This is exactly how my local municipal fiber network works. The the county owns, and builds put, the fiber network and maintains it, selling network access to local ISPs who sell to customers.
Only shitty part is that if you want to have a connection built out that isn't on their plan, you have to fund the fiber run to you from wherever the nearest spot is, and that can be many thousands of dollars.
I imagine if we expanded the program like you're talking about in the rest of the world, we could actually run it fine, like, we have the ability to... It's just that the people in power are fucking awful.
I mean ... Of your mom's still around... Maybe buy fish and like, ask to learn the recipe and cook it yourself?
I'm not a mom, I'm a dad, but I cook a lot and if my kid wanted to learn what I do when cooking, that'd be cool.
Not sure if you're still researching, but I really like the Bluetooth ones.
For the Pi4, I use a little USB Bluetooth adapter from pluggable ($13-ish) on a 10-ft USB extension cable to get the module away from other things.
I think the pi has Bluetooth built in? But I never got it working. But generic little Bluetooth USB things are perfect. With the USB extension cable I have great whole-house coverage (small house though)
Then for the sensors, I get a 3pk SwitchBot IP65 indoor/outdoor hygrometer.
They're on sale on Amazon right now for $25-ish for 3, so it's a pretty good deal.
As far as placement, I have some outside - they're fine. I try to place them where they're not getting totally hosed by rain or snow - under a tree or in the greenhouse or under my garage eaves sheltered from direct sunlight and rain.
They are very low power consumption (2x AAA batteries included) and I've had some running over a year and they still have more than 50% battery. (The battery level does report to home assistant)
They show up on home assistant immediately after powering up - no apps or anything needed. Just adopt them and set their location in the home assistant settings.
Hell yeah.
Also, support your local library! I know your local library doesn't have a free for all streaming service, but they lend books and all kinds of media... Just imagine if we could push it to where your local library DID have a Plex/Jellyfin/Netflix-esque service? Just log in with your library card! That's the dream...
They did, and we're really up front about it being an opt-in thing, if I remember correctly. Might have started that easy with Microsoft, too. But they can't resist enshitifying.
We lived in a house with a bunch of roommates when we got our dog, and at some point "fuck off" became "go lie down on your bed and get outta my space"... So now if "go lie down" isn't taking, then "fuck off" works...
You might also ask nicely for folks to send you theirs. Especially since Nintendo is going after Yuzu, I'm sure there's plenty of folks that would volunteer keys via DM just to stick it to Nintendo...
I just grabbed a pair of 18TB Seagate Exos SATA drives - surprisingly quiet for what they are.