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Designing a B-Mode: How I’m Building Fail-Safe Smart Home Devices with ESPHome

In a previous post, I discussed migrating to ESPHome for my smart devices. That initial migration was pretty straightforward—flashing firmware, configuring YAML, and getting basic functionality running.

But now I’ve started refining things. ESPHome isn’t just about turning things on and off. It’s about designing smarter devices—devices that don’t just rely on a central hub, but can think for themselves when they need to.

Dawn-Dusk Automation

The first item I built using ESPHome was dawn to dusk lighting control. ESPHome makes this possible with its sun component, which calculates sunrise and sunset time based on provided latitude and longitude.

To make that work, you need a time source. The most popular one is getting it from Home Assistant, but you can also use:

An NTP server, for independence from your Home Assistant instance, but still requiring a local or remote time server.
RTC Hardware Clocks for full independence

Switches and Manual Overrides

Next, I added a templated switch. These aren’t tied to physical hardware and control logic on the device (e.g. enable/disable the dawn-dusk logic).

This gives me some flexibility. For my style of planning,I want any automations running on device to be something that can be disabled if from Home Assistant, which has more capabilities. Simple logic runs locally, but still is controlled by the larger brain.

Important External States for Smarter On-Device Logic

ESPHome allows you to import the state of external entities into your device. Most commonly, you would sync states from Home Assistant, but there is a more powerful alternative in the packet transport component.

This component lets you import the state of sensors to be shared directly ESPHome device to ESPHome Device without a server in between. Even if a server crashes, the system still works, even if the functionality may be limited.

Designing for Failure: My “B-Mode” Smart Home

Resilence is something I prefer to prioritize. Inspired by Disney theme park ride design, I’ve incorporated what I call “B-Mode”.

In Disney-speak, A-Mode is full, ideal operation. B-Mode is what happens when something breaks—so the show can go on, just in a simplified form.

In my design, B-Mode is:

Smart lights that fall back to dawn-dusk mode if Home Assistant is unreachable
Ability to enable/disable on-device automations by communicating directly with the device
Direct Connections between devices to keep key functions running locally
Physical Buttons that Always Work, even if the connection is down

And the key: none of this happens by accident. You have to plan for outages and decide what should keep working in your design. ESPHome gives you the tools.

? Final Thought

Your smart home shouldn’t break just because your server does.

With ESPHome, you can build resilience into every device—whether it’s a light switch, a plug, or a sensor. Start simple. Add layers. Think about what matters when things fail.

That’s what B-Mode is all about.

Published on August 29, 2025

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When 3D Prints Melt in the Mail: A Filament Wake-Up Call

Honey I melted my 3D print!

I recently mailed a small 3D-printed item—nothing fancy, just something I’d made many times before using PLA filament. A few days later, the recipient reached out with a picture: the item was warped, distorted just enough to be unusable. This was a first. I’ve shipped PLA prints before, even during the summer, without issue.

But this time, the destination was baking under triple-digit temperatures, and the package had likely spent hours in a sweltering metal mailbox or the back of a delivery truck. It turns out, that’s all it took to ruin the print.

That incident was a wake-up call—not just about shipping practices, but about filament choice.

PLA: The Hobbyist’s Go-To… With Limits

Polylactic Acid (PLA) is the most popular 3D printing filament for a reason. It’s affordable, easy to print, doesn’t require a heated enclosure, and produces clean results. But its low melting point—typically around 60°C (140°F) for deformation—makes it vulnerable to heat. Add in its poor UV resistance, and PLA becomes a poor candidate for outdoor use or for anything exposed to sustained warmth.

Inside your home? Great. Inside a 120°F delivery truck? Not so much.

Beyond PLA: PETG, ABS, ASA, and the Heat Factor

After my warped delivery, I revisited my options.

The second most popular hobbyist filament is PETG (Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol). It’s UV resistant, more flexible than PLA (so it bends rather than cracks under stress), and handles heat better—around 80–90°C before deforming. It prints slightly trickier than PLA, but the trade-off in durability is often worth it.

Then there’s ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), a tough industrial plastic used in everything from LEGOs to car parts. It’s stronger, more heat-resistant, and widely used in commercial applications—but it releases fumes during printing and is prone to warping unless you use an enclosed printer.

ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) is a newer alternative to ABS. It prints similarly, offers excellent UV resistance, and warps less, but it’s still more demanding than PLA or PETG and also benefits from an enclosure.

Each filament comes with trade-offs in cost, print difficulty, strength, and environmental resistance. Choosing the right one depends entirely on the intended use case.

Lesson Learned: Match the Filament to the Real World

That warped item taught me a simple but critical lesson: print for the conditions the object will face, not just for ease of printing. PLA is still great—for objects that stay indoors, out of direct sun, and away from heat. (I’m literally typing this on a keyboard inside a PLA-printed case.)

But if you’re shipping something across the country in August, or building something that lives outdoors, it’s time to consider PETG, ASA, or another more rugged alternative.

I’ll still use PLA—it’s too convenient to ignore and offers much more color variety. But for prints that leave the comfort of climate control, I’m rethinking my defaults.

Because a warped print isn’t just frustrating—it’s a waste of time, material, and the chance to make something truly useful.

Published on August 26, 2025

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Best Self-Hosted Photo Solution: Why I Chose Immich

I am a big believer in the concept of multiple redundant backups. And few things are more important than memories and the family photos. I have built a NAS and have been keeping my important files on it, with the files backed up in two other locations. However, I had not done that for my photos. I have them in multiple locations, but I am paying for hosting.

One of my solutions is free…in a way. I back up to Amazon Photos, as it is included with Amazon Prime. However, so was Prime Video until they added ads, so it is not a guarantee this will continue and I never use it to retrieve photos, just as an extra location. The most popular photo sharing and storage site is probably Google Photos right now, though there are plenty of alternatives. I have stuff there as well.

I needed a place under my control to organize and share my photos, not just a disorganized archive. It was time to migrate to a less expensive self hosted solution, backed by my NAS for storage. Then I could incorporate my existing multi location backup system to keep the files safe.

Quick Answer: Is Immich the Best Self-Hosted Photo Solution?

For my needs, Immich is the best self-hosted photo solution because it feels closer to a modern Google Photos replacement than a simple file browser. It offers mobile app uploads, photo organization, map views, face and object recognition, sharing links, and a familiar interface while letting me keep the storage under my own control.

But Immich should not be treated as your only backup. It is a photo-management system, not a complete backup strategy by itself. If you self-host your photos, you still need multiple copies of the original files, ideally in more than one location.

