SmartThings + Scout Professional Monitoring Now Available

Mine has gone offline twice today.

1 Like

I wonder if you can get a refund for the time that the system is offline? Might be able to get Scout Alarm for almost free with the amount of downtime the ST cloud has!

1 Like

Why would you want it in the the first place given the propensity for false alarms? You risk additional charges for monitoring, and worse, the local authorities fining you, and eventually ignoring your security system status.

27 posts were merged into an existing topic: Abode Security and SmartThings via IFTTT

So today the entire system went down and I am not at home - so I canā€™t reboot per the instructionā€¦imagine if I was using the security system? The security system would off and there would be nothing I could do until I returned homeā€¦this is unacceptable for a security system.

I was considering trying it because it cheaper and due to the integration but - it will not perform 100% of the time like my existing systemā€¦the wife would want me to get rid of the entire systemā€¦

Dave

How is Scout compared to ADT? My contract with ADT ends next month and I currently pay 50$ per month.

I had adt previously, also paying 50 a month, have had scout for a year now, of course itā€™s got some things that arenā€™t perfect but I wouldnā€™t go back.

So I was able to get my wife to reboot my hubā€¦did not come back online. Ugh. I contacted support and waiting for instructions but considering that i am on the other side of the world - I guess I am out of luck. My wife has been borderline on this and now being home and it not working for a week - nice job smart things. This is not a commercial product.

Dave

I got the Pioneer package (gateway with built-in siren, 2 open/close sensors, key fob, motion camera) and added a streaming camera.

@Mbhforum I believe you can set it up as a secondary controller (at least for z-wave, not sure thatā€™s possible with zigbee).

One of the biggest things I want to see if they can do is actually meet the 8 second delivery time for a picture of an event that they claim. If they can manage that, Iā€™ll be extremely impressed. Hereā€™s to hoping they deliver!

Thanks for the shout. I actually donā€™t use any of the less expensive DIY security systems because most of them donā€™t have fire detection and thatā€™s my number one priority. I have looked at many of them.

I use one from the next tier where there is a Long-term monthly contract. Like many customers, I feel that Iā€™m paying somewhat more than the value Iā€™m receiving, but the service is solid, reliable, only one false alarm in about six years, and has the mix of equipment and monitoring that we require. So I look at replacing it every time the contract gets close to ending for financial reasons, but other than that Iā€™m satisfied with it as a limited purpose system. Itā€™s been very much ā€œset and forgetā€, which was also what I wanted. But different things work for different people. :sunglasses:

Iā€™ve also been following abode closely, theyā€™re doing a lot of very interesting stuff with a good pedigree. But doesnā€™t mean my needs yet.

Zigbee doesnā€™t do secondary coordinators in any simple fashion (control 4 has proprietary stuff that does it but only for their own systems) so you canā€™t combine another Zigbee system with Smartthings.

Zwave includes the secondary controller concept in the base design, but SmartThings doesnā€™t implement all of the command sets like controller shift. So using a secondary gets very complicated. Itā€™s not impossible (the minimote is a secondary), but it doesnā€™t necessarily work the way you would expect it to, either. Thereā€™s a lot of topics in the forums from people trying to connect outside systems to SmartThings where you can see the kind of stuff that they ran into and what did and didnā€™t work. Usually they end up being able to connect them, but they canā€™t get statuses reported easily, and will end up using additional virtual switches as stand ins.

3 Likes

Can you give us a summary of how you are using it so far and how you are integrating it with ST?

Looks promising but the professional monitoring at $29.99 is steep compared to established alarm systems like Simplisafe ($14.99-$24.99). Can you leverage any ST hardware via ifttt or do you now have multiple door sensors Etc like I do with ST and Simplisafe?

Hey guys,

Please keep the thread on topic. If you want to talk about other monitoring services please start a thread about that service. Letā€™s keep this discussion about the Scout Integration.

Thanks guys!

1 Like

I have had a ticket open on SHM not responding appropriately to intrusions for 6 days. This issue has been ongoing for over 30 days. I first engaged ST via chat on it, but they apparently never opened an actual ticket. Yesterday, 5 days in to the official ticket, ST acknowledges the ticket and state:

ā€œUnfortunately this is still an issue that our developers are working on addressing; ā€¦Thanks for your patience and understanding.ā€

This is a system that ST expects customers to rely upon and pay for ā€œProfessional Monitoringā€?

Does logic not dictate that the system itself be ā€œProfessionalā€ before it warrants ā€œProfessional Monitoringā€ ???

Does crap in = crap out not apply?

This is before we even get into the glaring issue of professional monitoring of a system that does not have on box cellular back. I mean, are you fā€™in kidding?

2 Likes

Absolutely! Heck of an idea, a service to monitor how bad ST works.

I could afford the monitoring, I canā€™t afford the false alarms at $50ea. Iā€™ll keep my GE Simon going for now.

Thatā€™s an ambitious plan. Youā€™d be very busy.

1 Like

I thought we had this service.
Arenā€™t we currently posting to it?

I do hope that opening up the revenue streams with recommended monitoring packages will allow ST to add support staff to resolve a lot of the problems people come to this forum regarding.
It makes me wonder what other recommended paid services will come next.

http://www.bootcamp.com/interview.jsp?interviewId=2496

Is anyone actually using this?

Iā€™m looking to combine home automation and security, looks like this might be the right thing. Sounds like many of you donā€™t like this idea but anyone tried it or using it? I suppose I can have separate security and automation, just seems like a waste not to connect the two.

How does the equipment come together? Can I use both smartthings devices (doors, motion, etc) and Scouts? Can it be a combo of both? Are there differences in the two?

Trying to figure out the best options/configuration. Along with door sensors, motion detectors I will also put in smart locks on the doors, connect lights, etc. Thank you.