# Wifi enabled products that do or don't need to be wifi enabled **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145 "2024-02-05T15:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/81 "2024-02-09T17:21:10Z")
I’ve been pondering this and I realize that I have a ton of devices hooked up to my wifi. Laptop, iPhone, iPad, GE range, LG TV, Nest thermostat, Nest smoke detector, Ring doorbell camera, Brother printer, five Sonos speakers and a subwoofer and later today a garage door opener. It’s funny how these things creep up on you. The blackout curtain on my bedroom window came with a remote but it also has wifi capability (somfy tahoma, normally used for lighting systems) but I didn’t set up the unit that would plug into my router. Other than the range, these things have improved my life from a little to quite a lot and I’m keeping them. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/82 "2024-02-10T14:07:48Z")
I’ve noticed that new houses don’t have the wiring for a traditional doorbell. I bet slapping a Nest on the wall is cheaper for the builder. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/83 "2024-02-10T16:06:31Z")
I have a wired version and I had to install a new transformer to get it to work. The battery version seems like a pain in the ass. It loses charge in two to four weeks depending on settings. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/84 "2024-02-10T20:06:26Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’ve noticed that new houses don’t have the wiring for a traditional doorbell. I bet slapping a Nest on the wall is cheaper for the builder. My 1973 house doesn’t have the wiring for a traditional doorbell. There was the outline of a doorbell on the door frame, so I am guessing the previous occupants slapped a battery powered wireless doorbell on there and took it with them when they moved. But those didn’t exist in 1973, so I guess the builder was just like “Eh, people can just knock.” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/85 "2024-02-11T22:36:07Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Which reminds me of a story the Register ran quite a while ago about a company who disassembled the firmware of a wifi-enabled vibrator. Since nobody else has asked, _why_ would you need a wifi enabled vibrator? (And what’s the worst that could happen if it gets hacked?) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/86 "2024-02-11T22:41:21Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > I could be onboard with a smart thermostat _that works via cell phone, NOT WiFi._ My thermostats are connected to the internet via WiFi. I can control them from my phone app when I have any internet connection on the phone, either by WiFi or cell network. If I’m at home and the internet or my WiFi goes down, I can walk over to the thermostats and push the buttons. What other kind of connection do you envision? ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/87 "2024-02-11T22:48:33Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > What other kind of connection do you envision? My thought was a device that I could control with a phone without WiFi - I suppose a cellular enabled thermostat. I travel for a living, so I’d like to be able to control it remotely and not rely on WiFi, which can go down. I don’t know if such a thing exists. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/88 "2024-02-11T23:14:37Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > WiFi, which can go down Your home WiFi? I literally cannot remember the last time my WiFi went down other than in power failures, after which it just boots itself right up again. I’m away for _months_ at a time most years and it never fails. I think you need to invest in a more reliable router if this is a concern. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/89 "2024-02-11T23:24:59Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Since nobody else has asked, _why_ would you need a wifi enabled vibrator? So your partner can control it remotely. This can add another dimension (literally) to a sexy video call. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/90 "2024-02-11T23:25:31Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Since nobody else has asked, _why_ would you need a wifi enabled vibrator? (And what’s the worst that could happen if it gets hacked?) I wouldn’t have been able to answer, but I saw an article in the Times yesterday about technosex, and it seems that some people who are far away from each other get off, as it were, on him being able to control the vibrator she is using during phone sex, or I assume Zoom sex. I’m particularly interested in this field because back in 1977, when I was in grad school, I took a seminar on the new microprocessor. There was an assignment to invent something with an embedded processor, and I proposed a microprocessor based one. With lots of jokes. The “professor” was a former grad student who was on his one year Illinois gave you after you got a PhD to find a job. I got an A. And with the number of them out there, I now know how Arthur C. Clarke felt about inventing the geosynchronous orbit and neglecting to get a patent on it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/91 "2024-02-12T04:39:46Z")
I have some smart lights, which I got be use I was sensitive to lights and liked being able to adjust the brightness. I’m not too worried about them as the most anyone could do with them is be a nuisance. I do have a bathroom scale with Bluetooth, but I’ve never uses it. It is cheap Amazon stuff, so one without Bluetooth was not actually any cheaper. I personally would prefer if my bulbs just used Bluetooth, since I don’t need to control them from anywhere else. They would just need a password. In theory I could make them use Bluetooth fallback by setting them on a Wi-fi access point and then changing the name of said AP, but it’s not worth the hassle. I tend to assume the reason for putting Wi-Fi on things that don’t need it is to gather data to sell, so I do tend to avoid it. But data about how bright my lights are, or when I am silly and change the colors? Not really something I care about. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/92 "2024-02-12T05:31:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I wouldn’t have been able to answer, but I saw an article in the Times yesterday about technosex, and it seems that some people who are far away from each other get off, as it were, on him being able to control the vibrator she is using during phone sex, or I assume Zoom sex. I saw a movie where that was a gag. It wasn’t Wi-Fi, just a remote, and they were in the same room (a restaurant). But it’s basically the same idea, and it’s easy to imagine how people might use it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/93 "2024-02-12T05:46:28Z")
My sister and her husband added a Sonos soundbar and subwoofer to their tv. They don’t have a clue how to use it. When ever the there was a deep noise that really worked the sub, it would make a staticky sound that was annoying as hell. It was probably how it was positioned against something. I finally had enough and changed the settings so that didn’t happen anymore. They never noticed. Does that make me a white hat hacker? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/94 "2024-02-15T10:15:58Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Although I noticed only a few months ago that the TV has buttons on the side of the screen that can turn it on and off and change channels Those buttons on the side of my TV are the only way to reset it after a power failure. Which doesn’t happen often, but it does occasionally happen. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/95 "2024-02-15T10:41:29Z")
A friend had a garage door that would open every morning at about 0300 and then close about an hour later. The only way we found out was because I was staying there while recovering from surgery and went outside to smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/96 "2024-02-15T10:56:13Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Indeed, lose your electricity and whaddaya gonna do? At least with a non-wiFi gas stove I can light the burners with matches. Maybe, maybe not - in recent decades most new gas stoves have been sold with a safety feature that makes them unable to light without electricity. In which case your matches won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/97 "2024-02-15T12:32:11Z")
Most? I’m sure they exist but I’ve never seen one and I just went stove shopping. They were all electric start but they all could be match started too. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/98 "2024-02-15T12:42:21Z")
Where I live good luck finding a gas stove that starts without electric power. It may be due to regional safety regulations or some other factor. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/99 "2024-02-15T13:19:27Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Maybe, maybe not - in recent decades most new gas stoves have been sold with a safety feature that makes them unable to light without electricity. In which case your matches won’t work. Seriously? That’s a major defect. Sigh. I depend on my stove to make cocoa and popcorn when the power is out. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145/100 "2024-02-15T14:57:40Z")
Fortunately, my gas stove is old enough that it will spew gas if requested even without electricity; it does have an electric ignition rather than a pilot light, but I’ve done the light-with-a-match before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wifi-enabled-products-that-do-or-dont-need-to-be-wifi-enabled/997145.md?page=6)