Option	Best For	Big Caveat
Immich	A modern self-hosted Google Photos-style experience	Still requires a separate backup strategy
PhotoPrism	Self-hosted photo browsing and organization	Different feel and workflow than Google Photos
Google Photos	Convenience, sharing, and cloud access	Storage costs, privacy tradeoffs, and less control
Amazon Photos	Extra photo storage for Prime members	Useful as another copy, but not the system I want to depend on
NAS folder structure	Long-term file control and backups	Not a polished photo-browsing experience by itself

Immich

I had heard a lot about different self hosted solutions, but the most popular one I keep hearing about of late is Immich. Immich is in beta, but it is meant to reach stable this year. It already seems to be extremely stable, but it warns that you should have a backup strategy outside of it, as it is not meant to be a backup strategy by itself. I already have one, once I include this in the pipeline.

immich screenshot Immich is a full fledged system for photo sharing and organization. It supports showing photos on a map, face and object recognition, and more. I can easily share photos with expiring links or ones that will last forever. There is an API I can use to integrate with other systems.

While there are alternatives, such as Photoprism, Immich has a familiar design language, modern features, and offers a mobile app which can automatically backup your photos into Immich.

Immich Is Not a Backup Strategy By Itself

This is the part that matters most. Immich can organize, display, and sync photos, but that does not mean the photos are safe if Immich is the only place they exist.

For me, Immich makes sense because it fits into a broader system. The photos live on storage I control, and that storage can then be backed up to multiple other locations. That is very different from uploading everything to one service and deleting the originals.

A good photo setup should survive:

a failed hard drive
a mistaken deletion
a bad software update
a server migration
a cloud account problem
the slow realization that a “free” storage plan is not guaranteed forever

If you are self-hosting photos, the goal should not be fewer backups. It should be better control over how those backups happen.

Please remember, if you simply upload to Immich, or any service, and purge all other copies, that isn’t a backup.

Published on August 25, 2025

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Using QMK to Maximize Smaller Keyboards

As I have continued my keyboard journey, my keyboards have gotten smaller and smaller. While many people use forty percent keyboards as their daily drivers, there are some who use them for when portability is a must. I am writing this on one of those keyboards.

The most common way to allow for smaller keyboards would be layers. Layers are second keymaps triggered usually by holding down a key. Your keyboard may have that as a Fn key. I continue to try to tweak my layers on various keyboards, and looking to optimize my typing. But I had not really conceptualized how to use some of the other features that QMK, the most popular open source keyboard firmware, supports.

I recently turned to two other QMK features: Tap Dance and Combos.

Tap Dance is a feature that allows you to set different keys based on tap, double tap, or hold.
Combos allow two or more keys to produce a key output

The keyboard above is the Acai PCB in a 3d printed case. I built this from components and typed this post on it. The Acai is a 4×10 ortholinear keyboard. The bottom row is customizable with a variety of different spacebar lengths from a single key to the full width of the board.

I have spent a fair amount of time with 4×12 ortholinear boards, like the popular Planck. The extra two columns allow for modifiers along the sides, depending on how you configure the keys. Modifiers would be things like Ctrl, Enter, Shift, and so on. If you look at the Acai, there is no room to the left and right of the alphas(letters) for that. The only modifiers would have to be places on the bottom row in most configurations.

Until recently, I had solved this mostly with layers. I would press a key and that would remap the other rows. But this meant for some keys, I needed to press a key on the bottom row and one on far from it on the board, which is not always ideal configuration wise.

Scrolling through advice one day, I was reminded of combos. With them, instead of holding a layer key, two keys could produce what I wanted…so I started with their suggestions.

P and O, occupying the space a backspace key might, when pressed together produce a backspace
A and S generate a TAB
Q and W an ESCape

This worked more efficiently for me and I experimented with a few more. With customizable firmware like QMK, or QMK firmware with Vial compiled in, which allows you to play with these things in real time without having to recompile, the limit is memory capacity and your imagination.

For Tap Dance, I have made holding down the T key scroll up, and B down. The challenge for tap dance is when you are typing a word with the same letter in a row, like the word letter. If you don’t retrain yourself, you’ll trigger your secondary key. I recently traded something for a Ploopy Nano, which is a tiny trackball, which has no buttons. With tap dance, I can make a key combination be my mouse, allowing for an even smaller setup.

There are many reasons to try an ortholinear keyboard, or a forty percent keyboard. However, the fact you can can carry around an even smaller keyboard when on the go is not usually one people think about. With these features and a little practice, you can have your own tiny keyboard that suits your needs.

Published on August 22, 2025

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Tasmota vs ESPHome in 2026: Which Should You Use for Home Assistant?

Updated September 2026
I have been running smart switches and plugs with Tasmota for years.

Tasmota is excellent firmware. It is reliable, open source, has a useful web interface, supports an enormous range of hardware and can turn many cloud-dependent ESP devices into completely local smart-home devices.

Over time, though, I have migrated more of my devices to ESPHome.

My original explanation was that I was running into the limits of Tasmota. After spending more time with both platforms, I would phrase that differently.

Tasmota is more capable than I gave it credit for. Its Rules system can run useful automations directly on the device, and ESP32 versions of Tasmota add the much more powerful Berry scripting language.

What keeps pulling me toward ESPHome is something else: I prefer the way I can define the entire personality of a device in one configuration file.

The pins, relays, sensors, buttons, timers, fallback behavior, Home Assistant entities and local automations can all be part of the firmware I build for that particular device.

That has become increasingly useful as I try to make my smart home resilient rather than merely automated.

Quick Answer: Tasmota vs. ESPHome in 2026

Feature	Tasmota	ESPHome
Best for	Quick, flexible local firmware for supported smart-home hardware	Custom devices and deep Home Assistant integration
Initial setup	Usually easier	More configuration required
Configuration	Web UI, modules, templates, commands and rules	YAML compiled into device-specific firmware
Home Assistant connection	MQTT through the official Tasmota integration	Direct native API; MQTT is optional
MQTT broker required for Home Assistant?	Yes	No
Built-in web interface	Yes	Optional component
Local automations	Rules; Berry scripting on ESP32	Extensive trigger/action/condition system
Configuration portability	Templates/settings can be backed up	Excellent: YAML is the device definition
Standalone use without Home Assistant	Excellent	Very capable, but more configuration-oriented
My preference	Simple switches/plugs where Tasmota already works well	Devices where I want custom behavior and resilient local logic

If I wanted to flash a simple supported smart plug and have it working quickly, I would still happily use Tasmota.

If I were building or substantially customizing a device that will live in my Home Assistant system, I would usually choose ESPHome.

Tasmota Is Still Really Good

I don’t think anyone should read this article as an argument that Tasmota has become obsolete.

It hasn’t.

Tasmota’s great strength is that an enormous amount of functionality already exists in one firmware package.

Flash a supported device, connect to its web interface, tell Tasmota what hardware it is running on, configure MQTT and you can often have a useful local device remarkably quickly.

For common switches and plugs, that is hard to beat.

Tasmota can provide:

A local web interface
Relay and light control
Buttons and switches
Power monitoring
Timers
Rules
Sensor support
MQTT
OTA firmware updates
Home Assistant integration
Device templates

A generic firmware with that much capability is a feature, not a flaw.

