lilyoyo1

Either way, 50 bucks for 2 years access is well worth the time and effort to make it work. That's less than the cost of dinner out

I have a whole house generator which kicks in pretty fast. However, I don't put my ISY on its own battery backup simply because I want it to reboot with the devices so that it can pick up proper status of devices again once it reboots. I tried a battery backup a long time ago but I found the ISY wouldnt update properly so I would need to reboot it anyway. Instead of going through that, it was just easier to let it reboot when power came on. I've only lost power a few times since my house was built so the frequency it happens really isnt worth it for me. Like Teken says, it comes down to your usage. I don't think either way is wrong

You must be in Cali. Lol

When it comes to basic hue control, this is the easiest way to go when using the ISY since you don't need to worry about configuring a rasberry pi, polyglot, etc. However using the rasberry pi route gives you more capability. Smartthings is nice and I believe it now supports hue lights without a bridge. However i think (long term) you'd be much happier with the ISY over Smartthings

I was speaking on how other companies do their 3way switches. For example, the GE jasco uses the traveler so it will not talk to another switch (may have changed since I tested capabilities but it was that way at one time). In the end, it's irrelevant as this is all hypothetical. They made their choice and from a personal standpoint, I agree with it

Once again. I said SOURCE. Meaning someone who makes decisions. Not someone who simply answers the phone. Some items smarthome sells are extremely slow sellers. They aren't there expecting to be hits or big sellers but are there for a specific purpose/loss leader. Yes if you don't do your own home you can always buy more devices. However, should you change how you do things (such as I did) a person is able to use switches they changed out in other locations instead of buying new switches. Not sure about what's so hard to follow. If you're putting in a switch simply to connect to another switch for a 3way it simply allows control of those 2 devices. Having full control over a device allows for more configuration. As I stated, I am able to do different things depending on what light I am at instead of simple turning on/of the switch that is connected to it. At the end of the day neither of our opinions matter. Insteon made a decision they felt would be in their best interest and went with it. If you don't like it you can always show your displeasure by voting with your wallet. Switch over to zwave and you have what you're looking for. He has them pretty cheap

A house that is fully done likely would not have parts repurposed. However, if a person has a couple of rooms done, they have additional rooms to grow. For example, when I first got into insteon, I did mostly switches/dimmers in my rooms and no kpls.. As I grew, I replaced some with keypads to give more capabilities. When I did that, those additional switches were used in other locations saving a few hundred dollars in the process. Had they been remote only (based off the prices you stated), I wouldve saved 100 bucks initially but would've spent much more afterwards. In the grand scheme of things, 20 extra bucks isnt much money. For those just starting out, it probably helps more in the long run (as others have attested to) in regards to ease of use and mistakes. Another thing is the ability to have different things happen from different locations. Turning on my upstairs switch triggers certain things during certain hours while the downstairs does others. Had this been 1 real and 1 remote, I would not have that capability As far as popy-cock the person remains unnamed simply because they may not want their name in the forum. I dont have to name drop to prove my point. Stusviews knows people at Insteon as well yet you never hear him mention anyone by name personally. There are reasons for that. Doesn't mean that others do not know people who work there. Whether its him or others with close contacts there, we simply choose to leave them out of here. IF they choose to chime in here they can but it is not for me to do so for them to appease you. Either way, while you may not like their decision it was made for what they feel is in their best interest not yours.

That one is priceless.

I didnt see that particular review but I've seen plenty like it. Many times its because its the cheaper item than what was recommended. A friend of mine said it best; "Make something dummy proof and someone will come along and prove you wrong".

Unlike you, I don't need to deal with people on the phone or go off second hand information. As I stated, my information came from the source, not cst. In regards to better information, unfortunately many people simply fail to read the information at hand. They will see 2 like things and purchase the cheaper of the 2. This is shown all over other companies webpages. Go to Amazon's, Lowe's or home Depot's website and you'll see questions asked and the information they are asking for will be in the first line. Unfortunately people are lazy. You can't count on people to read let alone research before they buy.

Being that my info comes straight from the horses mouth means it is their reasons cited. Yes zwave and X10 both have/had remote only devices....along with a high return date from smarthome customers who purchased the wrong thing when they carried a larger selection of those items. Maybe for your install having remote capabilities works. But for many others, having full capabilities has an even greater benefit. Either way, insteon determined having one extra device that did nothing simply wasn't worth the cost

The desire to stay away from Zwave was not mentioned until now. Information like that would help in regards to people being able to provide assistance. Zwave and RTS are not the same. Stus post (#2) details how you would go about integrating RTS with the ISY. Simply disregard his info. about zwave

There are multiple reasons for this. 1st is cost. To carry a device that has limited use didn't seem worthwhile. 2nd is simplicity. People mess up more often than what shows on these forums. As an oem/retailer, youbrun The risk of people not reading (happens far to often) and simply buying the wrong product because they see the same part cheaper. This in turns leads to more phone calls and questions for cst. 3rd is options. By having all devices standardized, switches can be used in multiple places. Maybe your needs change or you move. If half your switches are remotes, then you're purchasing more devices when you could've simply swapped for another one There were a couple of more reasons but I don't remember them all

Bali autoview blinds are zwave. You will have to go through Lowe's, home Depot, etc. I've seen them with 25% off sales on a regular basis. Unless you need them in a hurry, I would wait until a sale and get them.

