For those missing context, Insteon is a smart home company that shut down suddenly a few weeks ago without notice to it's users, essentially bricking peoples smart homes.
Good for Ken and the team to take this on. I'm not an insteon user, but I hope one of the first tasks they take on is to either open source the servers, or update the system to be able to work offline, should they decide to kill the service in the future.
The lack of concern for it's users and the way Insteon was shutdown probably had a large negative impact on the smart home industry. Thanks to these dedicated fans, it hopefully has a happy ending
So Insteon hardware works fully offline. It's a RF and powerline protocol, and they sold computer USB or serial adapters to interact with it.
People who got screwed were only people who chose to use the Insteon Hub, which is their specific cloud/Alexa/Siri/phone app solution.
So most of the hardware was unaffected and the users dependent on the cloud chose to be.
Insteon hardware actually exploded in value when the company folded just because you could only buy second hand. PLMs were going for $400 on eBay. Because all the hardware is offline and still works fine, there's just nobody manufacturing it.
> For those missing context, Insteon is a smart home company that shut down suddenly a few weeks ago without notice to it's users, essentially bricking peoples smart homes.
Thank you. Some variant of this surely would have fit in the actual description :(
"For those missing context, Insteon is a smart home company that shut down suddenly a few weeks ago without notice to its users, essentially bricking [=ruining, making inoperable] people's smart homes.
Good for Ken and the team to take this on. I'm not an insteon user, but I hope one of the first tasks they take on is to either open source the servers, or update the system to be able to work offline, should they decide to kill the service in the future."
Companies like this have no concept of open source and no concept of offline. To them, your home is their home, to traffic so as to maximize their bottom line.
I have a whole house of this stuff. We are talking 100s of plugs, lights, sensors, etc. I picked them because they have been around forever - like 30+ years (started with the X10 stuff) so I hoped they where a safe bet. One day everything stopped working, the remote control part via the application and automation that depended on their Hub being online. I had the hub. Ugh. Okay I had the USB serial adapter also sitting around. Installed Homebridge with the "Homebridge Platform Insteonlocal" plugin on an old PINE64 board. Used it to delete the links to the old hub and connect everything to the USB serial modem (the "modem" keeps the DB of the things it can talk to). Everything works great again and I can even use Apple HomeKit. I received an email today from Ken saying they are going to do the right thing but they need to move to a subscription model for like ~$40 per year. I am fine with that in the sense they should have done that a long time ago to sort their $$$ issues. At this point I am going to stick with the local solution - remember the HomeKit stuff gives me remote access - that the hub+app gave. The HW itself it really decent and always has been. It would be great if it became available again. I am worried about something failing at this point as the eBay pricing is crazy town right now. The 8 button remote that was $30 is going $200+. The remote links to their wireless protocol and pairs locally with all the devices. You do not need anything online for it to work. To be clear - they have powerline protocol and wireless protocol that allows devices to be paired (or more then a pair) with each other locally and locally programed. It is really cool stuff given it is 20+ years old and just works.
Similar story here. I started with X10 and upgraded to Insteon because of the X10 reliability & communication problems. I never bought a hub because I did not like being dependent on Internet services to control my house. I do have a few PLMs and a bunch of remote control units that I'm not using, and probably will never use, so I'm going to list them all on eBay! Thanks for the tip!
Insteon made great hardware, but I recently discovered Lutron Caseta and now I like them better. Their switches do a much better job with LED lighting. (No flickering.)
X10, now there’s a name I have not heard in a while. Shortly after college, I had planned on X10-ing up my whole home for really no good reason other than it being neat and I had watched a video series (pre-YouTube, dvd) on controlling it programmatically. Life happened and I never got around to it. I’m glad I didn’t now lol, I’m sure I’d still have that junk around the house.
I set up Home Assistant for my parents after their Insteon system turned into a brick. It did a great job of controlling everything, but it seems to think there's an extra sunset at 4:17PM every day which has made scheduling a challenge.
HA has had some form of Insteon integration for close to a decade. But I think a lot of the improvements in it recently has been to help new migrants from the Insteon Hub market cope.
It is sizeable enough that another company interested in it, Universal Devices (which makes a hub that can interact with Insteon devices) bid for it and lost.
But it's also a former VP of the old company who has apparently bought it, so I am kinda interested in the story of how that happened.
The amazing thing about insteon is that it does not need a central controller. The devices have relationships with each other (that you can setup by tapping the wall switches themselves).
I actually stopped using a central controller years ago and just appreciate being able to turn off everything in the home from my front entry.
My PHP-controlled home cinema uses the Insteon Hub locally, so it kept working after the abrupt shutdown. I was worried about having to move to a new home automation system as parts died (I'm on my second Hub in seven years). Overall, it's been a really reliable system with decent dimmers and plugs so this is good news to me.
I've thought about open sourcing it but I'd ideally like to do it in a way where it can't be monetized by a third-party. That's a post for another day.
[+] [-] pedalpete|3 years ago|reply
Good for Ken and the team to take this on. I'm not an insteon user, but I hope one of the first tasks they take on is to either open source the servers, or update the system to be able to work offline, should they decide to kill the service in the future.
The lack of concern for it's users and the way Insteon was shutdown probably had a large negative impact on the smart home industry. Thanks to these dedicated fans, it hopefully has a happy ending
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|3 years ago|reply
People who got screwed were only people who chose to use the Insteon Hub, which is their specific cloud/Alexa/Siri/phone app solution.
So most of the hardware was unaffected and the users dependent on the cloud chose to be.
Insteon hardware actually exploded in value when the company folded just because you could only buy second hand. PLMs were going for $400 on eBay. Because all the hardware is offline and still works fine, there's just nobody manufacturing it.
[+] [-] astrostl|3 years ago|reply
Thank you. Some variant of this surely would have fit in the actual description :(
[+] [-] kome|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] logicallee|3 years ago|reply
"For those missing context, Insteon is a smart home company that shut down suddenly a few weeks ago without notice to its users, essentially bricking [=ruining, making inoperable] people's smart homes.
Good for Ken and the team to take this on. I'm not an insteon user, but I hope one of the first tasks they take on is to either open source the servers, or update the system to be able to work offline, should they decide to kill the service in the future."
Companies like this have no concept of open source and no concept of offline. To them, your home is their home, to traffic so as to maximize their bottom line.
[+] [-] myrandomcomment|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anonymousiam|3 years ago|reply
Insteon made great hardware, but I recently discovered Lutron Caseta and now I like them better. Their switches do a much better job with LED lighting. (No flickering.)
[+] [-] donatj|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] InsaneOstrich|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blockarchitech|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ink_13|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] azinman2|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] teeray|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|3 years ago|reply
But it's also a former VP of the old company who has apparently bought it, so I am kinda interested in the story of how that happened.
[+] [-] pcdoodle|3 years ago|reply
I actually stopped using a central controller years ago and just appreciate being able to turn off everything in the home from my front entry.
[+] [-] thrusong|3 years ago|reply
I've thought about open sourcing it but I'd ideally like to do it in a way where it can't be monetized by a third-party. That's a post for another day.
Cinema in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7YEVGWJjvI
[+] [-] panda88888|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] desro|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sharmin123|3 years ago|reply
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