I Was Too Dismissive About Tasmota Rules

My earlier version of this article described Tasmota’s local logic as very limited.

That was unfair.

Tasmota’s Rules feature can react to triggers including switch changes, sensor thresholds, timers and system events and then execute commands locally. Rules are stored in flash and survive a reboot.

For something like:

Turn a relay off after a certain period
React to a button press
Respond to a temperature threshold
Run behavior at startup
Trigger actions based on sensor values

Tasmota can do quite a lot without Home Assistant.

And on ESP32 hardware, Tasmota includes Berry, a lightweight scripting language that goes dramatically beyond the basic Rules syntax.

Berry can create advanced automations, communicate over MQTT, implement custom drivers and interact directly with Tasmota’s hardware and services.

So the choice between Tasmota and ESPHome should not be reduced to:

Tasmota can’t do local logic; ESPHome can.

Both can.

I simply prefer how ESPHome lets me build and maintain increasingly customized devices.

Why I Keep Moving Devices to ESPHome

ESPHome takes a fundamentally different approach.

Instead of flashing a general-purpose firmware and configuring what the device should do afterward, I describe the device in YAML and ESPHome compiles firmware for that particular configuration.

If my device needs:

One relay
Two physical buttons
A temperature sensor
A countdown timer
A sunrise/sunset calculation
A Home Assistant connection

those are the components I put into the configuration.

If it doesn’t need a web server, I don’t need to include one.

If it does, I can add one.

I like having a text file that describes what the device is supposed to be.

The YAML File Becomes Documentation

This may be the biggest long-term advantage for me.

A smart switch configured three years ago can become something of an archaeological project.

Which pin controlled the relay?

Was the button inverted?

What did I make a double-click do?

Why does the outdoor light switch itself off at 1 a.m.?

With ESPHome, I can look at the configuration file.

The configuration can contain the hardware definition and the logic I intentionally added to it.

I can version it, back it up and use pieces of it again when configuring similar devices.

That becomes more valuable as the number of devices grows.

ESPHome Has a Major Home Assistant Advantage

Tasmota integrates very well with Home Assistant, but the architecture is different.

The official Tasmota integration communicates through MQTT.

That means the path is essentially:

Tasmota device ? MQTT broker ? Home Assistant

There is nothing wrong with that. MQTT is mature, useful and extremely flexible. I use MQTT elsewhere in my home infrastructure.

ESPHome offers a native API, so an ESPHome device can communicate directly with Home Assistant:

ESPHome device ? Home Assistant

No MQTT broker is required for that connection.

ESPHome’s native API uses an optimized protocol designed specifically for communication with systems including Home Assistant.

ESPHome says the native API also removes the MQTT broker as another potential single point of failure for communication between the device and Home Assistant.

For a Home Assistant-centric smart home, I prefer the simpler path.

Does That Mean MQTT Is Bad?

No.

I still use MQTT.

It remains extremely useful when information needs to move among multiple systems rather than only between a device and Home Assistant.

I use it in other parts of my home infrastructure, including weather-related systems.

ESPHome supports MQTT too, so this isn’t an either/or architectural decision.

I simply don’t see a need to route every ESPHome switch through MQTT merely because MQTT exists.

Which Is Easier: Tasmota or ESPHome?

Tasmota is generally easier to get started with.

If you have a supported smart plug or light switch, Tasmota’s workflow can be wonderfully simple:

Flash Tasmota.
Connect it to Wi-Fi.
Select or enter the correct device template.
Configure MQTT.
Add it to Home Assistant.

ESPHome asks more of you.

You need a configuration that correctly describes the hardware.

You need to understand enough YAML to maintain it.

You compile firmware from that configuration.

If you get the GPIO assignment wrong, the device does not magically know which pin controls the relay.

ESPHome’s tools have become much friendlier, but I would still give Tasmota the advantage for someone who wants to get a conventional supported smart switch running as quickly as possible.

Tasmota’s Web Interface Is a Real Advantage

Every Tasmota user knows the convenience of typing the device’s address into a browser and getting a useful management interface.

You can inspect the device, change settings, access its console and update firmware without needing another management system.

ESPHome can also run a web server, but it is an optional component rather than the center of the platform.

That difference reflects the philosophy of the two projects rather well.

Tasmota feels like a complete appliance running on each smart device.

ESPHome feels like firmware you designed for that device.

One caution: ESPHome specifically warns that its web-server component consumes significant memory and can reduce stability on constrained ESP8266 devices. I therefore would not add it automatically to every node just because I can.

Which Works Better If Home Assistant Goes Down?

The answer is: either one can work very well, if you design it that way.

This is important.

A local smart-home firmware does not magically make every automation local.

If the device sends a button press to Home Assistant and Home Assistant decides what to do next, that behavior depends on Home Assistant regardless of whether the switch runs Tasmota or ESPHome.

If the decision happens on the device itself, it can continue without Home Assistant.

Both platforms support that.

My preference for ESPHome comes from how I have chosen to design those behaviors.

My Smart Home Has an A-Mode and a B-Mode

I have been trying to build devices that continue doing something sensible when the larger automation system is unavailable.

I think of this as B-Mode, borrowing terminology from theme-park attractions.

A-Mode is ideal operation.

Everything is online. Home Assistant has access to every sensor and can coordinate the entire house.

B-Mode is what happens when something breaks.

The system may become less sophisticated, but basic functions continue.

For example, I have built ESPHome devices where:

Outdoor lights can run their own dawn-to-dusk logic.
A physical switch continues controlling its own relay.
Countdown behavior happens on the device.
Important local behavior does not require a round trip through Home Assistant.
Some ESPHome devices can exchange selected information directly.

I wrote more about that architecture in Designing a B-Mode: How I’m Building Fail-Safe Smart Home Devices with ESPHome.

What Logic Should Run on the Device?

I don’t think every automation belongs inside ESPHome.

Quite the opposite.

Home Assistant has far more context than an individual light switch.

It may know:

Who is home
Whether the alarm is armed
The state of dozens of other devices
Whether you’re on vacation
The current weather
Whether a particular scene is active

That kind of whole-house coordination belongs at the higher level.

I use device-level automation for behavior that is inherent to the device or useful when the larger system is unavailable.

Examples include:

What the physical button does
What state a relay should assume after reboot
A safety timeout
A local countdown
Fallback dawn/dusk behavior
Basic interaction with a directly connected sensor

My guide to home automation scenes covers the other side of this: coordinating multiple devices at the smart-home level.

ESPHome Is Particularly Good for Custom Hardware

This is where the comparison increasingly tilts toward ESPHome for me.

Tasmota is fantastic when the hardware resembles something Tasmota already understands.

ESPHome becomes especially attractive when I am defining the hardware myself.

I have used ESPHome for sensors as well as commercial smart-home devices.

It supports components for an enormous range of:

Temperature and humidity sensors
Air-quality sensors
Displays
Relays
Buttons
Bluetooth devices
Distance sensors
Energy monitoring
LEDs
Motors
Climate devices
Other microcontroller peripherals

My outdoor AirGradient air-quality monitor, for example, runs ESPHome and integrates into my local monitoring systems.

