Common standard for Smart Home devices???

[Deane Johnson]

I wonder where this will lead us?

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/12/a...-standard/

[Dean Roddey]

Based on past experience, likely nowhere. But, anything is possible. I don't think that it being IP based is a good sign. Unless they are talking about a completely private network for the automation devices, it's not an optimal solution to try to hang lots of devices, maybe hundreds, off the home network. And of course most of them will be from China, and phoning home and downloading who knows what which then runs inside your network.

It's particularly weird that Zigbee would be involved in that, since they are actually what a ubiquitous, retrofit friendly automation backbone would be, and it's not IP based. Maybe it's some sort of combination of Zigbee nodes on the home network or some such.

[Deane Johnson]

It's my understanding that loading up the home network slows it down dramatically.  I think mine does.

I have Century Link's 1 Gig service.  My LAN connected PCs measure about 450 MPS, but the CL Tech dude measured 950 MPS coming out of their modem (or whatever it's called).  There are lots of other things connected to the LAN in addition to 3 PCs.  Plenty of Wi-Fi also.  My Router is a Netgear R8000.

[Dean Roddey]

I don't think it's a speed issue, so much as just the maintenance of a large network of devices over time. This has to work for folks we are not technical at all. A dedicated backbone with more smarts to self-configure and self-manage would be a better choice IMO. But of course these big companies are also going to be very interested in tying people to their cloud services, which requires IP based stuff.

[Deane Johnson]

No question, you're right about it having to appeal to the non-technical in order to become a super major factor.  You're also very correct on them wanting the cloud business.

One thing I've noticed is that companies of all types, not just home automation, want to collect a mass of people who pay a small fee every month.  $9.95 is a good target figure.  Hardly ever missed, yet if millions of people sign up for it, it's a huge income figure.

For instance, I pay Adobe $22.00 a month to rent the cloud version of Photoshop.  I last used it about 2 years ago.  Yet, I just let it sit there and suck money off my credit card in case I need it.  Think of the revenue the #1 photo processing software produces on that basis.  That's why the industry wants the cloud connected business.  Once established, it can go on and on like an annuity.

The lack of security is a little scary.  The stories recently on the hacking of either the Ring or Nest products is downright frightening.  Hacking into the camera in a child's room and then the hacker carrying on a conversation with child has all sorts of dangerous connotations.  What's the next step, perhaps for the hacker to convince the child to go outside in the middle of the night and get in the white van parked at the curb?

I've been a little loose on worrying about that sort of security, but it's beginning to get my attention as a dangerous problem.

[Deane Johnson]

Now Z-Wave announces they're going to open things up.  I don't know how this affects the "smart home" world, but all of these changes seem to mean we're going to see a restructuring of the home automation world.  At the very least, it will be interesting to watch what happens.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/19/2102...licon-labs

[gReatAutomation]

It's my understanding that loading up the home network slows it down dramatically.  I think mine does.

I have Century Link's 1 Gig service.  My LAN connected PCs measure about 450 MPS, but the CL Tech dude measured 950 MPS coming out of their modem (or whatever it's called).  There are lots of other things connected to the LAN in addition to 3 PCs.  Plenty of Wi-Fi also.  My Router is a Netgear R8000.

What does your network look like? Most latency and performance issues are due network configuration. From the looks of it, you have the Netgear handling everything and that device is a consumer grade wireless access point.

Is this your setup:

Cable Modem --> Netgear R8000 --> EVERYTHING (wireless, wired devices, etc.)

For me:

Cable Modem --> Cisco RV345 Router/Firewall
                                      |--> Zyxel 48 Port Gigabit Switch 01 --> Servers, UniFi nanoHD Wireless Access Point, AppleTV's, other gear
                                      |--> Zyxel 48 Port Gigabit Switch 02 --> Wall ports in house

I have Comcast Business 300 Mbps service and get about 337 Mbps down when plugged in to a wall port and 182 Mbps down when on wireless.

[Deane Johnson]

gReatAutomation, your analysis of my lash-up is correct.

Deane

[gReatAutomation]

gReatAutomation, your analysis of my lash-up is correct.

Deane

Then I would say your bottleneck is the R8000.

[Deane Johnson]

Are you suggesting a different router would most likely perform better?