Hello, I have a home that has been wired for an ADT system but I’m tired of paying ADT prices for monitoring (@ $32/mo with USAA discount) when I see that systems like Simplisafe offer monitoring at half the cost.
Since every door and window on my home is already wired with recessed sensors and motion sensors, it made little sense to re-invest in new battery-powered sensors that would show on every point of entry. Then I read about Konnected which seems like a great solution for me.
Now if I want to add on pro monitoring, I see that noonlight is an option, but is SmartThings the only way to add this on? We have a Nest thermostat and a Rachio irrigation system and a couple of Philips lightbulbs but it’s not like a need a ‘hub’ to maintain those since I can just pull up those apps on my iPhone. But since I don’t have a hub, yet, maybe I’m missing how it’s going to change my life.
SmartThings isn’t a huge investment but since I’m new to all of this I’m trying to figure out if it’s the smartest solution as a way to add economical monitored security. We’ve had a couple of attempted break-ins - the thing that scares someone away is the alarm, not the LAPD that are going to take 45 minutes to arrive - so the monitoring is only for peace of mind if there’s an event while we’re out of town or something.
Be aware that if you are using any SmartThings model hub other than the ADT/SmartThings model, the only way it can send you notifications is via the Internet. So even if you are using Konnected and Noon light, if either the power or the Internet goes out you won’t get any notifications. Or if the smartthings cloud is unavailable. It really can’t be considered in the same class as most security systems, even with the monitoring center add on.
And the smartthings cloud does become unavailable pretty often, historically at least twice a month. Sometimes only for a few minutes, but sometimes for much longer.
That’s why if you click on any of the links to “security” on the SmartThings site, they will take you specifically to the ADT model. That one has its own cellular communications to the monitoring center and its own battery back up. It’s a decent low-cost system. But the only thing that can trigger calls to the monitoring center are its own special sensors. Konnected devices can’t trigger calls to it even if they are from other ADT systems.
So I’m not sure what to tell you. Given that you’ve already had some break-ins, I personally wouldn’t be looking at a smartthings based system other than the ADT model, but even that one won’t let you reuse your existing sensors.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
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Noonlight (previously named “Safetrek”) has only very, very recently started providing home security monitoring services. This is a pivot from their “personal security” offering (i.e., security app on your smartphone for walking home at night, etc.).
The link above also includes information about their other partners.