Once I was already using ESPHome for sensors, using the same platform for more switches and plugs became increasingly appealing.

Tasmota Still Has a Big Advantage for Generic Devices

Suppose I buy a common ESP-based smart plug.

Someone has already identified:

The relay GPIO
The button GPIO
The LED GPIO
Whether those pins are inverted
The energy-monitoring chip

If a good Tasmota template exists, I can apply it and be mostly finished.

That is excellent.

ESPHome may have a ready-made configuration too, but fundamentally it expects me to describe what I want the device to contain.

For a simple plug that needs no unusual behavior, Tasmota’s generic-firmware approach may be the more efficient answer.

ESPHome vs. Tasmota for Automations

The platforms approach automation differently.

Tasmota

Tasmota provides its Rules engine for trigger/action logic. On ESP32, Berry offers much more advanced scripting.

This is powerful and keeps the logic local.

ESPHome

ESPHome exposes triggers, conditions and actions throughout its component system.

The automation becomes another part of the YAML configuration that builds the firmware.

For me, that makes complicated device-specific behavior easier to understand months later.

I can read one configuration and see both the hardware and what I told it to do.

ESPHome vs. Tasmota for Home Assistant

If Home Assistant is central to your smart home, I give ESPHome the advantage.

The native API means entities can appear directly through the ESPHome integration without requiring MQTT as the middle layer.

The API can also expose user-defined actions and allow ESPHome automations to interact with Home Assistant.

Tasmota’s Home Assistant integration is also mature and automatic, but it depends on a configured MQTT broker.

If you already run MQTT and like the architecture, that may not bother you in the slightest.

If you don’t otherwise need MQTT, ESPHome removes something you would otherwise have to operate.

Tasmota vs. ESPHome for Someone Who Doesn’t Use Home Assistant

Here I would lean much more strongly toward Tasmota for ordinary smart plugs, switches and lights.

Tasmota has a strong standalone web interface and was built around protocols such as MQTT that can integrate with many systems.

ESPHome does not require Home Assistant and can run substantial local logic on its own. You can add a web server and other interfaces.

But ESPHome’s strongest ecosystem advantage is unquestionably its relationship with Home Assistant.

If Home Assistant is nowhere in your plans and the device is conventional hardware, I would ask what ESPHome is buying you before choosing it.

What About Updates?

Both platforms support over-the-air firmware updates.

With Tasmota, updating a normal device through the web UI is extremely straightforward.

ESPHome can deploy firmware OTA from its management tools after the initial installation.

ESPHome also provides a safe-mode mechanism intended to make recovery easier when an OTA update does not boot normally.

One difference is philosophical again.

A Tasmota update generally updates a common firmware.

An ESPHome update recompiles the firmware described by your configuration.

I prefer having the configuration as the permanent source of truth.

Should You Switch Working Tasmota Devices to ESPHome?

Not automatically.

I would not convert twenty perfectly reliable Tasmota plugs merely because I decided ESPHome is my preferred platform.

Migration costs time and creates an opportunity to break something that currently works.

I would switch when I have a reason.

For me, those reasons include:

I want more customized device behavior.
I want the configuration represented in YAML.
I want to remove the MQTT dependency for Home Assistant communication.
I want to build more local fallback behavior.
I am already changing or rebuilding the device configuration anyway.

If Tasmota is doing the job perfectly, continuing to run Tasmota is a completely reasonable decision.

How to Move From Tasmota to ESPHome

This process has changed significantly, particularly for newer ESP32 devices.

Do not download a random ESPHome binary and blindly upload it.

Before converting a working device, I would do the following.

1. Document the Existing Tasmota Configuration

Before changing anything, record:

The exact device model
The Tasmota module or template
GPIO assignments
Relay configuration
Button and switch configuration
Inversion settings
Energy-monitoring hardware
Any Tasmota Rules
MQTT topic names if you may need them later
The installed Tasmota version

I would take screenshots and save the Tasmota configuration backup too.

If the ESPHome configuration doesn’t work, you want to know exactly what the previously working firmware was doing.

2. Identify the Actual ESP Chip

You need to know whether the device contains:

ESP8266
ESP32
ESP32-C3
ESP32-S2
ESP32-S3
Another supported variant

Do not infer this from the product name alone.

For ESP32 Tasmota devices, the firmware variant displayed in the Tasmota interface can help identify the chip.

3. Build the ESPHome Configuration First

Create the ESPHome device configuration before replacing Tasmota.

At minimum, make sure you have:

The correct microcontroller platform
Wi-Fi credentials or provisioning method
Logging
OTA support
The Home Assistant API if you intend to use it
The correct hardware GPIO configuration

I would keep the initial configuration relatively simple.

Get the hardware working first. Add elaborate automations later.

4. Be Very Careful With Tasmota v12+ on ESP32

This is the most important current migration warning.

Newer Tasmota versions on ESP32 use a safeboot partition layout that differs from a normal ESPHome layout.

Current ESPHome supports migrating these devices over the air, but its official migration instructions require enabling partition access in the first ESPHome firmware used for the conversion.

The relevant ESPHome OTA configuration uses:

ota:
  - platform: esphome
    allow_partition_access: true

Do not copy that line into every ESPHome device permanently. It is needed for this particular migration process.

After the first ESPHome firmware is running, the ESP32 partition table still needs to be migrated according to ESPHome’s current Tasmota migration procedure. Once that is complete, the partition-access option can be removed.

The exact partition migration depends on the application size, so I would follow the current official ESPHome “Migrating from Tasmota” instructions rather than copying an old command sequence from a forum post.

ESPHome warns that losing power or resetting the device while the partition table is actually being rewritten can leave it requiring physical recovery. I would not perform that step during a thunderstorm on a device I cannot easily reach.

5. ESP8266 Has a Different Problem: Firmware Size

ESP8266 devices have much less flash space.

ESPHome’s migration documentation recommends compressed firmware when moving from modern Tasmota versions because the ESPHome image may otherwise be too large for the OTA slot.

Older Tasmota versions can require an intermediate minimal image or additional Tasmota settings before accepting the ESPHome firmware.

Again, check the current migration guide for the Tasmota version actually installed on your device.

6. Upload the ESPHome Firmware Through Tasmota

Once you have built the appropriate migration image, Tasmota’s Firmware Upgrade page can accept the ESPHome binary.

If the flash succeeds, the device should reboot into ESPHome and connect using the network settings in your ESPHome configuration.

That is the point at which I verify the basic hardware before doing anything clever.

7. Test Every Physical Function

Check:

Does the physical button work?
Does the relay turn on and off correctly?
Does the status LED behave correctly?
Does a power-monitoring chip report sensible values?
Do sensors appear?
Does the device recover correctly after power loss?
Does Home Assistant see the expected entities?

