Homeowner baffled after washing machine uses 3.6GB of internet data a day (2024) (opens in new tab)

It's hard to understand why companies can't build things to last, use real buttons, provide parts for servicing at cost, add local APIs for anything "smart", forgo any secondary income streams (eg screens showing ads), and still make a profit.

No, they're not. And even if they were, they're repairable. I can even drill a new hole, mount an industrial 5cm push-button and wire it where the original button was connected. Can't do that with a touchscreen.

However, if you go to the store, you'll see washing machines with old knobs much cheaper than machines with new fancy screens.

Some poor schmuck in "basically Vietnam" climate part of Arkanas has to go to work and fix waste plumbing that's full of deposits from low flow urinals, get home, throw his clothes in a washer that won't clean them because it's trying to sense the bare minimum water it can use (which is too little for anyone who does work outside an office) and then shower under a POS low flow shower head, all so some jerks in the desert can feel like they're saving the planet.

State water situations are diverse. This is a textbook example of something that should not be regulated federally.

1. Assorted old appliances I have experience with. I have washer and dryer buttons (possibly the last LG model that had them, purchased quite deliberately) working flawlessly after quite a few years, and I have experience with some high-end old dishwashers that had absolutely perfect button performance for about 20 years.

I can compare this to new high end dishwashers where turning the thing on requires triggering a capacitive power button that is very very hard to trigger deliberately even with completely dry fingers. I’ve seen two different related models of this unit with the same problem - they are effectively “failed” almost immediately. Never mind that these dishwashers react to anyone leaning gently against them.

So my score is: near 0% failure rate for mechanical buttons and near 100% for capacitive sensors.

(Even the really nice capacitive sensors on nice phones and watches don’t work well under kitchen conditions, so I’m not sure this problem is fully solvable even with more expensive capacitive buttons.)

> The problem with kerchunk-a-wheels and real pushbuttons (and the not-smarts they imply) is that they're expensive.

> They're more expensive (and more failure-prone) than the rotary encoders, mush-buttons, and brain-boxes that replaced them.

Capacitance buttons also failure-prone because they literally don't work half the time. The GP was also describing other failures with the modern style controls.

I'm tired of this gaslighting: "kerchunk-a-wheels and real pushbuttons" work and are more reliable. I have literal first hand experience with them working reliably for decades. I also have literal first hand experience with capacitance buttons, etc. constantly not working from day one.

The only bit of truth to your argument is they may be more expensive. But I'll take [slightly] more expensive and working over not working any day.

And if you disagree with me, I'll sell you an empty box as a dishwasher. It won't work, but it'll be less expensive!

Genuinely asking because I plan to do this once I have to get new appliances, is there something missing that way?

Off topic, but a lifehack for those who have visually impaired loved ones: we use glass paint contour paste on the center of buttons. It's basically used in glass paintings to stop paint sliding from the glass, so it can make a good noticeable bump or line. But – it only works on hard surfaces and if the buttons themselves are not very sensitive.

If you can lightly brush the button while you are "looking" for bumps, then it works.

My former cook top was solely driven by capacitance buttons - which became entirely inaccessible the moment there was an overflow, leading to more overflows and a situation that rapidly got out of hand.

The first step in an emergency is switch off the cook top - luckily the breaker switch was nearby.

I want it to be less intrusive and irritating not more.

We keep pretending that everything that companies do is because consumers want it, but we ignore the part where companies do certain things because its better for them. Like a washing machine that uses 4 gig of data a day, or a washing machine that needs access to you photos????

Of course it was the first part to fail. Of course you have to enter from behind to override it.

A vlan sounds like the way to go to quarantine devices.