But it’s hard to know what internet plan & speed is right, it’s best to play it safe and get the larger or a middle of the road plan right? Well, maybe no.

What internet speed do you really need anyway?

How Much Data do Things Need?

Take a guess how many concurrent Netflix Streams you can have running on 150Mbps or 1Gbps connection. Maybe 2? Or maybe 50? What about Zoom or Teams? Video games, I hear they take a lot right?

Let’s take a look

Even 4K streaming, one of the most demanding uses, only needs 15–25 Mbps per stream.

How crazy is that? 10+ Netflix streams on 150 Mbps no problem, and and in theory 60+ on 1 Gbps!

So what Speed do you actually need?

A good safe rule of thumb (2025) is ~25Mbs per person to give plenty of flexibility. If you have a super heavy user, maybe doubling their share to be even more generous.

For a 4-person household in 2025, sustained internet use is typically floats around 15–30 Mbps when everyone is active, and it’s rare to exceed ~50 Mbps outside short bursts. A few HD video running ~5 Mbps, video calls ~2–3 Mbps, maybe a camera or two, and most homes only have a few concurrent heavy activities. Which is why a 100 Mbps plan easily exceeds real demand for most families.

Costs Saving Potential

Let’s look at Xfinity’s plans in IL in 2025.

Most households would be well served by 100–150 Mbps. Xfinity’s 150 Mbps plan is often less visible than higher tiers, and many families end up on 300 or 500 Mbps plans instead. As shown above, that extra speed is rarely used and can cost $300 per year or more.

Many internet providers don’t mention their smaller plans. Xfinity’s 150 Mbps plan isn’t advertised online and typically only comes up if you ask for it.

How to Downgrade and Save

They will gladly upgrade you back anytime. So try the smallest for a bit.

Script to ask for it

The simplest approach is also the safest: start with the smallest plan and only upgrade if you actually hit limits. ISPs can upgrade your speed instantly, but they’re happy to let you overpay indefinitely.

When calling or chatting with support, keep it boring and firm:

“I’m looking for the cheapest, lowest-speed plan you offer. I don’t need anything fancy. I can always upgrade later.”

They will often ask how many devices you have. This question is used to upsell, not to size your plan accurately. As shown above, most devices use very little bandwidth, and even multiple video streams or video calls fit comfortably within lower tiers.

If pressed, repeat:

“I really just want the smallest plan right now. If I have issues, I’ll upgrade.”

That’s it. No debate required.

For many households, 50 Mbps would already work fine if it’s available. Where it isn’t, 100–150 Mbps still exceeds real-world usage by several multiples. Higher tiers mostly buy unused headroom. Trying the smallest plan first is low risk, easy to reverse, and often saves hundreds of dollars per year.

The post Internet Speed Needs appeared first on Thoughts.

Here are 40+ things I’ve thought of to think about when looking at a new apartment.

When comparing apartments, it might be good to build a spreadsheet and rank each apartment against each other. Or think about which items are a must have or like to have. We each rank things differently. For instance sunlight is very important to me, but for you maybe ceiling height is.

Feel free to use these as a starting point for you priorities in where you live!

The post 40+ Questions to ask when searching for an apartment appeared first on Thoughts.

These are only general rules of thumb and all are subject to being broken.

Recent trip costs

Two weeks in Europe France -> Switzerland -> Germany $2500
(~$105 / day without flight)

One week in Alaska $800
(~ $40 / day without flight)

One week in Europe Poland -> Slovakia $1,800
(~$150 / day without flight)

One week in NYC $1,700
(~$97 / day without flight)

Three weeks in Japan $3,000
(~$60 / day without flight)

Ways to Travel Cheap

Pick an affordable destination

1. Look up food cost
2. Look up lodging cost
3. Look up transit cost

Airfare

1. Be flexible with departure dates, use an app that shows nearby date prices.
2. Google Flights
3. Hopper App
4. Hipmunk App
5. Chepoair
6. Book Directly with airline
7. Max out your carry on (Check as few bags as possible)
8. Don’t buy things on the airplane or at airport
9. Don’t upgrade your seat, your only on the plane for a few hours
10. Some airlines charge to pick your seat, don’t pick a seat.
11. If a company is paying for flights, extend the days.

