UDI vs Mobilinc smart home skill

[Paulk8]

What are the differences?

[Scottmichaelj]

What are the differences?

Price - features

[markthomas]

I just migrated to MobiLinc from UDI. Several differences that I can see...

 

First - a much better mobile interface with MobiLinc. In fact I would say UDI has nothing really in this space. Controlling your Home lighting when you're out and about is much easier with MobiLinc.

 

Second - the Amazon Echo integration is pretty good with UDI and I used it for quite a while.

 

I swapped over to MobiLinc a few days ago and I would say getting started is more complex. I had some issues with the system working and then mysteriously not working, forcing me to disable the skills in the Alexa app and then re-enabling them. I contacted MobilLinc support and they cleared something out of my system and so far so good.

 

My favorite part of the MobiLinc skills are the Room specific commands you can do with Thr Amazon Echo and the custom responses. Programming the MobiLinc smart home skills is very similar to the UDI version.

 

Overall I'm glad I made the switch.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dr Pepper]

Having two competing unequal services (portals) that you pay for a year at a time is very frustrating.  Say the "other" service adds a feature you want and you are locked in to the service for another 6 months or more leads to customer dissatisfaction.  Support from UDI seems better (no issues).  Contacted Mobilinc twice for app support (it just sits there for minutes updating before you can turn on a light even though its been running in the background) and they just touted how much better they are than the UDI portal but never addressed the problem I was having other that look at the FAQ in the footer of the email.  I asked a specific question and was blown off with a sales pitch for their portal to get me to move over from the UDI portal.  Mobilinc seems to just want to get more money from the customer not maintain customer satisfaction like UDI does.

 

My opinion and I am sure I will be slammed for stating it. 

[Jimbo.Automates]

Mobilinc support and enhancement for Android is non existent. So would not even consider it unless using iOS. Just my opinion after paying money to them for a few years.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Dr Pepper]

Mobilinc support and enhancement for Android is non existent. So would not even consider it unless using iOS. Just my opinion after paying money to them for a few years.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Yes I drank the Kool Aid on that one and bought the Android version after the iOS.  iOS is ok when it works (often just hangs there which is why I contacted support twice in the past year or so and only got the sales pitch to move to their portal because its so much better blah blah blah)  but the Android I wish I never wasted my money. Paid for it and when I realized it was useless asked for my money back.  Never got a reply to that one and dont even remember what I paid its been so long.

 

Mobilinc could be really good and may be with the Mobilinc Portal but with the UDI portal its not fully supported for all features.  But there are other features of the UDI portal I use and I dont want to pay for both (not even sure you can have both).  There should be one portal not two and support all features. I dont like the idea of a portal war between two companies its kind of a turn off.  Yes they are both trying to make money and thats fine and they both need re-occuring revenue to survive but it still sucks for the customers.

[MWareman]

I just migrated to MobiLinc from UDI. Several differences that I can see...

 

First - a much better mobile interface with MobiLinc. In fact I would say UDI has nothing really in this space. Controlling your Home lighting when you're out and about is much easier with MobiLinc.

 

Second - the Amazon Echo integration is pretty good with UDI and I used it for quite a while.

 

I swapped over to MobiLinc a few days ago and I would say getting started is more complex. I had some issues with the system working and then mysteriously not working, forcing me to disable the skills in the Alexa app and then re-enabling them. I contacted MobilLinc support and they cleared something out of my system and so far so good.

 

My favorite part of the MobiLinc skills are the Room specific commands you can do with Thr Amazon Echo and the custom responses. Programming the MobiLinc smart home skills is very similar to the UDI version.

 

Overall I'm glad I made the switch.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You know you can use Mobilinc (the app) with the ISY Portal (or even with no portal at all)?

 

Personally, I like the ISY Portal better that the Mobilinc Connect portal. The integration with IFTTT allows keys on the ISY Portal, so you don't have to expose your portal password to third parties - a big security no-no.

 

That being said - the benefits really come down to what mobile device you use. If you use IOS, there is more benefit to the Mobilinc Connect portal. As has been said, development of Mobilinc on Android has really lagged, so you would be better served getting the ISY Portal and using Agave instead.

[MWareman]

 

 

Having two competing unequal services (portals) that you pay for a year at a time is very frustrating. Say the "other" service adds a feature you want and you are locked in to the service for another 6 months or more leads to customer dissatisfaction. Support from UDI seems better (no issues). Contacted Mobilinc twice for app support (it just sits there for minutes updating before you can turn on a light even though its been running in the background) and they just touted how much better they are than the UDI portal but never addressed the problem I was having other that look at the FAQ in the footer of the email. I asked a specific question and was blown off with a sales pitch for their portal to get me to move over from the UDI portal. Mobilinc seems to just want to get more money from the customer not maintain customer satisfaction like UDI does.

