My choice with their new house was pretty simple. They wanted a smart home, and being the tech son I would inevitably have to help them at some point. So either I debug a system that is open and familiar, with remote access and reliable software/hardware. Or I deal with some closed proprietary trash which will end-up with me on the phone with some incompetent cash grab company. As mentioned in my post, the latter would have cost 3 to 4 times the price of all the hardware we bought (see the link) and we would just get some SBC or cheap tower instead.
With the current setup, I can easily connect via VPN to configure network devices. Ubiquiti also makes it very simple to apply network changes or upgrade it remotely (as long as it's from the same brand). I set up extensive monitoring and alerting to proactively resolve issues. I also gave my parents some training and docs on how to plug things to the Ethernet sockets (if they want to setup a new printer for example) or what to do to bypass the router (rewiring) in case the main router fails.
As a side note to helping my parents. They are both 70, not the most tech literate people but they manage to do all basic things without much trouble. I put them both on Ubuntu 8 years ago, never had any issues whatsoever. I get maybe one message or call in 6 months for a question, but it's usually web related. Once in a while when I get home I update the distro, but that's pretty much all the maintenance I do. I have Teamviewer on all their devices, just in case but never really had to use it so far.
> They are both 70, not the most tech literate people but they manage to do all basic things without much trouble. I put them both on Ubuntu 8 years ago, never had any issues whatsoever. I get maybe one message or call in 6 months for a question
I had a few questions if you don't mind answering as I'm doing something similar for a vacation home (and my own, but this is more relevant to the remote one).
How many IoT devices are you working with?
I don't have the best router up north and some of my lousier routers can't handle more than about 25 devices before they start crapping the bed.
Do they disconnect often from your router (and do the successfully reconnect)?
Similar router problem, though I've found some of the more finickier devices I own can have problems in my home where I have a number of options for connections.
If you haven't had these problems, what router are you using?
What about "the internet is down"?
This was less of an issue when everything was Z-Wave/ZigBee, but all of the cheap stuff is WiFi. This mostly only concerns "the lights" and "the plugs". I don't want a switch to stop being able to control devices it's not directly attached to if home assistant or the target device can't reach the internet. All of the ones that I own broadcast state and can accept commands via UDP over the local network so I was thinking of writing something that HA could call, locally, which would issue those commands and receive the statuses (so they'd always be local-only).
I only have only few (less than 10) IoT devices using WiFi and they are spread over 2 fairly good access points. The rest are either wired or using ZigBee. My router doesn't have WiFi functionality itself, it's a Unifi Dream Machine SE[0] with the APs and cameras connected in PoE. It's plugged on a UPS, so hopefully the internet should still work if the electricity cuts.
Regarding your issues, I'm not an expert but I would recommend deploying more access points (pick some good ones) on the areas where your IoT devices are. Best advice I have is to wire your access points, I always had bad results when bridging them wirelessly. Although if you are in a remote area with little interference, you could get better results.
There’s another aspect though - when you come to sell the home it’s easy to market Crestron, Control4 and others specifically because they are standard (albeit expensive) solutions and have a whole ecosystem of consultants who can be brought in to diagnose and fix issues, upgrade stuff.
With DIY you are usually left with at best ripping it all out and selling it without any “Smart Home” promises, you can I guess still market that it has structured cabling to enable smarts though?
Yeah that's a good point. In our case, all smart systems can work independently (via their own app or physical controls) or be integrated with other smart home platforms. It's true that if they would ever move out, the HA instance might be gone, making the house loose a bit of its brains when it comes automation. But the base to build on is there, still has value I guess. And the rack with Ethernet in all rooms has some value too.
Edit: The only "problematic" part would be the cameras. Not sure if Unifi cams can work with other platforms than Ubiquiti's. But in any case, the wiring is there (Ethernet) and the cameras can be replaced or a new owner could bring their own Unifi surveillance console (or we could sell it with it).
With the current setup, I can easily connect via VPN to configure network devices. Ubiquiti also makes it very simple to apply network changes or upgrade it remotely (as long as it's from the same brand). I set up extensive monitoring and alerting to proactively resolve issues. I also gave my parents some training and docs on how to plug things to the Ethernet sockets (if they want to setup a new printer for example) or what to do to bypass the router (rewiring) in case the main router fails.
As a side note to helping my parents. They are both 70, not the most tech literate people but they manage to do all basic things without much trouble. I put them both on Ubuntu 8 years ago, never had any issues whatsoever. I get maybe one message or call in 6 months for a question, but it's usually web related. Once in a while when I get home I update the distro, but that's pretty much all the maintenance I do. I have Teamviewer on all their devices, just in case but never really had to use it so far.