On a whim I purchased a 3 pack of Geekbes Smart Socket WiFi Mini Plug (Model YM-WS-1) a few weeks ago. Ordinarily smart sockets are not a thing I cannot live without, but it was a flash sale at Newegg so I figured a $25 investment wasn’t going to break me.
I have been looking for a solution for two problems I have:
1) Easy way to turn on and off the lights in my garage
2) Easy way to reboot my modem without running down to the basement
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The app that comes with the smart socket allows you to turn them on or off from your phone, and set a schedule. I didn’t expect the ability to schedule your sockets. I also wasn’t sure that the WiFi signal from my router (80 ft away) would reach these devices or provide a stable signal, but as I said for $25 it was worth taking the chance. It turns out that not only does the wifi signal reach our alley, but this app does work over cellular data as well. [It wasn’t clear from the marketing description.]
Sometimes I need to hard reboot my modem. running down to the basement where it is located isn’t always practical. But with this app, I can quickly turn it on and off from my favorite chair. It does seem paradoxical that turning off the device that controls the WiFi would still allow me to turn it back on, but it seems to do just that. I’m guessing either the WiFi session is still alive for a few seconds or the capacitor in the switch holds enough power to stay on. Or magic.
I did try rebooting the modem remotely when we were visiting relatives in Mississippi . It turned the modem off, but unfortunately not back on. I may experiment with setting the modem to reboot once a week via the schedule to see if that works or probably just leave well enough alone.
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