 

My opinion and I am sure I will be slammed for stating it.

Choice is good, as are opinions. Nothing wrong there.

 

I do find it a shame that incorrect causes are blamed for issues though. Also, competing simply by downplaying your competition does not sit well with me.

 

I believe people are moving away from Mobilinc Connect because of the neglect of Android as a platform for so long. There did not used to be a choice, now there are.

 

For a couple of years, I was a Mobilinc user (and Mobilinc Connect subscriber). I had the camera and Elk plugins as well. Then I switched to Android, purchased Mobilinc (without research - silly me) then the next day went to add the Elk and camera module and - sorry. No modules on Android. Literally years later, this hasn't changed. I went to the effort to build my own SSL proxy and set of Tasker routines to replace Mobilinc, integrate my cameras and Elk and life has been good. Mobilinc lost me as a subscriber because they don't support Elk and Cameras on Android even before ISY Portal came along, and I'm certain I'm not the only one.

 

ISY Portal has allowed me to remove my custom SSL proxy. That on its own is worth the price of admission, for me.

 

If you are on IOS, and plan on staying there, the combination of Mobilinc (app), Mobilinc Connect (portal) and ISY is actually very good though. I really liked it while I was using it. Just accept that IFTTT integration means you have to give your Mobilinc Connect password to IFTTT. The combination of Mobilinc (app), ISY Portal and ISY is also very good. You'll benefit from the upcoming multi location awareness, you'll just have to install Locative since the Mobilinc geofencing is tied to the Mobilinc Connect portal.

 

If you are on Android, I simply cannot recommend Mobilinc at all. Other solutions provide greater benefit either for the same money or less. Unless you really like the UI.

[Dr Pepper]

You know you can use Mobilinc (the app) with the ISY Portal (or even with no portal at all)?

 

Personally, I like the ISY Portal better that the Mobilinc Connect portal. The integration with IFTTT allows keys on the ISY Portal, so you don't have to expose your portal password to third parties - a big security no-no.

 

That being said - the benefits really come down to what mobile device you use. If you use IOS, there is more benefit to the Mobilinc Connect portal. As has been said, development of Mobilinc on Android has really lagged, so you would be better served getting the ISY Portal and using Agave instead.

 

Yes the UDI portal has some aspects that are better than Mobilinc Portal.  But to not work with UDI to make the app work the same on their portal and add features that will only work on the Mobilinc Portal leads to customer dissatisfaction as you can only have one.  And when asking for tech support to just get the our portal is better than UDI portal instead of trying to resolve the issue gives me the impression they are only out for my money not my satisfaction.

[GaryK4]

I don't use the ISY Portal. I pass a PHP command to a Raspberry Pi's web server and that passes the REST command to ISY. I am not tech enough to know the dangers of this method, but at least there are no account info in the IFTTT applets. On the same Raspberry  Pi, I developed a Python program that displays key devices. It has led's to warn if the garage doors are open. That way a casual look at the display tells you the status.

I do use Mobilinc rarely and it is a very poor program. I don't mind paying for an app, but I don't like recurring costs.

I also use Tiny Cam Pro to display my security cameras.

 

How dangerous is this?

[pinuz]

Having two competing unequal services (portals) that you pay for a year at a time is very frustrating. Say the "other" service adds a feature you want and you are locked in to the service for another 6 months or more leads to customer dissatisfaction. Support from UDI seems better (no issues). Contacted Mobilinc twice for app support (it just sits there for minutes updating before you can turn on a light even though its been running in the background) and they just touted how much better they are than the UDI portal but never addressed the problem I was having other that look at the FAQ in the footer of the email. I asked a specific question and was blown off with a sales pitch for their portal to get me to move over from the UDI portal. Mobilinc seems to just want to get more money from the customer not maintain customer satisfaction like UDI does.

 

My opinion and I am sure I will be slammed for stating it.

My experience with mobilinc is completely different, it's either things in my hands work better or I am lucky device after device.

Few times I asked for support I got an almost instant reply via email.

 

I am on mobilinc service and I am evaluating if udi portal is better or not.

I don't really use the connect from my IOS devices since I find dyndns faster than mobilinc connect so I may save money with UDI Portal if functionality is similar

 

 

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[Quietminded]

My experience with mobilinc support over the past few years has been excellent. The half dozen or so times I've reached out, I've not only got quick support but also follow ups to make sure my issues were resolved.

 

 

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