Hi all,
I became very familar with the workings of Insteon in the months I had it in my house and was developing some software for it.
I still believe Insteon is an excellent powerline protocol. If they can get everything working right, without going broke servicing RMAs. I suspect that they will be a good replacement for X10.
While I was working on software I always monitored the powerline for remote device ACKs (in text logs). In the months I was using it in my 1500 sq. ft. house I never missed an ACK for a direct command. The group commands don't strictly require device ACKs so my only indications were that all of the lights came on, that always worked. Several times I got strange commands from devices that did not exist in my network. They did not affect anything and I guessed the cause was a PLC 'burp'. My PLC timers didn't always happen. I associated that with CFLs, maybe the noise kept the PLC too busy to issue the timer commands.
I jumped on the Insteon band wagon early and became bitter with the apparent 95% marketing and 5% customer support model. I'm still reading posts in other forums where people seem unable to get help from customer support for something as simple as getting a PLC to run with the Smarthome timer software.
I am currently using Z-Wave and am happy. Compared to Insteon, Z-Wave is a simpler protocol. Insteon does have the ability to send encrypted messages in the extended data packets. Unfortunately, they have a lot of hardware in the field that will not support that, without a firmware upgrade. Currently Insteon is slow, the best I ever got for a ON/ACK cycle was 750 milliseconds. Most of the speed is lost with the PC to PLC communications. I understand that they are working on a high speed PLC. For Insteon, time will tell.
The things about Z-Wave that I appreciate are:
1. No computer required. A Z-Wave wireless remote will control everything I want and will reliably run timers.
2. The hardware is made by different manufacturers. A little competition is a good thing. Monopolys are a bad thing.
3. Sometimes simpler is better.
Z-Wave hardware is still evolving as is the control software. All of the 'bells and whistles' are not in place yet. I have happily been controlling my house with Z-Wave for over a month now and have no complaints other than some minor cosmetics. My first month with Insteon was marked with three failed hardware devices and 'little bright white' LEDs flashing all over my house every time a powerline command went by. And things were not looking to improve any time soon.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Ken
