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[Mic_]

Question; what happened to ones ability to interact with Home automation if the home Internet (IP Provider) goes down? Is there any work-around known, if one is away from home (Happened recently) and the home internet link goes down? Cell phone service, being independent, was not impacted. strange to be out there and cut off.


The question is, is there remote HA interaction without the internet?

[SkipWX10]

I recently went on a three week trip...normally I would just leave the CM15a in charge, but if we had a power outage, there would have been no way to reset the clock. This would normally have been 'internet independent' and the CM15a runs my house and has done for over 13 years (in this house)

This time, though, I decided to try the WM100 and set it up to take the CM15a....I would be able to log into the app after an outage and re-sync the time and all would be well. This, of course, IS 'internet dependent' but had ability to 'recover' if power or the internet went down for a bit.

I know this doesn't answer you question other than 'you can use the CM15a independent of the internet' and doean't account for lots of other HA tasks...

[brobin]

The question is, is there remote HA interaction without the internet?

Unless you just want individual control of specific things via a dial in touch tone controller, the short answer is 'no.'

 If there were likely to be an extended internet outage one could always install a cellular data modem and pay for a data plan but that's probably overkill.  If a power failure and extended internet outage causes a device to lose it's time, a battery backup might solve it or switching to a device with a real time clock with on board battery would work.

I use a controller with an onboard coin cell to backup the clock so without internet everything in the house will function normally as happened during Hurricane Irma when we had generator power but no internet for 10 days.

[dave w]

The question is, is there remote HA interaction without the internet?

I (still) have an ancient Leviton DEC Telephone Transponder, catalog number 6325. Call your home phone (landline) and the 6325 seizes the line after the answer machine picks up. You can control all 256 X10 codes by doing a tap dance on your phone keypad (DTMF tones required). You carry a little card with numerical codes for House Code and Unit Code so you will always know, wherever you are in the world, how to turn on your hot tub...in 1988.
I see brobin gave you the "short answer" in his response. This is the long one. 

[brobin]

I had one of those too and I impressed my date one night by doing exactly as you suggest - turning on the hot tub while driving home from dinner.  That was when a mobile phone was the size of a desk phone with a shoebox sized radio in the trunk and a little pigtail antenna stuck to the rear window.  She was so impressed that 35 years later she's still here!   

[Mic_]

Putting thoughts to get around any single point failures is the essence of what I learned recently. As technology marches forward, many of us forget alternatives, until we confront situations that call for thinking outside the box. many in this forum do just that

[Brian H]

I have a few of the X10 TR16A Touch Tone Controllers in storage. I use to have one in use to phone in X10 module controls.

I can also remember my early days at Motorola. The Mobil phones in the trunk of a car with a control head in the car. Some you could not even dial yourself. You had to tap the transmit button and then a Mobil Operator would answer and connect you.

[Knightrider]

We had R&J mobile phone service. Was just a vhf radio that patched the phone through an operator. Single channel, simplex with an alert tone to wake up a particular receiver. Not very private.

[Tuicemen]

The first program I ever created allowed you to dial into your PC and control your HA via a button press this was later upgraded to allow voice control but you needed a Voice modem.

[brobin]

Putting thoughts to get around any single point failures is the essence of what I learned recently. As technology marches forward, many of us forget alternatives, until we confront situations that call for thinking outside the box. many in this forum do just that

One thing I've thought about as a work around to a "no internet" situation is using my security panel's cellular communicator to send X10 codes in the blind.  The Caddx (Interlogic) panel has the ability to send X10 and I have an app that connects to the panel via the cellular communicator.  So if the internet could be restored with a cable modem and/or router reboot, I could send X10 commands to reboot them if they're plugged into appliance modules. If the internet was down to something external to my home I could send other X10 commands but can't think of any reason to.

[Mic_]

All this banter is quite useful to stir the creative process. Someone in this forum posted about solar security cameras...I did look them up, and it seems that they could be the tick in this instance...I had to bug out of town, on more than one occasion due to Hurricanes...There was a point I was a long way off, not knowing what the situation was at home, because power was out...so, all the folks here bring many interesting thoughts and ideas to the floor...Thanks all

[Tuicemen]

Someone in this forum posted about solar security cameras...I did look them up, and it seems that they could be the tick in this instance...I had to bug out of town, on more than one occasion due to Hurricanes...There was a point I was a long way off, not knowing what the situation was at home, because power was out...so, all the folks here bring many interesting thoughts and ideas to the floor...Thanks all

A solar security camera would not help you if your away and the internet is down.

It is possible to connect a RPi or Arduino to the internet via a GSM module. If the RPi also had a camera module you could check it from anywhere as long as cell coverage wasn't disrupted where the RPi was setup.
Also if you had a Home Automation program installed on it you could send & possibly receive SMS messages or even pull up its User interface for HA control.
 

[Mic_]

That sounds like the ticket. Will look into it