Kenmore's Appliances Use Old-School Acoustic Communication

[aapola]

I think the reason this isn't wi-fi is that this feature is meant to streamline customer support. Wi-fi would have the opposite effect, because then they would have to first explain people how to configure it and spend time troubleshooting the inevitable connection problems.

[YarrBeApirate]

It's a washing machine, why on earth would it need internet? It feels quite wasteful, at least if it's only for maintenance stuff. It's not like your washing machine would break once a week or so.

[Rokil]

Why do I need a "feature" where I need to hold my phone directly in front of the machine - where its native controls are?! I guess the wheel knob is easier to use than a mobile phone "app"....

[Justin9Noble]

Gee, i can't wait for my appliance to go tits up so i can call for help.

fuck that.

[roidroid]

well i guess it's a talking point that will sell products

[LTF85199]

why not just ad an Ethernet port

[pkemrin]

This is pretty fascinating, but shouldn't they just go the extra $20 and give it an internet connection?

[Wwallace67]

@pkemrin

They probably spent more money on the DIY modem than they would have if they had just added a wifi module.

[pkemrin]

Even worse. I was assuming they did it to be cheap, but if the wifi would actually cost less it makes even less sense.

[BrokenBjartur]

Interesting.