......When you see the dreaded "3rd party servers" being blamed for HA control failure in your home you begin to ask what level of control you really have.
Some people wonder more than others.
HA... is all about control! For some...
maybe even most... pushing that "button" and a light turning on in the hall, outside, or across the room provides a "control exhilaration" of sorts. Others... like myself (
and I may be in a minority) feel you can't really gain the advantage of control... unless you assign the control to other factors and/or devices. In other words... to gain automated control... you must give away actual control.
Many x10 users are only too familiar with the failure or collapse of 3rd party servers and the resulting chaos it causes. Obviously your broadband provider is a 3rd party involved in the control of your HA particularly when you operate this control offsite. I really do not think its advisable to introduce another layer of 3rd party involvement and complicate matters further.
We used to discuss whether HA is a lifestyle... or a hobby. Either way by it's very nature...
HA implies using cutting edge technology. And yes that does involve some limited risk.
I am old enough to remember when automation meant a servo-dial (channel selector) setting on the side table next to Dad's easy chair. The other servo motor attached by wire to the channel dial on the 4ftX4ft color TV... with a 12in semi-round screen. When Dad later upgraded to the Zenith Space Command... I learned to emulate the click sound and could change channels without the remote in hand (
this may have been the earliest form of "voice command").
There was a time when ISP's (Internet Service Providers) used to brag about a 93% uptime. No longer would that be considered acceptable. But it was the latest great best going at one time. And today... we have and will continue to see interuptions in service..... storms, lighting, forest fires, sun spots, earth quakes, volcanoes, crying babies, divorce, sickness, and death. This is all temporary and should be enjoyed... NOT worried about. We need to exploit whatever technology there is available. As good as HA is.... its limits are hindered ONLY by our own imaginations (and fears).