TITAM - Technical issues that affected me

Check the wireless channel settings on your 2.4 GHz router. I had been messing with my network and had set one of my routers to 2.4 GHz channel 3, which resulted in significant interference (skipping, lagging) on my MX Revolution mouse.  Resetting the router to "Auto" fixed it improved it somewhat. Additionally, putting both my wireless APs on the same channel seemed to improve things as well.  They naturally did this themselves on their "Auto" setting, so I'm guessing it's somehow OK. This might apply to any 2.4 GHz peripheral, but especially older ones that don't use Bluetooth.  My MX is old and is non-Bluetooth. Alternatively: -  If your router is set to "Auto", try setting it to a fixed channel; -  Try moving the mouse receiver closer to the mouse; and/or -  Try moving the router further away from the mouse. These did not help my situation but are always worth a try.

Simple answer:   •  From a server to multiple clients, YES. •  From a server to a single client, NO. Why:  LAG/LACP does not combine several gigabit connections into a single fat connection.  This is because all traffic for a single IP address has to go through one physical connection.  It's just too complex to do it any other way.  So, a 4-port LAG is not a party line, where everyone can hear everyone else.  It's one person with 4 phones talking to four separate people each holding 1 phone - none of which can hear each other. This means that a 4-port NAS can shove out 4 Gbps in total - but only 1 Gbps to each individual client. (Yes, there are rare exceptions - just enough to make it unclear if LAG to a single client is really faster or not.  But it's not.) This doesn't make LAG useless.  It just means it's only useful where you have several clients connecting to the NAS simultaneously.  A single client can't take advantage...

1.  pfSense does not generally support more than one network connection per LAN. That is: Most off-the-shelf routers have one WAN port (for internet) and multiple LAN ports (for your stuff).  You can plug any/all stuff into any/all LAN port(s) and it just works. pfSense is not like this.  It expects to have one WAN port and one LAN port.  That's all .   If you want more, you're supposed to use a network switch.  This may seem counterintuitive, but switches do everything in hardware and are actually faster.  This means there is really little need to buy a pfSense box or NIC with more than two Ethernet ports (at extra cost).  It won't use the extra ports by default; they are NOT plug-and-play.  In fact, they won't even work until you set them up! I wish I'd realized this, as I purchased a pfSense box with six ports, which cost more.  I didn't realize the extra ports weren't intended to be plug-and-play for one LAN. It also means th...

Again, this is to set up a private, separate, controllable network to implement parental control for the kids, without affecting the main network. First, don't do what I did here and use a Netgear with Circle built in.  The Synology is SO much better. Very briefly: set the Synology in bridge mode, then set up Safe Access for parental control. Basically: 1.  Get an RT1900AC or other Synology router. 2.  Boot it up, go to router.synology.com. 3.  Set it to Access Point mode. 4.  Give it a unique SSID. 5.  If you want, set it to a static IP address. 6.  Let it start up.  If you haven't already, plug it into your "first" router. 7.  Go to router.synology.com or the static ip:8000 to get to the web interface. 8.  Go to "Safe Access" and set up the profiles/settings you want. 9.  If you want, download the app "DS Router" for mobile management. OK, I probably got the order wrong.  You get the idea. Compared to using the Netgear, it's...

 So Circle sent me a cheery email about my "first week with Circle!".   However, it feels like a lot longer than a week, and I haven't exactly felt cheerful. Yes, OK, my setup is unconventional .  It's likely the source of many of my issues.  But, in the last week: •  I've found that Circle is not logging Usage or History, and does not enforce time limits. •  Circle is not filtering correctly.  •  It is unclear if it is enforcing SafeSearch.  It seems to be, but it's hard to tell. •  Rewards are limited to the current day.  You can set "Extend/No Time Limit", "Late/No Bedtime", or "No Offtimes".  You cannot set an increased amount of time for future days. •  Circle notifies you of new devices appearing on the network, but tapping the notification just makes the Circle app hang.  This is obviously different behavior from every other app out there. •  The Circle 1st Gen app has forgotten my premium subscriptio...

Update: Several of the features of Circle, such as filtering, usage tracking and time limits are not working.  As many others have reported similar issues, I don't know if this is a result of me setting it up as a second router or not.  Update:  Circle has now "forgotten" my premium subscription three times.  Again, I don't know if this is related to my setup or not. Update: Router was not picking up time server. Steps below have been updated. Given these issues, I don't recommend trying the setup below unless you are willing to take a lot of time to troubleshoot it. I bought a used router that - unexpectedly - had the Circle parental control functions built-in.  I wanted Circle anyway, so it was a bit of luck.  But it wasn't exactly obvious how to set it up.   Problem:  You want to set up a Circle network without having all your devices on it.  Or: you want a separate network for your kids, managed by Circle. Reason:  •  You're wor...

 TL;DR:  It's not good. Fed up with PIA , I decided to try another VPN.  I thought it might be easiest. I wanted Hotspot Shield, but the fact that they log personally identifiable information, don't support pfsense and have no live support were deal-breakers.  I wanted it set up immediately.   I decided to bite the bullet and go with ExpressVPN.   More expensive, but most said they were next fastest, they had 24/7 support and supported DD-WRT (for now) and pfsense (for future).   I ponied up and got a login.  I had to run their app momentarily to find the fastest server, then I set it all up. Any it worked!  All my smart devices reconnected, all my strange connectivity issues went away.    However, I couldn't find the nameservers for secure DNS protection.  I asked their chat, and they didn't know what I meant. Turns out, ExpressVPN doesn't support this.  They do allow manual configuration (on DD-WRT or whatever), bu...