Why I'm staying with Insteon

Insteon Devices

As most smart home enthusiasts know, Insteon closed up shop last year.  It did it so suddenly that their servers were shut down before anybody said anything to their customers.  All of a sudden, it was gone.  Fortunately, Insteon is not 100% reliant on the cloud to work.  I didn't notice for a week.  All of the switches kept working.  What failed is the links to outside services like Alexa and even the Insteon app.  So, no more voice control and no more changes/updates to scenes or adding new hardware.

The exodus began.  People started getting rid of their hardware.  Other home automation services like Home Assistant reached out to Insteon users because their software could control Insteon devices.  I didn't make any immediate moves but I started looking.  However, before I found anything, the lights came back on.  A group of Insteon enthusiasts had purchased what was left of Insteon and turned the servers back on.  So, was I saved or are these new owners just prolonging the inevitable?

There have been good and bad things since the new owners took over.  They began charging for the Insteon cloud service.  This rankled a lot of people because they're used to getting their cloud service for free.  I figured that $40 for a year is pretty cheap (less than the cost of an Insteon switch) and I wanted to get my Alexa voice commands back.  I paid for a year and decided I would watch and see.  Would Insteon last another year?  Well, so far so good.

On the good side, they've started manufacturing their devices again and have even introduced 2 new switches.  They've also been updating their apps and have been very engaged with the community.  These are all very good signs.

So - should the Insteon customers stick around?  Is the ship seaworthy or is it taking on water?  I can't really answer those questions for others but for myself, I've decided to stick around.

Why?

First of all, my favorite Insteon devices are their ceiling fan controllers and their 8 button keypads.  I have a single switch in my house wired to 2 ceiling fans.  Either they're both on or they're both off.  Not ideal.  So I put a ceiling fan controller in each ceiling fan and swapped out my single switch for an 8 button keypad.  So now I have 4 buttons for the ceiling fans (light 1, fan 1, light 2, fan 2) and 4 buttons for other Insteon lights (they can be programmed to control any Insteon device).  This is truly the killer app for me.

When Insteon first died, I looked around.  I knew I needed something to replace my setup.  Well, nobody sells ceiling fan controllers and nobody sells 8 button keypads.  I am baffled by that.  There are tons of smart device vendors but they all seem to limit themselves to simple switches and dimmers.  Maybe they figure that we can do anything complicated in the app.  Well, my goal is to never need to use the app except to set up new devices and update automations.  It takes longer to start up the app and pick what you're doing that it would take to go and flip a switch.

After I gave up my fruitless search, I decided that I would use my Insteon devices until they stopped working and then I'd try to rig up something else.  Well, now I don't have to.  Woohoo!

My second reason for sticking around is pretty technical.  I've got a lot of smart stuff in my house.  Sonos speakers, Insteon Switches, Hue lights, Nest smoke detectors, and a couple of cameras.  One problem I've run into is when my devices don't play well together.  I had to configure my Sonos speakers and Hue lights so that they wouldn't interfere with each other.  I've got around 50 devices showing up on my router and that's not everything because the Insteon and Hue devices only show up as a single hub (well 2 hubs, 1 for Insteon and 1 for Hue).  With all of these devices, some of which run their own networks, I'm hesitant to introduce another group of devices into the mix.  What would that do to my network?  More service drop outs?  More complex configurations?  It does not sound appealing.

I've had enough trouble keeping what I've got from competing.  I don't need to add anything else.

My third reason for sticking around is reliability.  I know Insteon has had some hardware issues but my devices have been rock solid.  I've been running Insteon for years and they just keep on going.  I've never had a failed switch or keypad.  I did have a hub die and that was a pain but Insteon now offers a service to reprogram your new hub to match your dead one so you don't have to re-set up everything.  Nice!  Well, full disclosure, I did have a plug in module die as well but that could have been due to it being an indoor module that I kept using outside (to control my Christmas lights).

My fourth reason is Home Assistant.  A couple weeks ago, I took the plunge and set up Home Assistant on an old Raspberry Pi 3 that I wasn't using any more.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I thought I'd try it out.

Sonos Speaker

Well, a week or two before, I'd installed a second Insteon 8 button keypad.  I had 5 of the buttons programmed but didn't know what to do with the other 3.  Home Assistant, I found, connects to my Insteon Switches and to my Sonos speakers.  I a manner of minutes, I'd programmed the 3 extra buttons to play 3 different playlists on my Sonos speakers.  I even set up 1 button to play one playlist on weekdays and a different playlist on Sunday.  Wow!  I've never been able to control Sonos with Insteon.  It's cool!

So now, even if Insteon dies again, I can control everything with Home Assistant.  That's called hedging my bets!

In a year from now or two, will Insteon be gone?  Maybe.  Many home automation companies have come and gone.  Whatever I replace Insteon with could disappear as well.  There are no guarantees.  What I have in Insteon is good hardware that doesn't mess with my network, works reliably, and now seems to be run by home automation enthusiasts.  That's as good or better than I would get anywhere else.  So I will be sticking with Insteon and I hope to try out one of their new switches soon.  It's good stuff!