The article talks about how Matter will save everything. What the heck? Don't we already have zigbee and Z-wave that work fine? Why do we need another communications protocol?
The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
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Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#32The reason these companies keep faltering is that they push cloud-based and/or locked in product ecosystems. Then they are either forced to a) operate on a pyramid scheme where new customers finance the ongoing costs of existing users or b) a subscription model that gives them a strong incentive to keep customers as locked into their ecosystem as possible. Either of these leave customers high and dry when the house o…
100% agree
> I'm not sure Matter is going to solve this because it doesn't do away with this business model. Zigbee and Zwave
Matter, Zigbee, Zwave…
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think a big missing piece for the whole thing is the Just Works factor. You're either stuck with cloud garbage (some of which does, kinda, Just Work, until it doesn't), or a bunch of DIY. Meanwhile, with traditional dumb fixtures, switches, outlets, et c., I don't even pay attention to which brand I'm buying. They all work the same, and you hook them all up the same way, then forget about them until/unless they phy…
I've found the Lutron Caseta line perfect so far. I won't buy anything that requires external servers etc (like Nest). But Lutron only makes a limited range of devices.
Seconded. Lutron's devices connected via apple's homekit work well for us. No problems so far, the setup is pretty much set-and-forget and apple handles the security. You can disable access to the internet for lutron's bridge so no data leaves our home network.
Pretty good solution.
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#34Let's say I want to dip my toe into smart homes, maybe get a smart light switch or two. I care about: - privacy - staying out of the cloud (so things like TFA don't affect me) - an open protocol interoperable between vendors Can anyone recommend a good "for dummies" guide written from that angle? I know that software-wise Home Assistant is generally recommended, but how do you decide what hardware to get?
The easiest setup I can think of is Homeassistant, with a Z-Wave and Zigbee gateway attached to it.
Then you can buy various z-wave or zigbee devices, and they have no vendor lock in and don't rely on wifi or internet access.
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#35The article talks about how Matter will save everything. What the heck? Don't we already have zigbee and Z-wave that work fine? Why do we need another communications protocol?
Matter isn't special for any other reason other than that it's the first time so many manufacturers of smart home products have actually decided to talk to each other when designing a protocol.
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#36Let's say I want to dip my toe into smart homes, maybe get a smart light switch or two. I care about: - privacy - staying out of the cloud (so things like TFA don't affect me) - an open protocol interoperable between vendors Can anyone recommend a good "for dummies" guide written from that angle? I know that software-wise Home Assistant is generally recommended, but how do you decide what hardware to get?
If you're up for some light soldering, I'd recommend picking up a few Sonoff Basics and/or wall plugs and then flashing them with ESPHome (https://esphome.io/). These devices are simple and cheap ($5-6 each), basically just an ESP8266 chip connected to a relay, a button, and a status LED. You have to solder to attach four pins to the board so you can flash it, then you can close it up forever. Future updates happen over-the-air.
I am far from being an electrical engineer, and found that these guides, plus a few YouTube videos, got me to the point where this feels routine. I now have over a dozen in my house, controlling all manner of things.
I've also had fun installing temperature and humidity sensors to Wemos D1 Minis ($2-$3, basically just an ESP8266 chip on a development board) to monitor climate around the house. During the winter, houseplants really like to have higher humidity... we bought a bunch of dumb humidifiers at goodwill, installed Sonos Basic relays inside them, and set rules for them to turn on when the humidity in the room drops too low.
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#37The problem with home automation companies is they have a perspective and culture of a hardware manufacturer who never understood software. They want to build a device, wire it up, sell it, then forget about it.
For decades they have tried to get around the software part by outsourcing a one-time job to the lowest bidder, and then never want to update them. They’re more like the industrial automation companies (some of whom still have Windows XP machines running their CNCs), or medical device makers who get something certified with an exact version of Windows and never allow it to update.
Add to that, the Marketing guys who pitch unrealistic goals that need to be met in order for their plan to become profitable (“we can easily capture 50% of this market in our locked-in, proprietary protocol!”), and you have a train wreck any one can see coming a mile away.
These are companies who just don’t understand, and don’t want to understand, that these are long-term commitments that require full time development and operations staff to keep things going.
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#38The bottom line is that a lot of these smart devices put more burden on the customer than traditional devices — not less. I don’t remember the last time I had to fix or upgrade a malfunctioning traditional light switch or doorknob. I just never think about them. On the other hand, every smart device I’ve bought has bugged me multiple times a year because of wifi or other network drops, or battery changes, or needing…
This is exactly it - they have to be easier than normal things, the fancy electric doorknob needs to unlock itself as you approach, the lights need to respond immediately to voice control, etc.
And since they took away the auto-unlock because of "security" the value proposition dropped tremendously. I had electric door locks, I don't anymore.
If I ever go back to them it'll be hard-wired on the jam and connected to a raspberry pi.
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#39(Disclosure: I have a smart home blog and YouTube channel)
A nice write-up. Insteon have (had?) some great products, so this is a shame. I do think that Matter will improve things a little, but we'll see - owning hardware from a bankrupt company naturally isn't great if the device breaks down...
LIFX (one of the most popular smart lights, aside from Philips Hue) have been having various troubles recently too:
https://www.smarthomepoint.com/is-lifx-in-business/
They are keen to stress that this is only affecting their owner, but in reality many LIFX customers have recently had issues with support tickets and warranty claims going unanswered.
The only good news is that LIFX support local control, meaning that HomeAssistant and Hubitat can still control them even if LIFX's cloud servers get switched off.
Nonetheless, reports of LIFX and Insteon struggling/disappearing is never encouraging. Especially when combined with recent (negative) subscription changes by Wyze and Wink.
Re: The end of Insteon and why the smart home keeps faltering
#40Domotics should be mandated to always work offline, and all deathly hazards should be denied any network io. I don't want to discover my oven has a 0day by finding my home on fire.