We know smart home is hard. Just ask Wink. Or Nest. Well, it turns out, Apple’s HomeKit hasn’t yet lived up to its promise. And, shortly after launch, Insteon pulled their HomeKit-compatible hub from the market… due to firmware issues and inventory limitations. Over two months later there are signs they’re ready to try again. But are you?
I’ve gotten to the point where most of my smart gear has been unplugged. And even my newly arrived Wemo bulbs haven’t been much fun. Not to mention the FBI now wants us to know networking everything may not be the best idea. So I guess I’m just going to get off the couch and walk over to my window blinds when they need to be opened. Or closed.
I like home automation. However, I don’t think I like other companies have so many hooks into my home and so many services in my home reliant on cloud services to function.
This is where Control4 is a much superior approach. Server in your house. No cloud dependency.
Wish some of the more comprehensive, established, and local solutions like Control4 and Crestron had DIY options. Or, as my wife would tell you/me, I just need to get over having contractors doing work on the house. :)
“So I guess I’m just going to get off the couch and walk over to my window blinds when they need to be opened. Or closed.”
That’s just what the FBI wants. Now you’ll get droned instead of hacked…
I actually got one last week. I preordered a LONG TIME AGO, and eventually cancelled my order after reading in a blog that they had pulled it from the market.
A week or two ago, I noticed that they were shipping… so I ordered again. It came in, and didn’t work AT ALL. I struggled for a little bit, then called Insteon tech support. After 30 minutes or so on hold, we walked through a factory reset (which is not at all obvious on how to do), and I got it working.
Control is iffy… It’s supposed to work away from my home using my AppleTV 3rd Gen, but that’s pretty iffy too. Altogether it still feels half baked.
I think “work out issues” is pretty mild. The fact that it doesn’t work at all out of box without a factory reset is telling. I’ve got 5-6 Insteon switches that I’ve accumulated over the past few months as well as a lamp control module, so I’m pretty much stuck using it.
Disappointing but still love Insteon. Been using the gear for years and while it isn’t perfect it’s the best for me. Someone who doesn’t want to pay Control4 money for someone else to have all the fun. I want the flexibility to order parts off Amazon and make changes whenever I want.
It was not pulled, just sold out.
Dennis, from Smarthome, via Richard Gunther:
We have temporarily postponed shipping of Hub Pro units as we are currently working with Apple to resolve several technical issues with the environment.
Ben, one of the big dings against the new hub is that it only worked with a subset of Insteon products. Not sure if that’ll still be the case going forward or if they’ll offer replacement components (for a fee, of course).
Just thought I’d clarify for you all… We have not pulled this product from the market. We’ve oversold. The Smarthome statement mentioned above refers to a few months back when we did hold shipments while addressing a firmware issue. @Lawson: sorry to hear you had a bad experience getting started. That’s very disappointing to hear. If you happen to have a support ticket that you can reference, I’d like to dig into the issue with the team.
Dave, we will be adding support for additional Insteon devices. These will come in the form of firmware updates (i.e., no replacements necessary).
Isaac, Thanks for the clarification and good news regarding expanding support. I’ve revised the headline and tweaked the article accordingly.
Well, after updating to 9.0.1 and getting the new iPhone 6s Plus, now the Insteon+ app says “Sync In Progress”, and tells me to wait. It never finishes, and never connects to the hub.
I would call tech support today, but they’re not open. I’m going to have to carve out an hour of my evening to call in during the week.
Sit tight Lawson. Others are seeing the same. The team is looking into it. To be notified when there is resolution, please email support@insteon.com letting them know you are also having the same issue. I appreciate your patience and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Thanks… I did enter a ticket, so hopefully I’ll hear back that way.
I STILL have a totally useless hub pro. Any chance you can get customer support to actually contact me?
Lawson, send me your info and we’ll do just that isanz at insteon dot com.
November 12th Update: After over an hour on the phone, the Insteon rep acknowledged that it just wasn’t working properly. I have already shipped back the lemon, and am still waiting on a functioning product to be delivered. Emails sent to Customer Service go unreturned.
Lawson: we looked in our support database and don’t see any emails from you. You’ve got my info. Our email response period is under 48hrs so this is a bit surprising to hear. If you would be so kind and shoot me the you sent in and we’ll look into it further.
I forwarded the email I sent to asandoval@smarthome.com (the tech assigned to help me out) on Monday to support@insteon.com.