April 2025

We've been trying to get internet access at the new house.

We called Vidéotron to see when they could pull some more coaxial cable from our neighbour to us. We all assumed it was as simple as pulling the cable.

Well, we can't do that. They told us they no longer connect anyone to that cable.

They said they would need to add amps or something.

Our neighbour says they spent thousands to pull the cable to their house 10 years ago. Vidéotron told us they no longer do that.

Plus, the current customers are complaining about slow internet. I assume the cable is overloaded.

Bell FTTH does not even reach the main street ours branches from.

We don't know if Bell offers DSL because the guy we talked to didn't know what that was.

We're also looking at LTE access : Vidéotron offers redundant cable/LTE access for enterprises. Maybe they offer access with LTE only. We do get good signal.

Last resort : Starlink. Pro : it supports IPv6 which no one else does.

Complicating the matter, I want to continue hosting my website at home. I therefore need a static(or -ish) IP address with ports 80 and 443 unblocked.

My mom needs FaceTime all day long to work. We need something reliable.

We're in deep shit.

We're going to go with Starlink for the new house. It's pretty much our best option with our rural home.

I've already begun setting up my router at our current house. I should be able to have two internet accesses at the same time.

I want the "business local priority" option. This allows us to have a "public" static-ish IP address instead of the CGNAT normally offered with the "residential" option.

I also want the "enterprise" antenna. It has a longer cable and I can plug my own router into it without having to keep and bypass the router provided with the "standard" antenna.

In the end, it should cost us less than Vidéotron would have been to install.

Plus, it will be tax-deductible because my mom needs it for work. (It's a work expense).

Bonus : IPv6 ! That's going to be fun.

Although ports 80 (http) and 443 (https) are not blocked, port 25 is blocked inbound and outbound. This means I can still host my website at home, but not my e-mail. I won't even be able to send e-mail from my server.

My dad called Vidéotron Residential (instead of Business like last time).

They will tell us tomorrow if it is possible to extend the cable from our neighbour to us and how much that will cost.

I was thinking of having the cable pulled by Residential and having the modem connected by Business. (This would mean I can keep my static IP address).

Business did not want to pull the cable at all.

In a weird way, I kind of hope it will not be possible. I was so excited about getting Starlink.

They're going to call us back when they know what they can offer at our address.

My order of preference is :

1. Vidéotron Business (cable)
2. Bell Business (fiber or DSL)
3. Starlink Business (satellite)

Vidéotron has not called us back yet. They said they would call us today.

No matter what happens, I'm ready :)

It turns out that the estimate of how much Vidéotron would charge us to run the cable to our new house takes over a week to do.

My dad asked them today why we had not been called the next day like they said they would.

They told us not to expect an answer before the end of next week.

We would like to know if we can go with them or fallback to Starlink.

We have know what ISP we're going with before we can set a moving date from our current house.

Vidéotron called us back and the estimate to pull the cable was 7 000 $.

Starlink will be cheaper.

The standard version would suffice for the rest of my family, but I want the "priority" option with the "enterprise" antenna. I need a public IPv4 address.

So I will be paying the difference with my own money.

The deal our neighbour made with Vidéotron years ago was to pay 10 000 $ and transfer his company's services to them.

I just ordered Starlink for our new house !

I have both me and my dad as admins on the account.

I ordered Starlink Enterprise with the Local Priority Plan.

This allows me to have a public IPv4 address (I changed the "IP Policy" from "Default" to "Public IP" in the subscription settings).

Yesterday, Vidéotron also told us the install would have taken over 70 days because of the Hydro-Québec permits they have to get. "I will be transparent with you" the guy said.

Starlink's 1 to 2 weeks will be faster.

I can't wait to get IPv6 :)

I'm sure I saw that port 25 was blocked both inbound and outbound.

But now, when I look at the website, it is only blocked outbound !

If it is true, it means I will still be able to receive e-mail at home, but not send any.

To send e-mail, I would need a relay server that I can connect to over port 587 and that will then connect to the destination server over port 25.

Me and my dad installed the two TV supports at the new house.

Yesterday, my mom and dad did the measurements to meet code.

Today, we installed the supports according to those measurements.

In the basement, we had to move the power outlet above the support and the network outlet right of the support.

We discovered that we cannot have the outlets in the middle of the support because that's where the big hinge goes.

The first three photos are of the basement fireplace and the fourth is of the ground floor.

The estimated date of delivery for Starlink is April 17 to 21.

I can't wait :)

We have confirmation that it would be possible to have both residential television and business internet at the new house.

We were initially told it could not be done. It would have been great to know that 10 days ago...

But it would cost over 7 000 $ (> 8 000 $ with taxes) and take over 70 days.

We're still going with Starlink.

I'm sad I will be loosing my static IP address.

But if it turns out Starlink does not work well, we can go back to Vidéotron.

Purolator just left it on our doorstep.

I just recorded and downsized the last two episodes off of Disney+.

http://www.doctorwho2023.net/fr/

Me and my dad moved the network cables from an outlet to another.

The old one was under the TV support.

I plugged the new one with cardboard (that will be removed later) and the old one with plywood.

The plywood we had was too thick. I removed a layer with a chisel and a hammer.

This winter, our garage collapsed because we did not remove the snow on it in time.

We originally planned to cut the supports with a zawzall, but I found that unscrewing the bolts was quicker and easier. The metal is very difficult to cut.

After removing some bolts, the supports came apart in manageable pieces. We cut the fabric with a knife.

