Quote:
Originally Posted by capecoralbill
I've been wondering why anybody would have a smart home system, by that I mean having the lights and thermostat and security system all Wi-Fi based. Additionally I have ezviz cameras on my home that I can access from my cell phone when I am up north, that is also Wi-Fi based. There was an Amazon product that will open your front door or garage door to allow the men to put deliveries inside, don't think that's a good idea either. I believe Comcast / Xfinity also offer cell phone access that competes with Verizon and the others. Who in there right mind would want a Wi-Fi based cell phone after us outage like this? I am rambling a bit here but it seems like a lot of these products can be extremely unreliable and dangerous.
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I'm a little confused by your post. You seem to argue against network-based security products yet you have your ezviz cameras. Are you saying you want to get rid of those cameras?
Internet problems happen, as do electrical problems and cell phone tower problems. I have had Xfinity for about two years now and this is the first outage that I can remember. Four (or seven or eight) hours of downtime out of at least 17,000 hours of uptime seems pretty good to me.
My home security systems continued to monitor my house even though they couldn't reach the internet. When I arrived back home I was able to check their status and history. When the xfinity problem was resolved they uploaded the information as normal. All my devices worked reliably during the outage, they just couldn't be accessed remotely.
Some people could not reach their smart thermostats. That doesn't mean their house went without air conditioning, it just meant they couldn't adjust the temperature while they were away. I couldn't adjust my temperature while I was away either; that's because I (along with many others) don't have smart thermostats. The difference between me and those with the smart thermostats is they eventually regained remote access that I still don't have.
Xfinity's mobile phone works over the Verizon network. It may have a preference for wi-fi when it is within range of an xfinity hotspot but otherwise it talks to the same network as your Verizon phone. My AT&T phone also connects to wi-fi when it is available - I simply disabled that feature yesterday.