Re: you can get out your mobile phone and turn on the light...
"You can also get out your chair and hit the switch. The latter approach is usually faster".
On entering the lounge in the evening I press the button on a Byron remote control - simple local 433MHz technology. That switches on the socket for the table lamp on the other side of the room.
With manual switches I would have to turn on the room's main lights - cross the room - switch on table lamp - cross the room - switch off main lights - cross the room and then sit down to read El Reg.
Leaving the room would entail a similar criss-crossing the room pattern - unless I grope my way across in the dark.
Remote switches are useful - in some situations. Another remote socket is for the Netgear D1500 router by the phone master socket in the hall. Several times a day it locks up due to some external condition that BT can't diagnose. The only way to clear the problem is to switch it of/on. Climbing two flights of stairs each time is not the best solution.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
