Security Monitoring: Noonlight vs Scout? (2018)

So with the new version, if one of my smoke/co detectors goes off Noonlight will for sure know it’s fire without me having to look at the Smarthings app Or if I don’t answer? Also anytime a change is made to the smart app, will it automatically update on my hub or will I need to redo that connection?

Yes; I think this could work; but our usual disclaimer applies: We don’t pre-announce or commit or promise or strongly-imply any new Features until they are well researched and some progress has been made in actual development & internal testing.

I know just enough about Noonlight to be excited about this possibility, but there’s plenty of reason for us to be cautious and non-committal. I know nothing about Scout and whether or not it will be advisable to be an expert in one service or design flexibly enough for multiple. (Neither SmartThings nor Scout has revealed how many customers have subscribed to Scout Monitoring for SHM. It might be an insignificant number… Is Scout even in the New App?)

Alex is away for a few days with his family, so we’ll chat about this sometime after we’re caught up on everything else :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:. … There’s no need to panic about panic buttons :smirk: :grin:, but I’m glad the idea gears are turning on this.

@andrew1, On your central monitoring question, you will get contacted by Noonlight operators/dispatchers from one our our three monitoring stations. As for passing through more sensor context, I was a police officer before getting into software a number of years ago so I share your desire to add situational awareness whenever possible. We do have that in our active backlog for SmartThings. Like most companies, I hesitate to commit to the release date, but we move at a weeks and months pace - not years. The real challenge is making sure context = actionable and easily digestible information rather than too much data that can become “noise” for a responder if you will. We are always very deliberate in that aspect of it.

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@tgauchat - if you want to know a little more about Noonlight, happy to connect our teams. Just let me know.

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Thanks for the clarification and it’s nice to know it’s in the works. So one follow up question does that mean if ST sends an intrusion alarm to the monitoring team, and they don’t get an answer, do they just contact the PSAP and request it dispatched as a general intrusion? Because I imagine if the owner answers they try to get more info before dispatching.

Andrew, yes, you’ve got the idea. If the customer is in a position where they can communicate with us, that information would be used to help inform public safety responders. Outside of that, (again current implementation), we would consider it a general alarm - unless the API capability @heythisisnate mentioned was indicating otherwise.

One other quick thought Andrew. We designed Noonlight as a broad connected safety platform for use at home and on the go. A chance to continually expand your “safety net” so to speak.

So it is possible someone could have other non-ST IoT devices connected (or provided info to us through our in-app features) that could be used to add further alarm context during a ST-triggered alarm. Make sense?

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Yes that does. What kind of info could be helpful to add in my profile to provide context in an emergency?

We typically encourage people to complete all the available fields, including a clear/up to date picture. There’s the ability to provide “other info” and list family members or regular guests who should or may be in the house too. Some people list info about pets, unique hazards, or access codes that responders may need there.

If you are an iOS user, I’d say take advantage of the Apple Health connection. Can be very helpful in a medical event and can let responders know if you have a disability that could make it tough to get out of the home for example.

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Perhaps I’m a bit late to this thread but I do have some relevant things to add. I’ve have been in Security since starting college for my BS in Criminal Justice 40 years ago. Since 1991 I’ve been a Security Consultant providing independent and non-product affiliated Risk and Vulnerability Assessments, Security System Design, and serve as an expert witness in cases of Security Negligence and Premise Liability. I estimate I’ve spent over 30,000 hours evaluating Security Devices, Systems, and Services. I mention my background to be credible in what I’m about to write.
My son just bought a new home and I told him I’d take care of the Security System. Designing, selecting, and buying it. I’m dating myself but it took awhile before I was comfortable going from analog to digital on CCTV, Intrusion and Communication. When lives are at stake and a client is paying for your expertise it’s a serious situation to use proven and stable solutions. Along the way I’ve learned the “tricks of the trade” and the there is a significant dark side to the Security business, especially in equipment and services. Security technology has largely shifted to the IT world and less and less thought and knowledge has gone into real world issues with life safety. Even worse, the public has by large never really had to deal with making such critical decisions in the “do it yourself (DIY) world of Security, Fire, Intrusion etc. They are fending for themselves and hoping they do right if they give it a second thought at all. I’ve spent two weeks researching almost every major DIY Security and Fire System that is part of an integrated Smart Home system. The Samsung SmartThings platform intrigued me. It checked off many boxes after I’ve eliminated most other systems. Until the last few years I’ve only considered or designed security systems using wireless technology when the advantages largely outweighed the disadvantages. It’s fairly easy to disable or “beat” the average security system if your determined and intelligent. Until the last few years this has been especially true for wireless systems. Although many systems are now using much more sophisticated technology there are more and more skilled people trying to beat them. Some for fun, some for nefarious reasons. JD Roberts, it seems very obvious to me your not some average person that simply likes ADT. I’d put my money on you being connected to them and most likely paid to promote their agenda. In looking at the service provided by ADT for this platform and I can’t use it. I certainly wouldn’t have my son use it. For many many years rather than make it easy to move to another system (if an ADT customer wanted to switch) they have made it harder and harder to do so. It’s their business model to design instant obsolescence to a customer that defects. Unless someone is knowledgeable enough to make sure a Security system is non-proprietary it’s most likely to become a boat anchor. Even then a system owner needs to make sure they have the programming code to have any chance to switch and usually won’t get it. Reading between the lines the ADT system for SmartThings has these issues all over and nothing has changed. While your making the ADT system out to be wonderful I beg to differ. Below are just a few of my observations:

You must use the ADT hub and devices or the system won’t be monitored.

