So 0% chance of failure is acceptable for basically free? Yeah. I’d say that is unreasonable. However I am not saying the current state of reliability of ST is acceptable but 100% is impossible to achieve or even guarantee. As SLAs go, its about what you pay for and what you get. If they don’t deliver, you get some of your money back. In this case, there is no SLA so downtime and failure is almost guaranteed.
Nope, definitely not unreasonable, but unfortunately, subject to “small print”.
Do you mean…
- from the mobile UI?
- on a schedule?
- via a Community developed SmartApp?
- with a Hue Device Type that is still “in SmartThings Labs”?
- when your Internet connection is down?
- if the light is on the very edges of the range of a ZigBee or Z-Wave network with random RF interference in the area?
Not excusing SmartThings instability… Just saying that a large portion of the problems are not simple to solve, and some are completely outside of ST’s control.
Jeff Hagins (CTO) spoke about reliability stats and targets at a past open Developer’s Call. It’s on YouTube.
13:07 - Jeff is talking about availability - 99.99, long term, 99.999%
yes to all of the above except when the internet connection is down.
and while i appreciate the openness of the platform and the ability of the many people much smarter than me to create wonderful things (apps, devices, etc.) what use is there when they stop working and you can’t get support because it’s a community-developed app or device type. i don’t htink you can tout that as one of the great features of the platform but then not support it
I pay no monthly fee for my Echo, my Hue Bridge, my Apple Watch, my Harmony, my Roku, IFTTT, my Jawbone, youtube, Google, or my email service. None of these are perfect, but they’re all miles more reliable than ST.
There are many business models in the 21st century, and fee for service is not the only path to likely reliability.
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Does Google support problems with the Facebook App or any other of a hundred 3rd party Apps on your Android phone. Does Apple? Does Windows?
When you use a platform as the customer support model is inherently different.
This is why SmartThings is wisely requiring Community SmartApps to go through a submission review process before being allowed in the list of directly installable SmartApps (& Device Types). It doesn’t mean ST will provide direct technical support for these apps, but it will help reduce support issue frequency and impact on the platform, and ensure these apps are clearly delineated as third-party managed add-ons.
I understand what you are trying to say here and I get your point, however I personally can say that on a few occasions, the support people had suggested an app to me that wasn’t in their approved list. They even walked me through how to get access to the IDE and how to get an app installed. While that is great customer support because they got me what I needed, it also gives them some responsibility to support it. Why?, because that’s all I knew at the time. It could be something as simple as looking at the logs and explaining, “I see the switch turn on, and the app isn’t working. here is a link to the development docs. In addition, try contacting the application developer.”.
Believe me, I fully understand what you are trying to say. I am a systems admin during the day, and a wanna be coder by night. There are so many times during the day that a user opens a support ticket because their application isn’t working. Even though I don’t support the app, I have a responsibility to prove why it isn’t the system. Many times people open a support ticket they are just looking for someone to give them a nudge in the right direction.
@tyler1 and @ryanh are always looking for ways to improve SmartThings Tech Support.
When you next open a support ticket, you’ll be sent an link in the email at the end to rate your Satisfaction. This is an opportunity to make your suggestions directly to that team.
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Hey all. I just wanted to share this should someone else have the same problems I was having. I created a new topic because it may be a resolution to my problems and I wanted it to be easier to search.
Just the mic array pretty muchs kill the profit in the Echo. They are selling it below cost. Way below cost at $99. A little below cost at the new prime pricepont. At cost for non-prime. Pretty much giving it away.
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It is way for a person to address a company directly in a public forum, that is why. Super simple, I had a problem with a product, signed in to the forum after weeks of frustration hoping the company reads this and get wise to the fact that their product needs help.
This is a completely ridiculous statement.
This is a user forum. The people here are supporting each other, helping to get the most out of the product, suggesting ways to improve it, and yes, venting and reporting issues. If you had problems with the product the people in this forum would have been happy to try and help, and are quite aware of the limitations and current issues with the product they are using (because most likely they’ve seen it all, worked around it all, etc.)
The usual forum for the public social media shaming of a company is Twitter. Posting your one post saying it’s useless to a bunch of people who are (a) using it and (b) are quite aware of the areas it has potential problems with and (c) are spending their free time helping each other around (b) to get better (a) is just… um… not effective.
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I agree, and I wish I had never posted. I vented my frustrations and that was wrong.
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Hi everyone,
Raremind- I appreciate the candid feedback, and know that we are reading and listening. I hid your comment due to the blatant attacks of the community members. I have passed on the constructive feedback you have provided though, of your experience of the platform.
While you or anyone have every right to think of their comments as trolling, please just flag the post and share why- and my team will handle it from there.
As a reminder to all: stay civil. It doesn’t matter if you have 2k+ posts, or 1 post- you are no less important to us. Opinions are great to hold our community and company accountable.
Regardless, I’m going to lock this thread due to this heat.
Thanks all.
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