5 ms·
The only way to win is not to play. It is completely daft to me that all these devices require an Internet connection to function. I will never allow something
by orev 8y ago
The only way to win is not to play. It is completely daft to me that all these devices require an Internet connection to function. I will never allow something like that into my house (along with home assistants like Alexa).
I have achieved a decent level of automation using simple timer switches (they have ones that adjust on/off times based on your latitude), completely disconnected motion sensing lights, and by simply reading the manual on how to program my thermostats.
I have considered using ZWave to enable me to use some cron jobs or openHAB, but I will not use WiFi.
- thearn4 8y agoI tinkered with home automation in the past, and had the same worries. I felt comfortable enough with Z-Wave, but drew the line at anything networked.
- ak217 8y agoNot all, no. HomeKit and ZWave don't require an Internet connection. I use a bunch of ZWave devices connected via Ethernet through a Raspberry Pi with hassio and a ZWave USB adapter - controlled from my phone when it connects to my wifi network. To protect your wifi network, make sure you have a decent gateway in place. OpenWRT does a great job, but there are many others as well.
- jpindar 8y agoPhillips Hue lights also don't require an internet connection, I've tested mine.
- muhbags 8y agoI feel the exact same way. Never will anything in my home needlessly connect to some cloud service and give away my data. And even less would I be willing to pay for that...
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoYeah, I write off any home automation device that uses Wi-Fi. Currently I use a lot of Insteon devices, which aren't mentioned in the article, but are fundamentally very similar to Z-Wave. They have no software update mechanism and can't talk in an IP protocol, so the amount of impact someone can have on them is pretty bloody limited.
- amarshall 8y agoPlenty of them don’t require an internet connection. My Philips Hue and Harmony hubs are both on a VLAN which blocks all outbound traffic (save for MDNS reflection across LAN subnets so they can still be discovered from other subnets).