A configuration that successfully compiles is not necessarily a configuration that correctly represents the hardware.

8. Only Then Add the Advanced Logic

Once the device behaves like the original switch or plug, I start adding the reason I migrated it.

That might be:

A local countdown timer
Dawn/dusk control
Direct sensor behavior
Fallback logic
Additional diagnostic sensors
Virtual switches to enable or disable local behavior

Separating migration from customization makes troubleshooting much easier.

Don’t Open a Mains-Powered Switch Just to Migrate It Unless You Know What You’re Doing

Many Tasmota and ESPHome devices are connected directly to household mains voltage.

Serial flashing can require physical access to programming pads inside the device.

If OTA migration works, I strongly prefer it.

If a device needs to be opened and connected to a programmer, make sure it is completely disconnected from mains electricity. Do not work on an energized smart switch or plug.

If recovering a failed flash requires electrical work you are not comfortable doing, that is another good reason not to migrate a perfectly functioning Tasmota device without a compelling benefit.

Save Your ESPHome YAML Somewhere Safe

Once a device is migrated, the YAML becomes important.

The firmware running on the microcontroller is compiled output.

The configuration file is the useful human-readable description that lets you rebuild, modify and understand it later.

I keep the configuration rather than treating ESPHome as something I configure once and forget.

This also makes it much easier to create a second similar device.

ESPHome’s Optional Web Server Needs Some Care

If you miss Tasmota’s web UI, ESPHome has a web-server component.

I would use it selectively.

ESPHome warns that the web server consumes memory, especially on ESP8266.

And because it exposes device controls over HTTP, it should not simply be exposed to the internet.

If I enable the web interface, I keep the device on a trusted local network and configure authentication where appropriate.

ESPHome’s documentation now specifically recommends authenticating the web server and protecting any web-based OTA capability.

Can ESPHome Work Without the Internet?

Yes.

So can Tasmota.

Neither platform inherently requires a cloud service for ordinary local operation.

Exactly what continues functioning without internet access depends on what you configured.

An ESPHome switch with local button-to-relay logic does not need the internet to turn the relay on.

A Tasmota Rule responding to a local input does not need the internet either.

An automation that requests an internet weather service obviously does.

Local firmware is an important building block for a resilient smart home, but you still have to design the dependencies.

Can ESPHome Work If Home Assistant Is Offline?

Yes, for logic that actually runs on the ESPHome device.

Physical button behavior, local timers, sensor thresholds and other on-device automations can continue running.

Anything that explicitly asks Home Assistant to perform an action still depends on Home Assistant.

This is why I distinguish between:

device logic — what this individual device should always know how to do

and:

home automation — coordination requiring knowledge of the rest of the house.

ESPHome gives me a convenient way to decide where that boundary should be.

Does Tasmota Work If the MQTT Broker Is Down?

The device itself can.

Physical controls, timers and local Tasmota Rules do not stop functioning simply because the MQTT broker disappears.

But Home Assistant’s official Tasmota integration communicates through MQTT, so the normal Home Assistant connection to that device will be unavailable while the broker is down.

That is one reason I like removing the broker from the ESPHome-to-Home-Assistant path when I do not otherwise need it.

When I Would Choose Tasmota in 2026

I would choose Tasmota when:

I have a conventional supported smart plug, switch or light.
I want to get it running quickly.
I value an always-available local configuration interface.
I already use MQTT heavily.
The existing Rules system handles the local logic I need.
I don’t use Home Assistant.
The device is working perfectly and I have no reason to change it.

When I Would Choose ESPHome in 2026

I would choose ESPHome when:

I am building custom sensor hardware.
Home Assistant is the center of the smart home.
I want the device definition stored as YAML.
I want sophisticated device-specific behavior.
I want to eliminate an unnecessary MQTT dependency.
I want to build explicit fallback behavior into a device.
I want to reuse configuration across similar hardware.
I expect the device’s behavior to evolve over time.

Tasmota vs. ESPHome: My Decision by Device Type

Device	What I Would Probably Choose
Basic smart plug	Tasmota is still extremely attractive
Basic wall switch	Either; I wouldn’t migrate a working Tasmota switch without a reason
Custom environmental sensor	ESPHome
Complex multi-sensor ESP32 project	ESPHome
Home Assistant-centric device with custom behavior	ESPHome
Standalone device with strong web-management requirement	Tasmota
Existing Tasmota device working perfectly	Leave it alone unless ESPHome solves a real problem

Frequently Asked Questions About Tasmota vs. ESPHome

Is ESPHome better than Tasmota?

Not universally. I prefer ESPHome for custom devices and Home Assistant-centric installations because its YAML configuration, native Home Assistant API and local automation system fit the way I build my smart home. Tasmota remains an excellent choice for quickly converting supported smart switches, plugs and lights to local control.

Is Tasmota easier than ESPHome?

For a typical supported smart-home device, usually yes. Tasmota provides a general firmware, web interface and device templates. ESPHome normally requires you to create or obtain a YAML configuration and compile firmware for the specific device.

Does ESPHome require Home Assistant?

No. ESPHome devices can run independently and can execute automations locally. Home Assistant is where ESPHome has its strongest integration, however, and is a major reason many people choose it.

Does Tasmota require Home Assistant?

No. Tasmota is a standalone firmware with its own web interface, MQTT support, rules, timers and other functionality.

Does Tasmota require MQTT?

Not for the device itself. However, the official Home Assistant Tasmota integration communicates with Tasmota devices through MQTT, so an MQTT broker is required for that integration.

Does ESPHome require MQTT?

No. ESPHome can communicate directly with Home Assistant using its native API. ESPHome also supports MQTT when you have a reason to use it.

Can Tasmota run automations without Home Assistant?

Yes. Tasmota Rules can execute trigger/action logic locally, and ESP32 versions support the more advanced Berry scripting language.

Can ESPHome run automations without Home Assistant?

Yes. ESPHome automations can run directly on the microcontroller. That is one of the main reasons I use it for device-level fallback behavior.

Can I flash ESPHome over Tasmota without opening the device?

Often, yes. ESPHome has an official Tasmota migration process. ESP8266 and ESP32 devices have different considerations, and ESP32 devices running newer Tasmota partition layouts require additional partition-migration steps. Check the current ESPHome migration instructions for your exact situation before flashing.

Should I migrate all my Tasmota devices to ESPHome?

I wouldn’t. I migrate devices when ESPHome gives me something useful: better device-specific logic, simpler Home Assistant integration or configuration I want to maintain as code. A reliable Tasmota device that already does everything you need can remain a reliable Tasmota device.

Which is better for Home Assistant?

I prefer ESPHome. Its native API connects directly to Home Assistant without requiring an MQTT broker, and ESPHome entities and device-specific functionality integrate very naturally with Home Assistant. Tasmota’s Home Assistant support is also good, particularly if you already operate MQTT.

Which is better for beginners?

