I have account at Telemessage for last 5 or 6 years, they are reliable, and SMS to any country I tried used to come within seconds.
Besides SMS they also have some other interesting option for notifications channels - this is why the system named Multi Alert: phone (text to speech), fax, and email.
And the good news is that HTTP API is incredibly simple.
I’m curious what do you guys think - is it worth the effort to build an interface to them, or people won’t bother even to open an account there?
If it comes sooner than the stock vera interface i would certainly use it… 25min is frickin ridiculous… by the time i knew someone broke in… my house would be completely empty.
It would also be nice to be able to customize the messages, vera is waaay too long and complicated.
I would also like to use my own service. The findvera service is way too unreliable to be of any use. I can’t depend on it when I need it the most. It’s pretty good when working. But with security in mind, it has to work everytime.
Speaking of security, the same hardware used by pro services like ADT is available for DIY security - but the major difference between real security systems and home-brewed ones is design, not the sensors. Pro guys know that to make their service fly, they got to select very reliable way of communication, to have backups and contingency plans. There’s a good reason they generally don’t relay on residential internet, VoIP, email, etc - this would be the weak link of the chain, way too easily disruptable to be used in any mission-critical application.
Let’s see, without touching Vera’s software:
your residential internet connection doesn’t have SLA with you, and can be down for short or not so short maintenance anytime
SMS provider doesn’t have SLA with you (unlike one with security services provider), which means they don’t guarantee SMS delivery, not at all. Still, it may work better or worse, but it just doesn’t have to deliver
backbone used by your ISP can be down, ir happens, though rarely
your router and/or DSL/Cable modem can be rebooted or killed by sending the right packets from outside - some ISP were using that in the past to drop Torrent traffic. When router is off, Vera can’t send any notifications
your router can be disabled by DDoS attack
your router will be off on power outage. UPS? They don’t work reliably on this small loads. Security has 24-96h battery with no wall-warts involved
your router’s power supply can burn anytime - it’s cheap stuff unlike those used in security systems
your modem is another link with its own power supply not much different from the one used in router
your modem depends on power the same way
Vera’s power supply + power… oh, this is getting tiresome…
Pro security service at least knows about such concerns and takes them into consideration when designing their system.
So, what’s the point to demand Vera to be highly reliable, if the rest of your security infrastructure is inherently flawed? You simply cannot use Vera as any serious security platform - you only can take the actual security system and connect Vera to it to benefit from added input from sensors, and being able to control it via Vera. But reliable notification from Vera is simply nonsense in this context.
Just to get this out of the way… I have a real security system on the landline, and a cell backup. So vera isnt for real security.
BUT, I don’t have a door sensor for that system for my garage door… so I would like to know if a software bug in vera happened to open my garage door by accident while im not there… so I have notifications set up.
Despite all of the issues you brought up are true, vera should still be successful in delivering the notification 99% of the time within a reasonable time period. Reasonable is not 30min. And so far, my notifications are approaching a 50% success rate… again not reasonable.
My residential internet connection is more reliable than other connections I have had in the past. I am able to access my server at home almost every time I have tried to access it within the last year. And I do access it on a daily basis, multiple times. Given the fact that I have never seen significant downtime on these random events, it should be safe to say vera could get a message out most of the time. I am not asking for mission critical security here… just somewhat reliable from a consumer standpoint.
Having the above in mind I’m very much agree with you :)[/quote]
Yes, with this in mind, I hope nobody here expects vera to replace a security system… but vera does give added peace of mind with a security system.
325xi,
You seem to be pretty knowledgeable about security systems. I live in a new house and it had a Brinks (now Broadview) security system preinstalled in the house before I bought it. All of the windows and doors have contact sensors on them, plus a glassbreak sensor for a big sliding glass door…
I would like to replace the brinks control panel when my contract is up, but i would like to use the existing hardwired sensors and glassbreak for a new panel. I would also like this panel to be able to interface with vera (hopefully via zwave since my panel does not have any wires run to where my vera is located). Do I have any options here?
PS: By interface I mean I would like to use the existing hardwired window/door sensors as triggers in scenes and events. Eventually it would be nice to have basic control over the panel from vera, but that would probably require RS232 and a luup plugin to be made specifically for the panel… no?
If your sensors are wired then you’re free to choose. If wireless - you probably locked into the vendor.
The only comprehensive security panel plugin I know is the one written by guessed for Paradox alarm.
If I was going to replace the panel I first would look into Elk systems - it’s enormously flexible and extensible, it could also save money on long run as it offers optional ready to go interfaces to nearly anything in this world: sensors, I/O relays, pools, irrigation, etc. I don’t think there’s a plugin for Elk yet, but it must be not that hard to write one as Elk designed to interface with things.
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