I've had decent luck with the kiosks myself, but yeah, there's always that one person who turns a quick errand into a mini-series drama. Last time I went, the touchscreen was acting up—had to practically karate chop the thing to get it to register my zip code. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.
Interesting point about the wired connection though. I never really thought about Wi-Fi interference causing double charges or timeouts, but it makes sense. At work, whenever we run diagnostics or software updates on equipment, we always plug directly into the network. Wi-Fi is convenient, sure, but it's just not as stable—especially if you're dealing with something important like payments or renewals.
Personally, I've been renewing online for years without much trouble, but now that you mention it, I do recall a couple of times where the page froze up and I had to refresh nervously, hoping I wasn't charged twice. Maybe I'll dust off an ethernet cable next time and give your method a shot. Can't hurt, right?
Still beats waiting in line behind someone who's treating the kiosk like it's their first encounter with technology...
I've mostly stuck to online renewal myself, but yeah, Wi-Fi can be flaky, especially when you're dealing with payments. I learned that the hard way after a rental software update froze halfway through because of spotty Wi-Fi—ended up spending hours fixing the mess. Ever since then, I've been team Ethernet all the way for anything remotely sensitive.
As far as license renewal goes, if you're worried about double charges or glitches online, you might wanna check if your state DMV site has a mobile app. I found ours surprisingly stable and quicker than the main website (go figure). Plus, apps usually handle interruptions better and have fewer timeout issues.
Not saying it'll completely eliminate those mini heart-attacks when the screen freezes... but it's been smoother in my experience. Either way, still beats the kiosk drama hands down.
Yeah, Ethernet's definitely the safer bet for anything payment-related. Had a similar nightmare once updating firmware on a client's smart water heater—Wi-Fi dropped mid-update, and I spent half the day troubleshooting. Mobile apps do seem more forgiving though, good tip.
Had a similar issue once with a smart shower valve—Wi-Fi glitched halfway through calibration and the thing went haywire, spraying water everywhere. Ethernet's great, but honestly, sometimes I wonder if we're overcomplicating plumbing... whatever happened to good ol' manual valves?
Had my fair share of headaches with smart plumbing setups too. Tech's great when it works, but sometimes simpler really is better. Manual valves rarely fail... fewer surprises at least. Hang in there, you're definitely not alone on this one.