Attractions

1. Book online, sometimes there is a deal / coupons
2. Pay as a group
3. Share audio tours – makes it more social
4. Consider a multi-attraction pass
5. Stop by a hostel (even if you’re not staying), sometimes there are deals on attractions & tours
6. Don’t buy the all access pass if you don’t have time to see everything
7. If you are a student, pay student pricing
8. Check if you get discounts with AAA, Your Credit Card company, AARP, etc.

Food

1. Minimize eating out
2. Street food / Food carts are generally affordable and good
3. Bakeries
4. Grocery stores
5. Cook
6. Snacks
7. Refill a water bottle instead of buying beverages.
8. Eat 2 blocks away from tourist destination.
9. Pack and bring lunch to tourist destination,
10. Pick cheep food destination.
11. Share entrees
12. Keep and eat any leftovers instead of tossing
13. Check local customs on tipping. You might not need to tip, even though it may feel odd.

Lodging

1. Couchsurfing
2. Stay with friends, or friends of friends. (ask facebook)
3. Hostel (book directly if possible or by phone, avoid sites that add a fee)
4. AirBnB
5. Camping
6. Call other hotels and talk them down by comparing prices
7. Use your AAA membership discount if you have it

Transit

1. Rail deals (tourist pass)
2. Split cost between travelers (car, group train ticket)
3. Compare bus vs Train
4. Spend time reading and understanding a city’s light rail & bus passes to find the best fit for your visit.
5. Don’t drive the toll ways
6. Park a little ways away
7. Consider alternatives
8. Walk / Bike

Currency

1. Don’t get the currency before you leave (ok maybe a little)
2. Don’t get currency at a cash exchange (terrible exchange rate)
3. Withdraw cash at ATMs with a debit card
4. Use a Credit Card with no foreign transaction fee.
5. When given the option always charge the transaction in the local currency, it will convert with fewer fees.
6. Prefer credit card to cash if possible

Phone

1. Check what is free with your current provider. For instance texting both photos & videos is free internationally with AT&T, but calling and cell data costs.
2. Disable all cellular data on your phone to avoid fees. Only enable on a per-app basis as needed.
3. Download offline maps & language translations to reduce data use.
4. Don’t check your voicemail.
5. Bring an unlocked cell phone, and buy a local SIM, takes research.
6. Call home using WiFi with VoIP. Like Google Hangouts, Skype, Whats App, FB Messenger, etc.

Other thoughts

1. Don’t buy souvenirs, find souvenir (rocks, snacks, etc)
2. Research Global Blue
3. Check behind you and don’t loosing things – replacing items costs
4. Check if you need to buy travel insurance

Did I miss something? Do I have something wrong? What ways to travel cheap do you know? Leave a comment, I’m always updating this list with more ideas / corrections!

The post 50+ Ways to Travel Cheap Around the World appeared first on Thoughts.

If you’re on Sublime 2, upgrade to Sublime 3, it’s totally stable.

To get started you’ll need to install Sublime Package Control into Sublime. It’s fairly simple, and the you’re read to go. The “Package Control: Install Package” command will now be available in your command pallet via Cmd+Shift+P or Ctrl+Shift+P.

SublimeLinter

Base package for all linters. Syntax error highlighting can greatly reduce the save-run-revise cycle time. Most IDEs already have syntax error highlighting, why not add it to Sublime?

There are many SublimeLinter packages. Browse through them find what fits your workflow. Be sure to follow each packages setup instructions, each will be a bit different.

My personal must have’s are:

1. SublimeLinter-phplint
2. SublimeLinter-jshint
3. SublimeLinter-jsxhint
4. SublimeLinter-csslint

5. SublimeLinter-contrib-scss-lint

BracketHighlighter

An even better bracket highlighting than what comes with Sublime. It also shows starting and ending brackets in the gutter, and can matching for [ ], ( ), { }, ” “, ‘ ‘, <tag> </tag>.

SideBarEnhancments

Give the context menu more options when right clicking on files in a project. Duplicate files, move, rename, etc.

