Re: Insteon -- Any New Experiences?

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

I will agree that their emphasis on terms like "dual mesh network" is
misleading - I've posted critical comments on that here. But the diagram you
cite refers to, as yet, non-existent RF devices that can be network members.
Unless they've added something in the past few days, the RF SignaLincs are
the only Insteon RF products available.

However, equating a slow, one-way ASK PLC protocol like X-10 with a fast,
two-way (with ACK/NAK) BPSK PLC protocol like Insteon is a much greater
distortion than anything from SmartHome's marketeers.

RF has a place as an adjunct to any basic network, whether it be hard-wired
or PLC, but a reliable RF-only network is likely to be far too expensive for
most of us - just check the prices on Lutron's RadioRA. Z-Wave has been
available for much longer than Insteon but about the only people touting
Z-Wave in this forum are those with a financial interest in it or those who
don't understand the fundamentals and are easily swayed by hyperbolic press
releases.

One thing that I wish SmartHome would do is publish the range of "noise"
frequencies that will be a problem for Insteon. I think it will be a narrow
band when compared to X-10 - older X-10 devices respond to frequencies
between ~75-200kHz.

I think Insteon will likely be ubiquitous in a few years. It will be hard
for anyone to compete with $20 dimmable switches.

"fpmacko" <fpmacko@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Oops.  I erred in the orignal posting.  When I said "boosterlinc" I
>should have said "powerlinc", of which I was using the USB flavor as my
>PC's interface to the network.  Regarding my reading of the white
>paper, while I admit that I didn't take the time to read it as closely
>as I should have, you're not entirely accurate in saying they use RF
>only to couple the two phases.  The figure on page 8 indicates that
>Insteon RF devices are also members of the RF network.  But the bottom
>line is that they do indeed advertise this as a wireless system, which
>is not entirely true...quoting their literature ...... "INSTEON? is a
>powerful, wireless home-control networking technology that simply,
>affordably and reliably integrates....."   But it ain't entirely
>wireless.  I was looking forward to getting away from the
>inconsistencies of my x10 coverage by foresaking powerline signaling.
>Their mention of the fact that I may need filters in order to make
>Insteon work properly should have been a hint to me that it isn't
>really as wireless as they say it is.  But to be fair, their refund was
>full and prompt.