For converting a supported commercial switch or plug, Tasmota is probably easier. For someone who already uses Home Assistant and wants to build custom sensors or learn how the hardware actually works, ESPHome may be worth learning from the beginning.

Why I’m Still Moving Toward ESPHome

I started moving devices from Tasmota because I wanted more control.

I still do.

But after using both platforms longer, I no longer think the comparison is about one being powerful and the other being limited.

They solve the same problem from different directions.

Tasmota gives you an extraordinarily capable general-purpose firmware and lets you configure it into the device you need.

ESPHome lets you describe the device you want and then builds firmware around that description.

I increasingly prefer the second model.

For my smart home, it makes each device easier to document, customize and deliberately design for failure.

But I still have Tasmota devices.

And if a Tasmota switch is sitting in the wall doing exactly what it is supposed to do, I don’t feel any particular need to disturb it.

The best smart-home firmware is the one that makes the device reliable, local and understandable—and then lets you forget about it until you actually want to change something.

More Smart Home Guides

Published on August 20, 2025

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Can DIY Solar Panels Eclipse My High Energy Bills?

The Solar Panels Experiment: My Journey Toward Energy Self-Sufficiency

I’ve always been a tech optimist. If there’s a gadget or piece of infrastructure that promises to make life more efficient, more automated, or more independent, I want to understand it—and if it works, adopt it. That mindset is what originally led me to install sensors throughout my vacation property, experiment with remote home monitoring, and try out new smart home technologies as they’ve emerged. It’s also what led me to install heat pumps at the house.

But this year, optimism turned into skepticism.

When Promises Meet Reality: My Heat Pump Debacle

Like many homeowners looking for a greener, more modern solution to heating and cooling, I was lured by the promise of heat pumps. No more oil or propane deliveries. Whisper-quiet operation. Environmentally friendlier systems. Substantial government and utility rebates. It all sounded like a win-win. And for a while, it was.

Then the winter utility bills started rolling in.

And they kept rolling in.

What had once been a manageable heating bill tripled, year over year. And the culprit, according to my utility provider? “Usage.” Allegedly, I had used nearly three times the energy I had the previous winter, despite no notable changes to my use of the property or the weather.

I chalked it up to a few possibilities—yes, heat pumps use electricity rather than combustion fuels, and in very cold climates, they can struggle to operate efficiently. But the scale of the increase was baffling. It didn’t align with reality. And then I remembered something else: around the same time the heat pumps went in, my utility provider installed smart meters.

Smart Meter, Dumb Results?

Now, I want to be clear—I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think there’s a cabal of utility engineers huddled around a dial cranking up my bill to fund their quarterly bonuses. But I am a technologist, and I know that technology—particularly rushed, wide-scale deployments—can be flawed. Especially when there’s no customer-side auditability.

There’s something uniquely frustrating about seeing a bill that’s three times higher than it used to be, accompanied by usage data you have no way to independently verify. The old meters spun. You could watch them. Smart meters? They hum silently in the background, collecting data and sending it off somewhere. You have to trust that they’re correct.

I don’t.

And that brings me to the reason for this article—and for what I hope will be an occasional series here on GadgetWisdom: my exploration into solar.

The DIY Solar Panels Experiment Begins

Let me be clear: I am not making a massive investment in solar overnight. This isn’t a sponsored, all-in, “I just installed a 20kW Tesla roof and Powerwall system” kind of post. This is a cautious experiment. It’s a project. And like many of you reading this, it starts with a desire to understand—really understand—how something works, and what kind of value it can provide.

My goals are as follows:

Buy and install a small solar setup: I want to start with a small number of panels and a basic grid-tied inverter system. Nothing fancy. No batteries (yet). Just enough to monitor output, offset a bit of consumption, and see how it integrates with my existing power setup.
Ensure expandability: Any system I install now must be modular. That means using microinverters or a hybrid inverter setup that allows me to add more panels in the future without ripping everything out. It also means laying the groundwork—electrically and logistically—for future energy storage.
Monitor performance obsessively: I want to track production vs. usage as granularly as possible. This means smart monitoring systems, independent usage logging, and some good old data nerding.
Build toward self-sufficiency: Over time, the goal is to generate enough power to offset a significant portion of my usage—especially in winter. That might mean batteries, backup systems, or even some creative load management.
Document the process for others: Solar is full of hype and half-truths, and I want to provide something a little more grounded. Real-world data. Real-world frustrations. Real-world results.

The Challenges Ahead

Going solar sounds simple in the abstract: slap some panels on your roof, plug them in, and start saving. But in practice, it’s more complicated. Some of the challenges I’m already anticipating:

Shading: My property is surrounded by trees. Not directly overhead, but enough that seasonal shading may affect panel output. I’ll need to map this out carefully and possibly look at ground mounts or pole mounts.
Installer cooperation: Many solar installers aren’t thrilled about small, modular installs. They want to do big 10kW+ systems, not 1kW proof-of-concept setups. They also make their money from financing and tax credits, making pricing as opaque as possible. So my plan is to use my trusted roofer and electrician to do the work.
Utility cooperation: Getting a grid-tied system approved and interconnected with my local utility can be a bureaucratic maze. Add to that my lingering skepticism of their smart meter data, and you can imagine how thrilled I am to begin that process.
Rebates and tax credits: There are local and federal incentives for solar, but they vary wildly and can change year to year. I’ll need to track them closely to make sure I maximize returns without getting buried in paperwork. Many of these may be going away next year thanks to President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill
Batteries… eventually: Energy storage is expensive and complex. But it’s the key to resilience and off-grid capability. That will be a future phase of the project—probably next year if this first stage goes well.

Why Start Small?

Some people go big on solar because they’ve run the numbers and are convinced of the return. I’m starting small for the opposite reason: I don’t trust the numbers I’m seeing, either from installers or from my utility. I want to build my own dataset, see how panels perform in my exact conditions, and make decisions based on real data.

Plus, the tech changes fast. Inverters get smarter, panels get more efficient, and storage options evolve. By starting small, I give myself the flexibility to adopt the best solutions over time instead of locking into something big—and potentially obsolete—right now.

What You Can Expect

In future articles, I’ll be covering:

My research process for selecting panels and inverters
Tools and apps for tracking solar production
Permitting and interconnection headaches (hopefully not too many)
Installation decisions: roof vs. ground, angle, orientation
Performance analysis: how much power am I really generating?
Integration with my existing smart home and monitoring setups
First steps toward energy storage and load shifting
And eventually—what it all costs, what it saves, and whether I’d do it again

This won’t be a rapid journey. I’ll be documenting things as they happen—warts and all. If you’re a fellow DIY enthusiast, off-grid dreamer, or just someone who’s tired of paying power bills you don’t trust, I hope you’ll follow along.

Why This Matters

For me, this isn’t just about saving money (although I’d like to). It’s about taking control. It’s about not being at the mercy of a utility company whose math doesn’t add up. It’s about learning how to be more self-sufficient. And yes, it’s about the joy of tinkering—of building a system, testing it, improving it.