We will have to wait for the ground to thaw to remove what's left because the sides are frozen to the ground.

Friday and today, me and my dad worked on the replacement of our old, nasty and moldy shower.

We did the demolition Friday. We were careful not to damage what we do not have to replace. Controlled demolition. Not like those TV shows where they swing sledgehammers.

The old shower was too nasty to show on this blog.

In this photo, you can see we are adding more supports underneath.

We will also have to move the drain by about 4". We will cut the pipe and add a little piece and two unions.

Yes, I know that drain is not to code. There is no vent and we are not supposed to use any 90°s on the wet side, only 45°s. But it works anyway, so...

I don't want to replace the floor tiles. We are selling the house and should only do what is needed to make it look good.

Me and my dad finished attaching the 2x6 supports for the shower.

We also lengthened the drain and cut the sheet of plywood.

We tested the sheet and the base and they both fit.

Tomorrow, we will shorten the drain a little bit because it is not perfectly centred. We currently have to force to make it fit.

We will also screw down the sheet of plywood.

The instructions for the shower base say to put down a 1" to 1" 1/2 base of cement. We're not sure if we're going to do that or just let it be on the plywood.

Yesterday, me and my dad :

- Shortened the drain to make it perfectly centred.
- Screwed down the sheet of plywood to the structure we made the day before.
- Screwed and siliconed the sealing "trim" around the shower base.

Today, we attached the drain assembly to the base and added an inch of the concrete recommended by the hardware store.

We then lowered the base over the concrete and I walked on it to set it into the concrete.

I forgot to take a picture of the concrete.

Yesterday, my dad also removed some tiles. They come up very easily.

My mom uses Microsoft Word on her MacBook Air to work.

It's always updating itself.

Now, it won't do the update. It wants macOS 13 min, but my mom's MacBook only supports macOS 12 max.

But the worst part is : Word stops working until it is updated !!!

That's disgusting. She's already paying 80$/year for Office and now she can't work !

Today, me and my dad screwed the shower base to the studs, covered two walls with drywall and did the plumbing for the shower valve.

Tomorrow, since me and my mom are not working, we will spend the day removing the floor tiles. My dad made a test Thursday and they come up easily.

We will also remove the wardrobe, sink and toilet.

Sunday, we have to go to the new house to assemble the living room chandeliers so the electrician can install them. They will be installed way up on the second floor that is open to the living room below.

In just under an hour and a half, me and my dad removed the wardrobe, the sink, the toilet and the floor tiles.

It's going way faster than anticipated.

This afternoon, we're finishing the plumbing for the shower.

My mom said Microsoft Word could no longer save documents since the last update failed.

We were about to contact Microsoft support when I thought of trying to save a document myself.

It worked.

But my mom is sure it is only temporary. I told her to take a picture of the error message the next time she gets one.

There are gremlins in her MacBook.

I hope it's not the USB key going bad. My mom saves all her documents on it instead of the MacBook's storage. I did make a backup a few weeks ago.

My dad went to the hardware store to buy more copper crimp rings.

After we finished crimping the water pipes, we tested them under pressure.

We added a valve on the outlets. Water flows through the pipes and they do not leak when the valve is closed.

Today, me, my dad and my mom went to the new house to assemble the two chandeliers that will be above the living room.

We are assembling them so the electrician can install them this week. We assembled them in my bedroom and my office.

It took us over three hours to assemble them.

All that's left are the vents.

Me and my dad moved the shower head higher and then put up drywall.

We removed the old towel and toilet paper supports.

We also removed the pot lights. We originally planned to replace them with recessed LED lights, but it will be way simpler to just repaint them.

We're selling after all. If they don't like the pot lights, they can replace them themselves.

My dad then plastered every wall.

I am posting this post over Starlink !

I have both IPv6 and IPv4 working !!!

I'm sad I can't access the http://192.168.100.1/ address, even with the static route on my router. But the service works anyway.

I have an ER605 router that allows me to have both Vidéotron and Starlink uplink at the same time.

I have plugged in Starlink and it works. The devices on the LANs I setup all had IPv6 addresses.

But I have unplugged it. I still have to properly setup IPv6 on my server so I can make it safe, now that my server will be directly exposed to the Internet.

(I plan to only allow certain ports with ip6tables).

I also want to setup qBittorrent to go through NordVPN, so that Starlink does not see what I torrent. I plan to setup a SOCKS5 server on my main server that then goes through my VPN. I will then enter that SOCKS5 server in qBittorrent's settings. "Split tunneling" cannot work on my iMac.

Me and my dad spent three hours hooking up the supply and drainage of the second story bathtub.

For the drain, we initially thought of doing it all in ABS.

But it was getting complicated and hard because of 90°s we have to add before the P-trap. The drain of the tub is not over the pipe we left in the floor when the bathroom was being done. And it is above a beam.

Then I remembered that the tub came with a flexible drain. Fortunately, not only did my dad not throw it away, but was also able to easily find it and also had the fitting to go from it to the ABS P-trap.

This made the installation way simpler for us. We lifted the tub, screwed the flexible drain with teflon tape, lowered the tub and then we glued the ABS P-trap.

Hooking up the supply lines was hard. The flexible pipes were very rigid and hard to bend to align them with the screw fitting.

Then, my dad wanted to add a support so the P-trap is not touching the drywall. While he was trying to attach it, the drain came apart further downstream !

It was an east fix, just glue the join that was not glued.