Hi all,
I am a SmartThings fan.
I was setup a security system with the SmartThings + Multipurpose Senzor + Sonos + Philips Hue. The scenario is: when someone try to push/open the door, the sensor triggers, the lights became red and the Sonos plays the alarm sound loud.
It is working great and responsive.
BUT, WITHOUT INTERNET, NOTHING WORKS AND YOUR HOME BASED ON SmartThings IS EXPOSED TO A BIG SECURITY BREACH!!!
How is this possible?!?!
It’s how it was designed, cloud first and cloud only. Buy a real security system that runs locally and uses cell or traditional land line. Oh wait, those can be jammed or cut too. But at least they monitor those things for you. If you pay.
St is not a security system. No matter how they advertise it.
The cloud dependency is a critical flaw in this model. It’s a brick without it.
Thank you pstuart for reply.
Looking forward for more opinions.
THX
Many users are using traditional alarm systems that have all the features such ass; Battery Backup, No Dependency on the “Cloud”, Cell Backup and Professional Monitoring to run in parallel with SHM. These traditional systems can not only be integrated in the ST environment but even the sensors can be used as devices in the ST platform for other HA purposes.
However, using ST, by itself, as an Alarm System, is not recommended. There are just too many things that can go wrong which may leave you, your family and your home unprotected.
I use a DSC Panel with 28 sensors and a device called Envisalink 4 through an always on Pi3 running Alarm Server to integrate my Alarm System into ST. Works great.
There are other solutions that work great as well. Some systems don’t even need a middle link as their is direct integration!
You have to search the forum, read up on options and decide which route you want to take.
I still pay my monthly monitoring fees but I am almost at the point where I am ready to drop it as I believe that I have enough security and alerts to monitor “Un-Professionally”…
Good Luck.
Does someone know a more reliable (not very expensive) solution?
Are you just trying to alert / annoy your neighbors or yourself if the alarm goes off or are you wanting monitoring?
What is cheap to you? Is $30-45 / month too expensive? If it included installation, support, monitoring and insurance discounts?
This post lays it out. Including monitoring fees and everything. Can’t see it getting any more cheaper than this and the contact sensors are dirt cheap as they are nothing but magnets. YMMV but this is the route I took.
I want the same solution working without internet and to be integrated in ST. Do I ask too much? (is 2017)…
ST is a cloud based system…Yes, there are devices that run locally. Meaning they will work when the internet is down. However, you will not receive any notifications as these rely on the internet.
Here’s the list.
Yes, unfortunately. The only way to offset the one time hub purchase is access to your data. You give this up at the price of cheap.
Great. This kind of answer, I expected.
We were discussing just this issue last week. You should find it interesting. You can skim the first post quickly, basically the person is just asking about what the ideal security setup using SmartThings would be. It’s the answers that are relevant.
Thank you very much JDRoberts.
Home monitoring vs. home alarm system. Two TOTALLY different things.
An alarm system is stand alone. Battery backup (if power is cut), cell connection (if phone is cut), and usually real time monitoring. Of course, you pay a price for all that.
SmartThings (and all equivalent HA systems) fall in to the home monitoring category. Yes, you can take steps to make your HA system mirror an alarm system but they’re really not designed as such.
Even notice how the solutions offered by Fios, Xfinity, ect. stress “home monitoring” vs. “alarm”. You really have to be careful to define your requirements (needs and cost) and find a solution that fits those perimeters.
The recently released VeraSecure combines a home automation hub and a traditional alarm system with battery and cellular back into one unit. They seem to offer monitoring plans too. I haven’t seen any reviews on it so no idea how it is but at least Vera runs everything locally.
This thing apparently includes a 345MHz 2GIG radio so it can also support many sensors for people with existing alarm systems based on 2GIG hardware such as Alarm.com
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,49096.msg322430.html#msg322430
Agree with previous comments.
Try getting a UPS on the ST hub and your router and modem and have 4G connection.
Currently I have UPS’s running - would give maybe about 30 minutes of backup power on my firewall and POE switches and the modem. I have a Dovado router for a backup 4G route.
Note I also have a honeywell traditional alarm system.