ADT can raise their monitoring fees or start requiring long term contracts to continuing to monitor the system and you have no choice but to start over.
If there is a mix of non-ADT devices, they won’t be monitored.

The ADT equipment can’t be switched to another monitoring vendor. It’s ADT or nothing.

If an ADT motion detector, glass break, fire device, contact etc isn’t going to work optimally in some situations while another SmartThings device will, it won’t be monitored. This defeats the whole purpose of an open sourced technology such as Z-Wave or Zigbee. The average person finds this out much too late and are stuck.

An example:my drapes or something else has warm air from a HVAC vent blown on it. The $15 ADT motion detector in range is going to false alarm.

The top 3 dog breeds according to the AKC are the Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd, and Golden Retriever. Full grown dogs of these breeds are well over the 55 pound upper limit of this same $15 ADT motion detector’s “pet immunity” feature. Bigger dogs and cats that get too close will cause false alarms but not consistently. By the time a customer figures this out, there is a $60 SmartThings motion detector that can handle challenging situations such as blowing drapes, big animals and climbing cats but guess what? Can’t use them with the ADT system if you want it monitored. So now you can’t use your motion detectors on the system if you want them monitored.

I can go on for pages but I’ll stop there. ADT SmartThings is not a good solution for me in its current state. I don’t like to be trapped. It’s not fair to a trusting an unwitting customer either.

The Noonlight looks like a very intriguing alternative but it too has a way to go. I’m not a fan of the lack of transparency of whom they use as a monitoring company. It’s not obvious that it’s not their own unless you dig. In fact, one could easily not realize it’s not actually a Noonlight operation. I doubt they would disclose it but should. I’ve got no idea what UL certificates it has. I can’t check out the monitoring center’s reputation or their reviews. What if my city starts video verification as many are or already have? Do they have this capability if Noonlight made it available? “Our 24/7 professional monitoring”. “Certified Dispatchers”. I hate such marketing hype without more information . Who’s certification? What are the prerequisites? If a dispatcher was selling shoes last month and they are now a “Professional Certified Dispatcher“ this month (after being trained of course) this Isn’t accurate and a lawsuit waiting to happen. I know because many Monitoring/Central Stations and employees are not good.
They aren’t “yours” or “ours” they are a subcontracted service and you have very little control or knowledge of their performance. You can’t fire the bad ones or reward the good ones. I’ve got no idea if performance guidelines are written into Noonlight’s contract with them or how it’s checked if it is.
When the monitoring center calls or texts a customer do they have a duress code? I’d bet not. If my PIN is 1234 or my secret password is “Strawberries” why wouldn’t you offer a duress code of lets say 9876 or “Apples”? If a customer is in trouble you might not be able to say your in trouble. That is if your not being forced to give someone the information that’s giving it to the monitoring center.

This is much longer than I expected but I hope I made some relevant points and enlightened some minds.

Security Expert

You would be incorrect. I have no connection with ADT and my only connection with SmartThings is as a customer.

Also, you are responding to a thread which has not had any activity for at least a year, and much has changed in that time.

Noonlight requires an active Internet connection to send notifications. As I have said many times in this forum, my own minimum requirements for a security system, even a self monitored one, is that it have a cellular option for communications.

I have never recommended ADT itself as a security system, here or anywhere else. In this forum, and only this forum, I have recommended the dual logo model as a candidate for further research for some specific projects.

At one point ADT and SmartThings offered a “dual logo” system

This was the only SmartThings-based system which offered cellular-based communications, as well as the ability to arm/disarm locally. So I did suggest that it was the only SmartThings-based system I would consider as a candidate for an inexpensive security system. But I still almost always recommended that people consider other options as well, including Abode and Simplisafe and now Ring. Each offers different features and plans, but at least all 3 of those have cellular notifications to the monitoring center, which SmartThings to Noonlight does not.

Everyone has their own peace of mind requirements when looking at security systems, and many people really do want to limit themselves to something that integrates with the Samsung SmartThings ™ platform. Over a year ago when this thread was last active, the ADT/SmartThings dual logo system, which is a specific model, was the only official SmartThings-based option with cellular notification.

There was also an official integration with Scout and a number of unofficial integrations including noonlight. However, all of the others require that both the Internet connection and the SmartThings cloud be available. The dual logo model did not, hence my comments in this thread.

See the official links on security. Again, this is one specific model line manufactured with both SmartThings and ADT radios built in. (Although just to make things even more confusing, it was a different ADT radio than the one in other ADT models.)

https://www.smartthings.com/home-security

However, all of that said, since then the Scout partnership has been officially discontinued and the dual logo system moved to End of Life status, so I no longer recommend it even as a candidate.

Is SmartThings ADT dead? (July 2019) (Lifeshield/Blue by ADT Acquisition and Support comments on EOL)

Submitted with respect.

Also note that the flexibility of the SmartThings platform means that people can have many different configurations, even “hub optional.“ And this is a very active forum. So many people decide which posts to read based on the thread title. :thinking:

This particular thread was set up in 2018 to compare the official scout integration versus noonlight. I did bring up what was at that time another official alternative, the dual logo model, for the reasons I gave in my previous post.

You’ve made a number of very important points about evaluating security systems and considering whether someone wants to go with a proprietary system or not. I think a lot of people would be interested in that. but they aren’t likely to find it in this thread.

I suggest you start a new thread in the “project reports” area of the forum which is where most security projects are discussed. And title it something like “Considerations for selecting any security system.” I’m sure many people would be interested in your expertise, and that way a lot more will people see it. :sunglasses:

https://community.smartthings.com/c/projects-stories/10