Well, the last few days have been fun. I haven't been on this forum in YEARS now, and my old login doesn't work. I have an Insteon Hub and specifically used it just for Alexa and Google Home integration, because when I bought it, the only Universal Devices option (that I knew about) was the Network Module that was like $50/year. I didn't want to pay that much.
I keep the ISY994i running to automate a lot using schedules, conditions and API calls (from Tasker via my Android phone) and IFTTT. Android 12 added a nice shortcut in the pulldown menu, so I had been using that for a few lights via the Hub.
Well, that stopped working... so I dug into it, set up an ISY Portal account, paid the $23 for 2 years of service (not a bad rate, IMO), updated firmware and got it all set up and connected to my Google account. Now the quick settings in my pulldown menu work fine again, and I added a couple scenes to add to Routines.
It's nice to see the Portal stuff... the ISY has always seemed to me to be much more of a "tinkerer's device" than anything that could be mainstream. The Portal makes it a bit more consumer-friendly, IMO, but it's still pretty advanced.
It's still kinda a pisser that Insteon just shut down Hub connection with NO communication. I remember last year or so, they sent a few emails saying they were working on the mobile app to try to improve the experience. That was kinda nice, as Insteon seemed to have a "don't give a sh** about the consumer, buy our stuff or don't, we don't care!" attitude. I hope they do continue to exist and produce hardware... I don't want my ISY setup to go to waste or have to be replaced as I go. The whole setup just gives me functionality that I think would be a bit difficult to duplicate elsewhere.
