upstatemike
Senior Member
It is interesting how all the other sites are in a panic with the death of Smarthome and their servers going offline and bricking all the Insteon Hubs while nobody here even notices.
Insteon Is Gone
- Thread starter upstatemike
- Start date
Hopefully that's because most of us are smart enough to know not to use cloud based automation.
I realize I'm "speaking to the choir here", but cloud based automation is extremely popular with the average person because they can almost "plug and play" it. The problems with this are clear however. Most notably your system is being feed to an unknown computer, in an unknown country, that you have no control over. Not only is this a real privacy issue, but that company can also change their handling of these devices on a whim. They can begin charging for services, greatly increase their fees, or even simply stop supporting it completely. We've seen all three situations play out with some pretty popular companies/systems recently.
I realize I'm "speaking to the choir here", but cloud based automation is extremely popular with the average person because they can almost "plug and play" it. The problems with this are clear however. Most notably your system is being feed to an unknown computer, in an unknown country, that you have no control over. Not only is this a real privacy issue, but that company can also change their handling of these devices on a whim. They can begin charging for services, greatly increase their fees, or even simply stop supporting it completely. We've seen all three situations play out with some pretty popular companies/systems recently.
Read the comments by Michel Kohanim in this thread from the Universal Devices forum. https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/35839-insteon-smarthome-rob-lilleness-shameful-legacy-and-how-he-killed-insteon/
All hope is not lost.
All hope is not lost.
I didn't jump into the lighting automation realm for a long time due to the fractured nature of the available options and the overall cost. I did have two Centralite switches that controlled two circuits of overhead lights in the same room, but that was it. Centralite also is a failed/discontinued product now. Then I found Tasmota. As most of you know, it is a third party firmware that can be flashed on devices that use certain wifi chips. Honestly I think it is the best lighting solution currently out there primarily because I know wifi is never going away. Many would argue that wifi isn't the best communication method to use, but it hasn't been a limiting factor for me. The fact that you can use a lot of the built in logic to automate things is impressive too. My system will still work as expected even if my CQC automation system goes offline.
Anyway, it is disheartening to see companies like this fail. It should also be a reminder that we need to choose our systems and protocols carefully if we don't want to have to replace everything in the future when that company goes out of business.
Anyway, it is disheartening to see companies like this fail. It should also be a reminder that we need to choose our systems and protocols carefully if we don't want to have to replace everything in the future when that company goes out of business.
Hopefully the newer owner(s) will actually get the feel of the users out there and roll with the market, unlike so many manufacturers that want to hide under the covers, with the lights out, because somebody might do it better than they do if anybody finds out it works on electrons travelling through wiring.Waynedb said:
