Assess The Options For Home Security
As cold weather and darker nights loom nearer and there are fewer eyes and ears about in the neighbourhood, it may be time to review home security.
The good news is that the marketplace is buoyant with an increasingly wide range of hi-tech monitoring solutions driving prices down.
The bad news is that, in many cases, items from different manufacturers will not work with each other.
Modern wireless solutions, using cameras that work both day and night, allow monitoring from a mobile phone or tablet and can alert that device when movement is detected. Some use recording to local storage, some to the cloud.
Manufacturers such as Netgear, through its Arlo brand, Panasonic and Yale are now selling various combinations of wireless indoor/outdoor cameras and storage options that can be used to monitor a home remotely from phones or tablets across the web from anywhere.
Some of these solutions can incorporate other security hardware like plugs that will turn lights on.
But, every item needs to be of the same brand.
The future in the market, though, probably belongs to Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit.
Each of the leading players has higher ambitions of the fully-integrated smart home, where the central hub talks to the heating and fridge as well as the lighting and security and products from different third-party manufacturers can be networked.
It’s a tougher ask and not fully there yet. Also, those three will be prime targets for hackers, so security solutions could become security risks.
As it stands, shopping around and understanding the strengths, limitations and future proofing of each option is vital.
