Normally I’m a pretty earlier adopter of new technology but home automation doesn’t appeal to me because I don’t want to have to constantly pay a subscription to someone to process my commands when I have a perfectly functional computer.
I want to have a doorbell that does not financially commit me to a monthly fee I do not think that’s too much to ask.
To be fair, I use a simple smartlock whose only purpose is so I alone can unlock my bedroom door without needing my physical key duplicated for others to enter at desired times.
To also be fair, I have a hodgepodge of smarthome lights and plugs linked via ifttt that I am now worried will not have any replacement option in 15 years. Maybe I made a mistake, but I do actually have a need to rely on a smartswitch to turn off the lights when I leave home.
Agreed, but there are choices. Even for the Ring doorbell, you can choose not to have a subscription if it suits your bpberds to have live video only, no history. But there are also full featured choices that do not require a subscription.
For me, I haven’t yet upgraded from Ring because I’m not ready to take on an NVR, nor build out the full system I want
Normally I’m a pretty earlier adopter of new technology but home automation doesn’t appeal to me because I don’t want to have to constantly pay a subscription to someone to process my commands when I have a perfectly functional computer.
I want to have a doorbell that does not financially commit me to a monthly fee I do not think that’s too much to ask.
For me, a doorbell that is more than a doorbell is a perfect example of tech built to fill a need no one had.
To be fair, I use a simple smartlock whose only purpose is so I alone can unlock my bedroom door without needing my physical key duplicated for others to enter at desired times.
To also be fair, I have a hodgepodge of smarthome lights and plugs linked via ifttt that I am now worried will not have any replacement option in 15 years. Maybe I made a mistake, but I do actually have a need to rely on a smartswitch to turn off the lights when I leave home.
There’s plenty of products without subscriptions… Including your doorbell example.
Maybe you haven’t actually researched this enough?
Agreed, but there are choices. Even for the Ring doorbell, you can choose not to have a subscription if it suits your bpberds to have live video only, no history. But there are also full featured choices that do not require a subscription.
For me, I haven’t yet upgraded from Ring because I’m not ready to take on an NVR, nor build out the full system I want