DocBlockr

Easier creation of document blocks for functions, classes, methods. It’s intelligent and looks ahead to see what you’re documenting to pre-fill the base info (such as input parameters and what is returned). Documenting is now convenient.

Pro tip: use the Tab key to navigate through the generated documented block, no need to click or use arrow keys.

Shell-Turtlestein

Launch the terminal/command line right in the context of your project directly from Sublime.  Either as a new window or as its own panel within sublime.

GitGutter

Visually shows the diff since the last commit in the gutter.  At a glance you can see what lines are additions, modifications, or deletions.

Origami

Split Sublime into multiple horizontal and vertical panes for side-by-side work. Remove the need to switch between tabs or windows as frequently when comparing files.

TrailingSpaces

Highlights and helps cleanup end of line trailing spaces. Nobody likes them right? Or maybe we just don’t notice them.

There are many other great packages out there for Sublime : code snippets, theme,  and syntax highlighting. But these are just some of my favorites.

The post Tips: My Favorite Sublime 3 Packages appeared first on Thoughts.

Here is a nice setting tweak to speed up Siri and make her more responsive. I found disabling the Voice Feedback (so Siri doesn’t talk out loud), makes her snappier.

Downside: You will have to read the screen.

Settings > General > Siri > Voice Feedback
Change to: Handsfree Only

1. General	2. Siri
3. Voice Feedback	4. Change to Handsfree Only

From my understanding, this probably bypass the need for Apple’s servers creating the verbal dictation audio, and having to transfer it over Cellular Data / Wifi to your device. Aka, time.

Reliability boost? Maybe.

As a bonus Siri overall seems more reliable as , I get a lot fewer “I’m unable to process your request right now” responses it seems. But you will have to find out for yourself there. But with out a doubt Siri is a bit faster.

The post How to Speed up Siri appeared first on Thoughts.

RAM makes the all difference!

The main difference has to do with how RAM is being used. So let me give a quick understanding of what RAM is and how it is used.

RAM is temporary ‘running’ memory. When a computer is booting up, it really is loading all the necessary files to work over into RAM. Now RAM also used to remember what programs you have open, what web page you are one, what you have typed but haven’t saved yet, and so on. Simply put, it tires the state of thing.

Now we can dive into the differences.

Shutdown

Scraps all data in RAM, forgetting the state of things on screen, then powers off all components (RAM chip, CPU, keyboard, screen, wifi card, etc).

Sleep

Continues to supply a little power to RAM chip keeping the state of thing. But powers off all other components (CPU, keyboard, screen, wifi card, etc). This means it can pick up where it left off very quickly, just need to power on all other components. Mac Laptops are well known for this, windows can do it as well.

Hibernate

Saves a copy of everything in RAM to the hard drive. This allows it to scrap everything in RAM and powers off all components (RAM chip, CPU, keyboard, screen, wifi card, etc) this consuming no power. When powered back on, it can restore the state to RAM as it was from the Hard drive, picking up where it left off. It can take a bit longer to save and restore the RAM, the benefit is mainly no battery drain.

What is best?

Which is best to use? Well that’s up to you. For me it largely depends on how long I will be away. Sleep short, hibernate long, shutdown long or weekly.

A rhyming rule of thumb:
Out for a treat – then sleep
Out for a date – then hibernate
Out for weekend cool down – then shutdown

Nevertheless, now you know!

The post Tip: Hibernate – Sleep – Shutdown appeared first on Thoughts.

I finally took the time to find the the fix, Add the following DWORD key to the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTabSettings = 1

This enables the old Alt+Tab behavior. It does remove Aero Peak and thumbnails of each app unfortunately. It’s better to have something functional than shiny.

Note: I noticed a pattern, when you minimize a window, that window goes to the last in the order. I suppose the logic presumed is that you are wanting that application out of the way if you are minimizing it.

Source: SuperUser.com – Getting back the old alt-tab windows switching behavior in Windows 7?

The post Tip: Windows Alt+Tab Order appeared first on Thoughts.

This allows the iPhone a moment to recognize the ambient sound where you are. If you start talking right away, your voice becomes part of the the ambient noise. The poor thing will be confused!

Want Siri to be faster? I wrote about that.

The post Tip: iPhone Voice Dial and Siri appeared first on Thoughts.