ADT/SmartThings Offers fire monitoring for an extra fee in most areas, Scout doesn’t have it at all, so that’s just something to be aware of.
But if you go the Scout route you also have the issue that Your Internet has to be working in order for your security system to work. There’s no cellular communication option like the one that’s built into the ADT panel. And there’s literally no way to arm or disarm the original SmartThings system, even with scout, unless the smartthings cloud is available.
At this point all of the links on the smartthings website for security go to the ADT model line, it’s really the only one that’s suited for being a primary security system.
I am considering the Scout monitoring option for later in the year and I don’t think my old hardwired option is a good value anymore. Details as to why I want to switch would sidetrack this conversation. Nonetheless, I am looking at replacing my home phone (old LAN) with a 4G SIM card from AT&T as a nearly equal monthly value. Then replace the current local monitoring contract with Scout. I am waiting on the fire dispatch UL qualification.
The Scout Monitoring is equal to my current LAN phone contract price, but far less than the company will charge me if I upgrade to internet or wireless options through them.
The AT&T SIM card will cost $10 when added to my family plan and can be connected into my home network for when internet (Cox Broadband) is out - which is rare in itself. It uses a 4G SIM card internet router and then I use a DHCP server to only authorize this connection to my Samsung and other IoT automation devices.
My current LAN phones does not have any redundancy and goes out with the internet. If someone wanted to break-in and disable the alarm, cutting one wire that only hands 7-ft off the ground takes out both. The 4G SIM backup resolves this vulnerability. Scout and AT&T give me the option to introduce this option with no increase in monthly fees from my base line.
To test the Samsung ecosystem, I am using the Alarm feature of the hub now, even though it only sends messages. With exception to the one outage, so far I am satisfied. The trial run will run for several months before I make a final decisions.
Regarding sensor reliability, I plan to use the Konnected modules or other hardwired relay solution so I can use existing hardwired devices. I trust my iris sensors for operating lights, but not dispatching police.
They have not provided a date but said this was their current pursuit. Because I already have an existing system that works, I am in no rush. This change would be strictly for convenance, not to save money.
Do you have an article for reference or a conversation where this is documented that this is “their current pursuit”? That would be helpful to have posted out here.
Well, right on the website you references, they have a very generic catch all statement regarding future services. So, I emailed Scout to ask them for more information. This was the emailed response:
"Thanks for your interest in Scout Alarm!
At this time we only offer police dispatch for burglary, but we are planning to expand our services to fire dispatch in the near future. We’re happy to reach out once we begin to offer fire dispatch. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and/or the Scout Alarm Blog for the latest announcements.
Please let me know if you have any further questions, and have a great day!"
Wait what uses a SIM card in a router? I’d like to keep my wired sensors also, while my internet never goes down (went thru 2 hurricanes, never lost internet), I’d still like to have a cell backup if I choose to go with Scout for self monitoring.
My router doesn’t have a spot to shove a SIM card in it, but I’d upgrade to that if need be. I can also add a “device aka SIM card” for $10 monthly using T-mobile.
This is not a router, just a modem. You will need a router that can manage two WANs and assign priority and authorization. Fir exampke, I would not want my computer streaming over 4G, but I want my IoT to still function.
Ok so I keep my existing modem, add this as a backup to iOT/ST hub… sweet. How does this modem know when my reg wired modem loses connection & take over? Or am I simply adding it full time to ST hub? I’m bit confused, but I like where this is going!
My understanding of how this works is that it plugs into your router and should the normal internet crash this automatically switches over to cellular. This is great, but there is a cost involved with cellular communications and you need to set up a cellular account with a carrier. For short outages, the data usage might not be much but for longer outages cellular can get expensive unless you have an unlimited plan with your carrier.
In my experience, power outages happen due to electrical outages. I haven’t researched too much but I wonder if this has battery back up and if so how long would it continue to work if the power went out. Of course, being plugged into a UPS would keep it going for a short period of time.
You will need a 4G modem to receive the SIM card and wireless data signal.
You will need a failover router so only your primary data (i.e. broadband) is used and then the 4G system is only used in the event of the primary data failing.
Some of the more expensive router will take the SIM card directly. These tend to be geared towards business and are overkill for our needs.
I did find this discussion here:
Sorry Im not more help right now, but Im still very early in my research.
I too find Smartthings very unreliable and flaky at times. Today I have a smartthings multi purpose sensor on my door that sometimes does not register it is open. I also noticed that on the device screen in the app it had the incorrect setting but if i clicked on the device it showed its correct setting. This happens a lot to this sensor.So I decided to put a second sensor on the door and with the identical sensor I am now seeing identical unreliable door open messages. Could this be network issues and if so would you expect devices to have different statuses when you open them than on the favorites page? I have tried a 15 minute power off of the hub (v3) to try to rebuild the network but to no avail. If I cant even get a Samsung sensor working on smartthings reliably I’m not sure this platform is mature enough for serious use.
