Posts Categorized: Home Automation

OTELCO Summer Streaming Series Step 2: Finding the Right Device

In this week’s edition of the OTELCO Streaming Series, we explore the vast world of streaming devices. It is a hot market, so we narrowed things down to what we think are the top five streaming devices out there today.  We will also take a brief look into Smart TVs and explore a few streaming methods you may already have in your home. Let’s jump in! Smart TV’s Most TVs made in the last five… Read more »

Be Smarter Than Your Smart Devices: Consumer IoT Security Tips

Updated Fall of 2019 Our recent post on creating a Smart Home by using connected devices brings us to a related and critical aspect of keep your smart devices secure. Given the myriad IoT options, as a consumer, you need to be smarter than your smart devices. There are numerous helpful resources and tips available on the topic of security. Here are our top four: Establish A Secure Home Network. Security starts at the base… Read more »

How smart is your home? 3 Ways Home Automation Helps Your Family

A “Smart Home” may sound like a thing of the future, but with today’s home automation technology and a high-speed Internet connection, you can be well on your way turning your house into your very own Smart Home. What exactly does that mean? A Smart Home is one that utilizes the Internet of Things (i.e. all of the devices in your home that are connected to the Internet with the ability to communicate with each… Read more »

New Smart TV? 4 steps to streaming TV online

Is your New Year’s resolution to cut the cord on cable and make the most of that new Smart TV you got for the holidays? After years of cable TV, the switch might seem like a daunting one, but we’ll walk you through a few easy steps to have you embracing your new devices in no time. Step 1. Determine your TV needs. To get started, consider your TV habits. Is network television something you’re… Read more »

Do You Have the Bandwidth for Your Smart Devices?

Now that we’ve given you some tips on how to secure the IoT smart devices that you may give or receive during the holiday season, let’s make sure you have the Internet bandwidth you need to keep them operating at their best. Every device in your home that is powered on and connected to your network uses bandwidth – even when idle. This is an approximation of what the various devices and activities use at… Read more »