GadgetWisdom has always been about that impulse: to explore, to question, and to build. This solar journey is a natural extension of that spirit.

So let’s get started. Next up: choosing my first panels and inverter.

Stay tuned.

Published on August 18, 2025

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Smart Apartment Renovation: Wiring Upgrades for a Smarter Home

When it comes to smart home upgrades, wiring is the unsung hero. Without a solid electrical foundation, your smart tech is only as reliable as the weak link in your power or network infrastructure.

Many older structures have poor or insufficient wiring for your modern needs. In my renovation, it was essential I modernized the electrical system and laying the groundwork for smart lighting, fans, Ethernet, and security—all while respecting building codes and future-proofing for the long haul. Bringing an apartment up to modern code starts with safety.

I will be covering each of these in more detail in future posts, and will provide recommendations and thoughts on specific items.

Why Wiring Matters in Old Buildings

The building I live in was constructed in the 1970s, and my new apartment—unlike others in the building—hadn’t been touched since then. That meant it required a ground up redo of the electrical wiring, beginning with GFCI.

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) are required in areas with water exposure, like bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms. But they weren’t mandatory when the building went up, and even if a few had been added later, chances are they’re outdated. Today’s Smart Lock GFCIs, required since 2003, provide added safety by locking if the mechanism fails.

Full Outlet Replacement and Smarter Circuit Planning

Every receptacle in the apartment had to be replaced. Over time, as outlets age, plugs will not hold within them. Outlet placement was uneven and sparse, so I had additional outlets added to ensure consistent spacing across rooms.

More importantly, the electrician found that multiple rooms shared a single breaker—an overload risk waiting to happen. He split the circuits, rewired the panel, and even repositioned the breaker box to make space for slightly larger kitchen cabinets.

Let There Be Light—And Ceiling Fans

Like many older apartments, none of the main rooms had ceiling lights—just switched outlets. That changed. In 2025, LED disc lights have become a preferred option over traditional recessed cans (high hats). Why? They’re easier to install, offer better light distribution, and sit flush with the ceiling. Perfect for smart lighting systems.

We also installed junction boxes in the bedrooms, dining room, and entryway to allow for ceiling fans. In an apartment with baseboard heating and room air conditioners, fans play a key role: improving airflow, enhancing comfort, and even supporting better air quality.

Safety First: Wired Smoke and CO Detectors

Since ceilings were being opened up anyway, I had the electrician wire smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Hardwired systems are more reliable than battery-powered ones, and ensure that you don’t have to worry about battery failure. In New York, where I live, as of 2019, new and replacement smoke detectors must be either hardwired or powered by a battery with a ten year life. Replacing batteries is no longer an option if you are complying.

Building a Wired Backbone: Ethernet and Network Planning

When the walls are open, there is an opportunity to add not just new outlets, but the electrician also knew how to run ethernet cable. I didn’t go overboard with Ethernet jacks—each room has one drop, which limits placement flexibility, but this setup ensures stable wired connectivity and reduces Wi-Fi dependency. I had him run:

Dual Cat 6 cable drops in each bedroom and living room
Runs to both entrances for PoE security cameras
A ceiling drop in the dining room for a PoE wireless access point
A centralized network hub in the old linen closet, with added power and conduit to the provider junction outside

Everything terminates in that closet, giving me a homegrown mini-server closet if needed. I briefly considered a full rack setup… but let’s not get carried away (yet), although if you have the opportunity, get wires placed where you want them and future proof your home.

Modular Design for Marketability

Remember: Everything in this renovation must be removable or acceptable to future tenants.

Ethernet jacks are unobtrusive if unused
Cameras and access points can be disconnected or left unpowered and the access covered with a plate.
Fans can be skipped in favor of pendant lights or left off entirely
Network gear can be removed.

What’s Next?

This phase took the electrician about a week, and he returned after painting was finished to install the final fixtures. But with wiring and foundational infrastructure out of the way, the work for me is just beginning.

Subscribe for updates as this smart apartment transformation continues.

Published on July 4, 2025

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Smart Apartment Renovation: Upgrading a Wreck to a Connected Home

I haven’t been contributing as much to Gadget Wisdom in recent weeks because of several new developments in my life. But, I decided it was time to write about one of them that is simultaneously exciting and overwhelming. I’m moving.

This was somewhat unexpected, as the space just became available. I’m relocating from my long-term, one-bedroom first-floor apartment to the third floor of the same building—a larger space with more potential and, unfortunately, a lot more problems.

A Time Capsule

The building was constructed in the 70s and has three apartments, one per floor. The third floor recently vacated after decades of occupancy and since the building is owned by relatives, I was offered the chance to take it over before they listed it publicly.

It’s a bigger apartment, which is great. But it’s also a total wreck with poorly maintained original fixtures. The kitchen and bathroom had deteriorating, non-functional drop ceilings. Industrial piping used as safety railings ran along the walls and even cut into door moldings. The kitchen cabinet doors were falling off, the flooring was peeling up, and the balcony wood was rotting. Every window in the unit needed replacing.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

Professional Renovation and Smart Tech Planning

Luckily, much of the renovation is being handled by professionals. While they work, I’m able to plan and integrate smart home upgrades and modern tech enhancements before I move in, and have them add in features in support of that before I implement my work.

The large amount of pre-planning is a huge shift from my current apartment, where I added upgrades piecemeal over time. Not only can I do things right the first time, but I can learn from my previous experience and try to share that experience with others.

Some ground rules apply: Since I’m related to the owners, I have more freedom than a typical tenant—but any upgrades must either be easily removable or acceptable to future occupants.

Extending Home Assistant to Multiple Apartments

I’ve already set up Home Assistant to unify the various devices and control all aspects of my home. It already controls every smart switch, light, and sensor in the rest of the building. So, from its perspective, I have just added a third floor to the building when it thought there were only two.

What would you do with a Blank Slate?

If you had the chance to outfit an empty space into your home with contractors already on-site how would you enhance it? What tech would you install? What infrastructure would you build into the walls, the wiring, the layout?

That’s the question I’m facing now. And over the coming weeks, I’ll be documenting what I ended up with and why: from smart lighting to whole-apartment networking, energy efficiency, security, and more. It isn’t just a smart apartment in the automation sense, it is about making ‘smart’ decisions in outfitting a space.

Follow This

Subscribe via email or follow us on social media to get updates as this project unfolds. Whether you’re rehabbing your own place or just dreaming of the ultimate smart home setup, I hope this series inspires your next tech upgrade.

Published on June 17, 2025

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Bye, Bye Google Fi: Choosing My New Cell Phone Service

Google Fi: Value Lost

I have been a Google Fi user for years. When it started, then ‘Project’ Fi was innovative. A flat rate $20 for text and voice, plus $10/gb. You could switch between multiple providers to expand coverage. But that is still what it is for their base plan. They do offer Simply Unlimited($50 a month for a single person), and Unlimited Plus($65 a person). But their unlimited plans only work if you have multiple people. You need 4 or more people to pay $25 a person. They do have a limited time promotion for new customers going on, but I’m only looking at what I’d ultimately end up paying.

