I currently have a Vera Plus and want to upgrade to an Ezlo Secure. What I have read in Ezlo announcements is that the device is warranted for three years and subsequent to that, a monthly charge would be incurred if you want to use remote access to your devices. Does that mean unless you pay up, you only can control your devices while in the home? That makes no sense, if I am reading their info correctly. My Vera I can control from anywhere at any time without a charge. The announcement goes on to say, that it will cost pennies s day. What does that mean? Anybody read this the same way I do?
Read what? You have a link to the source.
I think they will have to charge a small amount for some features moving forward or how else will they make on going money after the hub sale? For future developments and support etc.
I’ve not read any of this before but here are some extracts.
"How long is the warranty period for your devices?
There is a 3-year warranty built into the purchase of each control hub, but the warranty will be extended for as long as you maintain your Ezlo Anywhere Access. The warranty for peripheral devices from our family of brands, such as VistaCam cameras and Centralite devices, is a one year term. Third-party products are subject to the warranties of their manufacturer."
"What if I choose not to extend my Anywhere Access after three years?
You’ll still be able to maintain all the functionality you’re accustomed to when you’re inside your home. However, you will no longer be able to control or monitor your system remotely, your system will no longer be backed up to the cloud on a daily basis, and access to live customer care will be restricted."
To me it reads as if you need an “Anywhere Access” from the onset for remote access not just from when your 3 years warranty is up.
It’s not the case right now however as you can access the Ezlo hubs remotely currently without this subscription but everything is still in beta.
There was talk of a subscription service where every so often you’d get a new hub sent to you as they brought out new versions. But just ideas that got floated around on the forum.
I’d have to read more from their website to see what they have finally decided? Or maybe someone from Ezlo can clarify.
"If I already own an Ezlo or Vera hub, am I required to participate in this program in order to maintain my system?
No, this program applies only to Ezlo hubs purchased on or after May 10, 2021. Should you choose to upgrade to a new hub later, then enrollment will be required."
Maybe you only have to pay after the first 3 years by the sounds of it. Although it’s not very clear either way to me.
"How much will I have to pay to keep my Anywhere Access after the initial three-year term?
If you want to maintain this service after three years, you’ll be charged just pennies a day—and we’ll extend your product warranty for as long as you choose to do so. In the coming months we’ll let you know about the packages we’ll be offering, and the features associated with each, so you can choose the plan that best fits your needs."
EDIT:
Just seen this so the first 3 years of “Access Anywhere” are included with the hub purchase.
"Access home from anywhere
You’ll get 3 years of access included with your Ezlo hub. After that, you can control and monitor your home remotely for just pennies per day."
So after 3 years if you still want remote access to your Ezlo hub via their cloud platform you will have to pay “pennies a day”.
Yes after the 3 years is up you will need to pay a charge to remotely access your hub via their cloud platform and services.
That’s how it reads to me, now I’ve read it all properly.
And that is probably why Vera Control Ltd was struggling along with little investment and innovation as they only had income from hub sales and then no repeat income to sustain things.
Personally I think if its not too expensive and they are not taking the piss, then a monthly subscription to know your hub and smart home system is being maintained and supported for the long term, is not a bad thing.
However if I was paying this charge I’d expect things to work fully and properly and not buggy and I’d expect for all my devices to work with the Ezlo hub etc.
I agree. I guess, if you stay with Vera, there will be no charges, but Vera’s life is limited. Do other automation apps charge for remote access? Just wondering, if they don’t, how will they compete?
Good question and I am not sure, we’d have to do a bit of Googling. I’m sure some of them will do.
WOW, I had no idea EZLO would be charging a service fee when i purchased.
I gave up on my WINK2 hub for the very reason, they started charging monthly fees.
geez, maybe WINK was not so bad after all.
The devil is in the details. You really have to dig to get this info. And, they still have not put a price on it. They just call it pennies a day.
The current business model of Charge one off for hardware then provide Cloud support forever is not a sustainable business model. That is why we see many home automation companies go out of business.
You have to pay salaries for engineers to continually create a new firmware update,
You have to pay salaries for engineers to continually improve your cloud service.
You have to pay to run the cloud servers, hosting, replacing the hardware every 3-5 years and so on…
There is an ongoing cost to providing the service. That is why a business model of charging once but pay for these for a long time doesn’t work.
We are trying to build a model that we know is sustainable and will guarantee service for our users, where our users know that we will be there for them.
PS: Subscription will also have other goodies included in it…(details later)…
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You can read Company’s official blog that explains further:
And here is the FAQs on this:
Razors and razor blades, people. Everybody wants free beer and ice cream, but, as mentioned that’s not sustainable without significantly increasing the unit price to pay for everything.
That said, I won’t be buying an Ezlo device without guarantees that I can log into the device locally and fully control my environment without any cloud interaction. It took me a while to buy a new Vera when they went with cloud validation, and I’ve never been happy about it.
I get some high powered features will require compute in the cloud, but largely I don’t care about those features. I can get remote control via VPN tunnel into my home network. The rest is cool but nothing I’m willing to pay for, at this time.
I thought you can do that today. What is missing?
Thank you!
Our philosophy is “Always choose the Most efficient Method”. If something can be done locally then do it locally (within limits of practicality).
One example is viewing recordings from cameras, click on recordings and it says must be logged in, click on that link and get sent to, ://home.getvera.com/users/login.
Users and account info takes me to the same link. I have both my own account but other family members that should be able to log in and use Vera.
Double checked, viewing logs that are local to USB stick requires login at the web site.
Do you have a camera with local storage?
Viewing logs to local USB: let me check with the guys.
Also: Are you using an Ezlo? Are these requests coming as a result of your experience with an actual Ezlo Hub?
Yes. Some menus in Vera will require that you log in, this is because it is considered a more secured approach when accessing camera recordings you may not want just anyone on the local network to have access to. Also when you need to make changes under the Users & Account Info. If no login were required, anyone on the local network would have access to make account changes. In a way, connecting locally is like using a sort of quick guest access, but for full access, you will need to log in with an administrator-level account.