I plan to look for devices that support open protocols and open firmware, but in the meantime I need to vent about this.
Here’s the only status I can find of the Wemo app/service:
https://downdetector.com/status/wemo/
While investigating not being able to login to the Wemo app for three days, I discovered that Belkin announced they’re turning off their cloud services for Wemo in a couple months. They only announced it in July of this year.
https://www.belkin.com/support-article/?articleNum=335419 (archive.org)
Some of the light switches will still work with HomeKit, but I have one that doesn’t have the necessary QR code. Belkin (Wemo) says to find an e-waste recycler. Companies should be required to provide a path to install open firmware when they stop supporting their products. Apparently you can install OpenWRT on these if you haven’t patched an old exploit:
https://www.realmtech.net/2016-04/openwrt-on-a-belkin-wemo-easy-way
One more gripe: They apparently emailed their customers (but who reads email?) but failed to put an announcement in their app—the obvious place to put it.
It’s such a “fuck you, we’ve got your money” move that I have no plans of buying any Belkin product again.
I guess I’ll get to enjoy the journey I’ll be taking to find out what the latest developments in open devices has been since I installed my closed-system devices. Thankfully the options and community has been growing.
Not so nice reminder to avoid these proprietary, manufacturer-specific ecosystems. I went for Zigbee devices, and in the future I’ll add Matter. And I have a few cheap wifi plugs and I picked them because there’s an alternative open-source firmware available. Guess all of that is going to work until the relais inside die of old age.
I hope you didn’t waste too much money on those Wemo devices.
Even if the devices had continued to work, it was a pretty pricy endeavor. Knowing they’re obsolete in less than a decade means the cost spread over that few years is ridiculous.
https://www.belkin.com/support-article/?articleNum=317601
I unsuccessfully tied to get ahold of someone via chat on this page.
How hard is it to run servers? How much data does turning on or off a device even use?
They should have added one last feature to support community servers, so anyone could host them. Companies really don’t care about burning bridges.
Yes, that’s a fairly big issue with Internet of Things devices. Manufacturers aren’t incentivised to provide prolonged support. That mainly costs them money and they rather produce and sell new devices. I don’t think there is a cure, we’d need those laws to force them to open-source everything and pay an e-waste fee every time they discontinue service.
I run a Home Assistant server at home and exclusively buy devices that work without cloud integrations. HA runs on something like a Raspberry Pi, their own hardware (Home Assistant Green / Yellow) and I think that should be a few Watts. I run it on a NAS server and that’s like 18W. It’s not hard to do. But definitely takes some time and effort to learn about all the stuff, set it up and maintain it and read some online-forums to make sure I buy future-proof devices.
Data is negligible. You either have some Zigbee/Thread/Matter bridge or USB dongle and it does some magic, or the devices talk via the home Wifi. The one complicated thing is to get the server accessible from outside of the own Wifi. They provide a paid service, or you’d learn about port forwardings if your internet provider allows you to do them.
I guess that’s not the only solution to do it, though. Just what I do. And unfortunately it’s again an investment, both in time and effort, and in new hardware.
At the time, these seemed good because Belkin has been around forever. They’re not top-of-the-line, but they’re ubiquitous.
I do have iOS devices in my home, so having it work with either their cloud or HomeKit seemed like a good backup in case something like this happens.
This worries me though. What if my light switch needs to be reset after that date? Will it connect again?
I’m savvy enough that I have these on their own firewalled VLAN, and I can get to them via Wireguard when I’m out (though I mostly use the app when at home). If they really are garbage now, I’ll try to be optimistic about it since devices don’t last forever, and I would have wanted to upgrade/replace these eventually. It’s just terrible that it is so soon.
Since my friends and family do come to me for technology questions, I’ll help them steer clear of Belkin in the future. It’s a harder sell to get them to use non-proprietary tech. They are willing to pay more and replace sooner just to have everything in one app with no setup.