I don't like how the toggle off works so I didn't set mine up like that. Plus a DBL tap has a different function for me. When I hit my all off button the kpl back light stays on. I have a program that will automatically turn it off once pressed. This way I get the same benefit as toggle off but additional functionality

Instead of leaving my lights on in the same situation, I have a program that turns the button light off after it is used. That way no matter what I do, hitting my all off will always trigger the way I like

I'll keep using my ecobee 3's. I never liked how the insteon thermostats looked

Once again however, each one of those devices would need something in front of it to connect to it remotely. Judging by the numerous posts on here about lack of range, I highly doubt somoeone could get close enough to a person's house to hack their insteon thermostat directly. Reminds me of a story where I was putting locks on someone's house. They were afraid of someone hacking their system and breaking in. W/O sayimg a Word, I walked to their backyard, took a chair from their patio, opened their kitchen window, and climbed in. Could someone hacking and unlock his doors? Of course, but there are much easier methods to do so. The all on stuff is all theory. It's only a security issue if you have your garage door on an iolinc. Remove that and it becomes a nuisance bug. With that said, the cause has not been pinpointed. It's easy to blame either company but yet it happens under many different conditions. Blaming the plm is misguided due to the fact that only the ISY experiences this issue. Not homeseer, Indigo, houselinc, castleos, etc. Even the hub's (based off the plm) do not have that issue. Even if you could hack the iolinc to open a person's garage door, there are still easier and faster ways of opening it. The only true and safe way of doing so would be to be off-site at which point they would go through whatever controller a person was using. The way insteon works by default is like having locks on your door and locking them. Encryption would be like putting a heavy duty security door on your house. If insteon or zwave were wifi based devices I would feel different. To each their own however. I do recognize the prevailing thoughts of many people, so I do agree encryption is needed from a business standpoint. Just not a reality standpoint (for the individual devices)

Teken, I agree in regards to marketing only. Unfortunately perception is reality. The avg consumer will look for a secure devices yet have an open wireless network or use their phone number as the password. Because devices are not connected directly to the internet, the likelihood of them individually being hacked is probably zero. the controller itself would be the weak link at that point so standard measures need to be done at a minimum. With that said, multi national corporations and governments get hacked on a regular basis. I highly doubt a 50 dollar router along with an 80 dollar controller will stop the most dedicated of hackers

I'm in the mindset that needing encryption is overrated with insteon current lineup. If they ever wanted to pursue a wider use of their devices (Such as for alarm systems) then yes it would make sense. The fact that consumers want to feel like their system is secure (even though there are many other ways to do something) means encryption is needed.

I agree but there is a consumer base that wants to monitor usage. Personally I don't see the point but if it's important to someone, who am I to argue

Many of the things I read here are good ideas for a very small part of insteon (and zwave for that matter) user base. Flashable firmware. The avg user would probably end up messing up more devices than they fix. The fact that many of the firmware updates are also based on hardware present inside means even more broken devices simply because the owner chose the wrong update for their product. Wifi chips. Sounds great but what about battery powered devices and possible cost increase. As we've already discussed (me and you Teken) how many people will want to pay more for better? As you always so eloquently state, it's a race to the bottom. Cloud based controllers. It's unfortunate but we're in the minority here. Companies are giving people what they want. The avg person doesn't want to figure out how to set up a proper system, worry about firmware updates, or Port forwarding. it's sad but the more technical we become as a society, the less it seems people want to know. Personally, I'd rather see an advanced/pro line. This would allow professionals and power users access to a more robust lineup. These devices would incorporate higher quality internals for increased longevity, more features such as tuneable RF frequency, turning on/off RF or Powerline, energy features etc. Doing things this way will allow for a greater design for those willing to pay more without sacrificing sales due to increased costs

Personally when I look at their history I would say yes; there will be backwards compatibility. I2CS can work with I1 devices. Even as a business matter it makes more sense. It's far easier to replace a single controller than it is to replace 50 switches. If a new switch doesn't work with existing switches, customers will get angry and potentially leave since everything they have would be useless. If they would need to replace everything, they could potentially go to a competitor. If the controller (hub) goes out, even if the new controller wasn't backwards compatible, there could still be other options such as the isy. When I first got into insteon (all power line), I used only a couple of filters. Now that all of my devices are dual band, I haven't had a need for any of them as I don't have any issues. Every situation is unique so what works for 1 may not work for another. Personally, I'd rather deal with needing a filter to fix a problem rather than troubleshoot RF issues. There are a lot of things I would love to see them do with insteon as well. However how many people would want to pay the price for all these upgrades people talk about? Some stuff must be done such as encryption (though I think it's overrated for the most part). Others such as energy tracking is more of a luxury that I wouldn't necessarily want to pay more for (assuming a cost increase)

Many times, even if there is agreement, it's usually between higher levels than customer support. Cst generally doesn't know inside information outside of what is needed to do their job such as possible technical support

Google may support some thermostats directly but may not have updated their API yet for 3rd party systems to do the same