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# no Hub Required WiFi Only Smart Bulbs Review — 6 Months in the Portland Basement Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing of **no hub required WiFi only** smart lighting options across a four-node Proxmox cluster and Home Assistant instance,

# Kasa EP25 Smart Plug Review — 6 Months in a Portland Proxmox Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **Kasa EP25 Smart Plug** is the clear winner for Linux-based setups that prioritize local control and low-latency MQTT messaging over cloud dependency.

# Amazon Echo Show 10 Review — Six Months in a Portland Smart Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing over the last six months running this device alongside Zigbee2MQTT and Z-Wave JS on a four-node Proxmox cluster, the Amazon

# What Smart Locks Work With Thread Buyers Guide — Testing in the Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer If you are chasing a smart lock that actually talks to your OpenThread border router without dropping packets during a firmware update

# Doorbird vs 2N IP Verso Which is Better — A Portland Home Lab Verdict *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After six months of daily use on my four-node Proxmox cluster with a dedicated IoT VLAN tagged to an Unifi UDM Pro, the

# best router for Linux home lab setup Review — 4 Months of Proxmox and MQTT Latency Testing *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After running a four-node Proxmox cluster through winter storms in my basement, the **best router for Linux home lab setup**

# Does Modem Affect WiFi Speed — Testing Cable Gateways in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer Yes, the modem absolutely affects your perceived WiFi speed because most cable gateways act as both the DOCSIS termination point and the internal

# Resideo Honeywell Home Leak Detector Review — Six Months in a Portland Proxmox Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After roughly six months of continuous monitoring on my IoT VLAN within the four-node **Proxmox cluster**, I found that this sensor is adequate

# Best UPS for Home Network Equipment Review — 6 Months in a Portland Basemt Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After running continuous uptime tests across my four-node Proxmox cluster and 24-bay Synology NAS, the APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA is currently around

# Retrofit Existing Blinds Without Replacement — The Smart Home Reality Check for Portland Home Labs *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer When I installed a retrofit kit in my basement to test existing Venetian blinds against the native motorized market, **retrofit existing blinds