a great deal.

Aside from the extra cost of many of these different power trains, the savings are simply not enough to push consumers to purchases these cars on a mass basis. Over time confidence will grow as more and more people buy them and use them. There will become clear winners as well which will be based on maintenance free driving. As well as strong support when there is a problem that must be fixed.

A new car power train that provides great mileage can fail as a product.  If support for repairs are less than consumer expectations. As a result right now we are still in the experimentation phase for “all electric vehicles”. Hybrids are well on the way into mass production. For example the Toyota Prius has been around for many years and continues to provide excellent operational characteristics. One of the major challenges is the battery. The cost, the longevity and the distance you can go on a single charge, not to mention how long it takes to recharge. Then there is the issue of where you will recharge the battery. As a result more and more battery charging stations are appearing. Many more are planned over the next few years.

Gasoline Powered Cars – and the Alternatives

The next five years will show us many more new developments. It is an exciting time for car development.

Gasoline Hybrid Cars
Plugin Electrics

Electric cars
Ethanol and flex fuel
Biodiesel

Propane
Liquified and Compressed Natural Gas

Fuel cells
Solar
Steam

Hence some of the above types of power trains are clearly too far in the future. As a result they will not be developed any time soon. Some will just not be economic. Subsequently they will be given up in favor of other types of power trains. The future is exciting and yesterday Google made a big announcement. They will have a driver less car on the road in 2015 that can be purchased by consumers. Most noteworthy is that Google has not achieved this objective as of 2019.

The telephone companies are being forced to give up land lines as a business. Many people are just going with either cell phones, mobile phones or they are installing voice over IP telephone lines. They’re just so much cheaper, with many more features and much more convenient. Although it is sometimes difficult to change, it is definitely worth your while to make the change. At least look into it and consider your options. Get Rid of Your Land Line Costs and reduce your monthly utility costs.

Reducing Your Monthly Bills

This is another great way to reduce your monthly bills and save money. Check out voice over IP lines from your local carrier. As well as new entrants that are offering voice over IP over a DSL line or cable TV high speed access. You will need to make sure that you have a high speed line to accommodate your VoIP service as well as your regular data.

A voice over IP line can be installed anywhere that you have a high-speed data connection. They work over DSL as well as high-speed cable. In fact once you have transferred your regular telephone number to a voice over IP line, you can move the voice over IP modem to any DSL line. Which means you take your telephone number with you. Now you can travel and still receive calls as if they were local calls from your friends, family and business associates.

Voice over IP lines also come with many more features. For example in addition to the standard features like voice mail, calling line ID, calling name and call forwarding. Consumers can receive an email of their voice messages left on their voice mail with the wave file attached. They can listen to voice mails on their computers as well as other smart phones. Without having to make long-distance phone call, Or use airtime.

Get Rid of Your Land Line Costs – Adding Extensions

In addition one great feature that I really like is that I can designate specific phone numbers as extensions to my main voice over IP line. I can now designate my cell phone as an extension and regardless of where I am both my home phone as well as my cell phone will ring at the same time and I can choose to answer the call on my cell phone or if I’m at home on my land line. The land line of course is a voice over IP line.

Not all carriers will offer this service, so you will have to shop around and make sure that you pick up a voice over IP service that offers the features that you’re looking for. Regardless they all provide many more features than what the typical Telephone Company land line service will provide. In addition the cost will be much lower as well for the same service plus all the new features.

After having used this service for a few months, we can definitely confirm that we are really satisfied with the service. Between the voice mails that are emailed to you, the extensions that can be added using your cell phone as well as all of the regular features, we are more than satisfied with our service at the low price that they have offered us. Do not be afraid to check around and obtain the best service you can find at the best price.

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