Question

Thanks for the add.  Looks like an awesome group.Thanks for the add. Looks like an awesome group. WWYD? I am starting from ground zero in a 40 year old house with only 6mbps max available on wifi. I can use Roku and steam video just fine. I want to add all the things. Goals include smart outlets, lights, cameras, and moisture detection for the septic tank pump. I would like to have control and surveillance abilities within a single app, site or as few as possible. Our devices are IOS mostly with a few Samsung devices. I don’t want to waste money and time with trial and error learning the basics. Can you advise on anything you have learned or regrets especially if you have weak internet. Thanks.  

Answer 1

I recommend smart light switches instead of smart bulbs, unless having color bulbs is a must for you. Smart bulbs will cost more overall in the long term. For the light switches I highly recommend Lutron Caseta. They have on/off switches and dimmer switches. They offer them with neutral wire required or without neutral wire. Older homes tend not to have a neutral wire. The Lutron Caseta switches require the Lutron Caseta hub, but it's great. For me they work 100% of the time. They link with Samsung SmartThings, Google Home and Alexa.  

Answer 2

Get a Smartthings or Hubitat hub and stay away from WIFI devices. Your limited bandwidth will not be an issue with Zigbee and Zwave devices. repeat - STAY AWAY FROM WIFI devices

Comments

@lixivium3 definitely! The more Wi-Fi devices the more impact you'll have on your bandwidth and your network equipment. Will cause more problems overall. Also Wi-Fi devices that are battery powered consume a lot more battery than zigbee/zwave.  

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Agreed! I've recently moved most of my devices over to Zigbee and it's great! Your Internet (not wifi) bandwidth won't matter for most devices, except cameras - switches, etc use hardly any bandwidth at all. Also, best where possible to minimise your dependency on cloud hosted services - get yourself a decent home automation solution like Home Assistant or Domoticz.  

Answer 3

Internet bandwidth is not really an issue with home control devices but video is a different thing. If you saturate your internet feed with video, TV and security cameras, nothing else will work. Also, if possible, stay local with home control devices. If you dig thru this group you will see that recommendation often and solutions. Same thing, local NVR for cameras if possible. You can still look at them remotely but they only use bandwidth when watching and your video is not stored in the cloud or in China for hackers or others to access.