Fi used to offer more, even with that plan. The occasional gift, a vending machine at the airport, good deals on hardware. But the deals only seem to be for new customers now. Long standing customers like me got nothing. You had full integration with Google Hangouts…which is An innovative little carrier has stagnated. Fi is also unique in that it has the top level of network prioritization on T-Mobile. It also offers extra data only SIMs on several plans. MVNOs usually, in congested areas, fall behind the provider’s service.

In the end, the price hasn’t gone done, and it is still $10 a GB when everyone else is reducing that cost.

So I started shopping around. I’m not including taxes by default below, so consider that on top of this. Also, unless I mention otherwise, unlimited text and voice and I’m not mentioning hotspotting at this time. For those of you outside the US, I’m only looking for myself. Apologies. For those Americans who travel outside the country, I did factor that in, but I’ll address that in a separate post.

Mint Mobile

Mint is very popular, however, its plans are most economical when bought in annual increments. So, we’re going to look at their annual plans. I’m willing to plop down 100% to start with.

$15 a month for 5GB
$20 a month for 15GB
$25 a month for 20GB
$30 a month for unlimited

Ting

I’m not sure I would have looked at Ting if they hadn’t been the first prepaid carrier I switched to when I left my parent’s family share plan. Ting isn’t who it once was. Ting was once the leader in ala carte pricing. Now their plans are more conventional and unimpressive.

Set 5 – $25/month for 5GB
Set 12 – $35/month for 12GB
Unlimited – $45/month for 22GB

After you reach your limit, you’ll be slowed to a crawl. Any unused data carries over to the next month

MobileX

MobileX is the first MVNO I’ve mentioned that is running on Verizon, not T-Mobile. It has top priority on Verizon.

Unlimited 10 – $14.88/month for 10GB
Unlimited – $24.88 for unlimited

US Mobile

US Mobile offers a discount if you prepay annually. It is a bit more month to month

Unlimited Flex – $17.50/month for annual, not available month to month
Unlimited Started – $22.50/month for annual, $25 month to month
Unlimited Premium – $32.50/month for annual, $35 month to month

The differences are in hotspot data, Starter includes International data, and Premium offers a free smartwatch plan and network transfers(which otherwise cost $2 each). Network transfers are interesting. They offer service on different major networks…without naming them. If you want to switch which one, you pay the $2 to change.

Either way, $210 for a year of unlimited isn’t bad.

Visible

Visible is actually a prepaid carrier owner by Verizon. But don’t call Verizon.

Visible – $25/month for unlimited data on 5G/LTE, throttled video.
Visible+ $45/month for unlimited at premium speed on their wideband network

Tello Mobile

I ended up giving Tello a chance. Tello offers ala carte plans like Ting once did, as well as unlimited.

1GB – $9/month
2GB – $10/month
5GB – $14/month
10GB – $25/month
Unlimited Data(Really 35GB)/Minutes – $25 a month

You also don’t have to do unlimited phone/text, for example, $5/month gets you 1GB of data, and an extra $1 gets you 100 minutes and unlimited texts.

Conclusion

Picking a wireless carrier is extremely hard. There are a lot of good choices. And I only covered the ones that I considered because they fit my needs. I don’t stream video regularly. Since I got more data, I have been streaming music more, but I prefer my own music collection stored locally.

I was paying $20 a month for 2GB just to read and browse on my phone. That used to take less than 1GB…but all these sites are not concerned about data savings anymore. They are embedding autoplay videos, precaching resources, etc. So, without my behavior changing, I was using more data.

Ultimately, Tello won for the fact that I could justify the $25 a month(especially with a promo for 3 months at $15), but I could also switch down to 5GB a month which is still well above what I’m using on average. They made it extremely easy to set up and use an eSIM for a month in parallel with Fi as my phone supports that, then port my number over in 20 minutes. And even if I leave…I can still, thanks to the Pixel 9, try out anything for a month just to see what the experience is during my daily routine.

I did lose international included, but I’ll talk about that separately.

Published on April 8, 2025

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Exploring Jellyfin As Media Server Options Dwindle

MythTV- My Longtime Media Server

I’ve been running a MythTV server for over 15 years. MythTV is a DVR…and I use it to record television. Increasingly though, companies are locking down the ability for you to time-shift your own television forcing you to use their often less good hardware and software experiences. I still have a cable card, but the government no longer mandates cable companies to offer them. Several companies have already stopped supporting them, and most others will let you keep them until the day they can’t.

I could stick to broadcast TV, except…guess what? The new standard for broadcast, ATSC3, are starting to become encrypted and implement DRM. So, the future isn’t too bright there either.

MythTV does do personal media as well, but its way of doing it has remained largely unchanged for years. It might be the worst time to pivot to ripping to physical media. Last year, I commented on how sales of physical video media are tanking while physical audio media are rising. Since that time, I’ve been working on upgrading how I use the digital versions of my physical media.

I am foreseeing a future where I have to just watch the same classic shows over and over again because I can’t get anything new because they won’t sell them to me anymore. Remember, buying something on a streaming site is actually paying for a license they can revoke at any time without consequence. Which is not fine with me. But, rewatching classics I can get behind. I also found out I can raid the Walmart $5 DVD bin from their website. Time to finally watch the Shawshank Redemption.

What I’m happy with software wise is a moving target.

Plex

I set up Plex a few years ago to solve this. But Plex no longer seems to call itself a Personal Media Server. If you visit their website, it starts… “Meet your TV concierge. Need something to watch? We’re on it. Plex combines free movies & TV with the best free streaming services, so there’s always more to discover.”

Under the Question of what Plex is, they say, “A one-stop destination to stream movies, TV shows, and music, Plex is the most comprehensive entertainment platform available today. Available on almost any device, Plex is the first-and-only streaming platform to offer free ad-supported movies, shows, and live TV together with the ability to easily search—and add to your Watchlist—any title ever made, no matter which streaming service it lives on. Using the platform as their entertainment concierge, 17 million (and growing!) monthly active users count on Plex for new discoveries and recommendations from all their favorite streaming apps, personal media libraries, and beyond.”

It isn’t until the last few words that they even mention personal media library. It makes me worry about their priorities, especially after they added social features and made some of them opt out by default, including for existing customers.

Jellyfin- A New Option Emerges

By comparison, Jellyfin describes itself by saying that, “Jellyfin enables you to collect, manage, and stream your media.” It is a volunteer run open source project.

I like fully open projects and Jellyfin is pretty full functioning already. Some things I had to work a bit more to set up that happened automatically in Plex, but it still didn’t take that long to do.

Conclusion

I’m running both Jellyfin and Plex in parallel on the same library, to decide what I’ll use ultimately. Expect me to write more on this. Comment if you have any advice.

Published on February 24, 2025

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