Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Houses

Written by WebAdmin on August 23, 2019. Posted in Smart Homes, Uncategorized

The Internet of Things, put simply, is a connected network of various devices and machines. Each of these things has its own unique ID number and IP address. They connect together over the Internet, without your help or going through your computer. This Internet of Things, or IoT, lets you have a smart house. Smart houses come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages.

If you decide that you want to use the Internet of Things and turn your house into a smart house, you will find a lot of advantages.

• Functionality: One advantage is that your house may be more functional for you. For example, you can connect with your house using an app and turn on the lights so they are on when you come home. You can use a voice sensor to turn the lights off at night so you don’t have to get out of bed. This functionality is very helpful to people with medical issues.


• Environmentally Friendly: Your smart house can also be more environmentally friendly, since you can control things like thermostats and light bulbs. You can program those things so that they will only come on if they meet certain criteria or you turn them on yourself. That way your air conditioner doesn’t blow when the weather is cool outside.


• Insurance Benefits: You may not realize it, but a smart home can get you a discount on your homeowner’s insurance. This is especially true if you have your smart home set up with a security system that is monitored by an outside source. This is one that you can’t automatically count on, so make sure that you check your insurance policy or with an agent.


• Customization: You can also customize your system so it works the way you want it to. You can add whatever devices you want to use and ignore the ones you don’t. Some devices and programs come with open-source coding, which will let you alter the way the program works so that it will suit your needs better.

As with anything, the Internet of Things comes with many disadvantages, though many of these advantages are minor and can be overcome. You have to decide whether or not the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

• Privacy: One problem regarding smart homes is voice activation. In order for it to work, voice activation has to be on and listening all the time. Some news outlets suggest that some companies listen to smart assistant devices and can overhear what is said in your home.


• Bandwidth: The more things that you have hooked to your wifi, the more bandwidth you are going to take up. Since your smart house uses that wifi to do its job, you run the risk of slowing down everything on your system if you don’t have enough bandwidth. You can sign up for more bandwidth through your Internet service provider.


• Internet Security: One big problem with the IoT is that hackers can use all those machines and devices to host attacks and viruses on the rest of the Internet. Luckily, you can relatively easily overcome this by making sure that you change default passwords and use strong passwords. Strong passwords are generally long, with numbers, letters, and special characters.


• Power Surges: Another disadvantage is that power surges can cause problems with the entire automation system, so you will have to make sure that you protect everything from surges.

A smart house may be just the thing you need. You can contact A Tech Security and talk to our techs. They can help you decide what will work best for you and your home and get everything set up the right way.