I also got a netbook for use when traveling, my choice was to get the ATT air card for mine that way no matter where I am I can use the air card to connect. It is secure and I am the only one using it. When at home I can either plug directly into my router with an ethernet cable or use my air card until I move to a wireless router in the future. I had my cell phones with ATT anyway so I went with them but there are other companies that have air cards such as Verizon and Sprint, I did comparisons and the ATT and Verizon seemed the best and both are about the same price, there is a cost for the card but they had a rebate that paid fully for the card, I have a monthly fee for the card just like if it was a cell phone and in fact it does assign it a cell phone number. so anywhere you would have cell phone coverage you would be able to use it. I have not been anywhere yet that I did not get a signal. For the price they want to charge you for that one week you could pay for your air card for a month.

Mike, do you like scaring people with suggestive and (in my opinion) misleading comments? The WEP "encryption" (it's a stretch to call it that) was broken years ago. It's easily defeated and is essentially open. That's not even old news. it's very old news. WPA2 is difficult to crack, and a financial conversation using https is very, very, very difficult to intercept. I won't say impossible, but beyond the reach of other than top pros. I think any user here should feel completely safe in using a properly secured home PC and WPA2 wifi signal to conduct any nature of communications over the internet. Yes, a wire can be more secure but the EM radiation wires and PCs emit can also be intercepted too. Are you suggesting every home needs radiation shielding?

I'll try to keep it short, not something I do well. The term for pattern learning, which is also affected by system performance too, is called adaptive recovery from setback. It's also something I also have no need or use for. I do use scheduled daily daytime and overnight setbacks but I got thermostats on which adaptive recovery is an option that can be turned off. I put in two new internet accessible thermostats when I did a two system equipment replacement a few years ago and I got Honeywells (on the recommendation of my HVAC contractor). I'm very happy with them. I need to do a system replacement on a second home in the next few months and I plan to get Honeywells installed there too, so that I can use one app to control both locations. I've heard that some HVAC contractors don't like the likes of Nest and Ecobee. Maybe because some of them are knuckle dragger/Luddite types and feel more comfortable sticking with brands known in the industry, I don't know. I have to say that even with my new Honeywells (the best known name in the HVAC industry and a company that manufactures many OEM branded models - for instance things like Carrier thermostats, Trane, etc) , I had to help a tech program them. The contractor's team did the wiring and of course the equipment install but, frankly, I understood the setup issues better than they did. No problem, we worked together, and the outcome was fine. If your upstairs system is vanilla - single stage gas furnace and single stage air conditioner, a system that doesn't need a communicating thermostat, not a heat pump with backup secondary or emergency heating, maybe an Ecobee or Nest might be fine. If it's other than vanilla, maybe not. And if it's installed or set up wrong, you'll have problems. I'm a person who tries to do things well, which is not always the cheapest way. I like being able to rely on the expertise of others. If you know and can afford to pay an HVAC contractor maybe a few hundred dollars (not counting the cost of the thermostat) for something a DIY person might try but screw up, have one come out to assess your situation and recommend what to use (and what they can install). Most modern thermostats do offer Wifi access and with Apple and Android apps. It shouldn't be too hard. You might even wind up having them install two if you can afford it. Do it at the same time. Your sprinkler controler sounds awesome! Good for you, you old dinosaur! You're an inspiration and excellent example for others, including younger others, of being adaptable to new things and using technology as a tool to overcome a disability. In your case, a visual disability, something everyone of Social Security age has to deal with.

I'm not sure why it matters if your phone and other devices are connecting to the correct Wifi signal. There are many smartphone apps (and similar things on PCs) you can use to see what signals there are where you are. I use Wifi Analyzer on my Android phone. The principal benefit of doing so is to see what channels my neighbors are using and to make sure my Wifi signal is in a less crowded space. Believe it or not, we all seem to be playing a game of musical chairs. I'll change my setting, then someone else joins me and where I am gets crowded, then I move mine, and on and on. I check it every few months. FYI, on the 2.4 GHz band, the channel selections range from 1 to 11 but signals are several channels wide. Best to stick to 1 or 6/7 or 11. On the 5 GHz band, it's single numbers like 44, 45, 46, etc. One of my houses is not rural but in a neighborhood of larger lots and it doesn't matter much. The other has more density and it seems to matter more there but routers and devices are pretty good at filtering out the noise from on-air traffic of others. If your setting is crowded with others, switch to another. Otherwise, I think you can ignore what you see.