Another Cloud Service shuts down servers.

Another cloud service is shutting down next month.  On February 5th, Charter (aka Spectrum) will be shutting down it’s Home Security service.  This smart home service allowed customers to purchase lights, cameras, thermostats and alarm equipment for their home and then connect them all to the Charter-Spectrum service for remote monitoring and control.  Since the Home Security servers will be shut down, the devices will no longer be able to connect or be managed.   This is just another example of a company killing its service and rendering purchased home equipment useless.  Wink users might be in for a similar fate if that company does not become solvent and shuts down. Charter Spectrum which stopped marketing this service around 2016, primarily uses ZigBee for its communication protocol in the home.  With the exception of the security devices, most of the smart home devices should be able to be factory reset and paired with another ZigBee compatible hub like Hubitat.  Of course, window and door sensors will most likely become useless since they are connected back to alarm panels hardcoded to use Charter’s service.  You might be able to repurpose the wires though like I did to create your own Alarm system. https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2017/06/building-my-home-alarm-system-hardware.html There is a tiny glimmer of hope that Charter will do the right thing and issue a firmware patch to its devices unlocking them from proprietary servers (that are being shut down) and allow the devices to be reconfigured to other services but I doubt it will happen. Non-standard implementations like this are what makes the Google, Apple, Amazon partnership so exciting.  They are proposing a Connected Home over IP project to establish standards.  Of course, our recommendation is to leverage a system like Home Assistant to free you from vendor lock-in and allow you to mix and match ecosystems out there as they come and go. https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2019/12/project-connected-home-over-ip.html Parts mentioned: Hubitat ZigBee Hub: https://amzn.to/38nKPZ7 Github Repo: CCostan - https://github.com/CCOSTAN/Home-AssistantConfig You can read about all of this and more Home Automation articles in greater detail on my Website: https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2020/01/charter-home-security-shuts-down-its-service.html CONTACT ME: https://www.vcloudinfo.com/about-me SUPPORT: Please consider supporting this channel by visiting the blog and/or using the Amazon Affiliate links found in the descriptions. They cost nothing extra and really help the channel. Affiliate Disclosure - https://www.vcloudinfo.com/p/affiliate-disclosure.html 👋 About this channel: My name is Carlo. I've been running Home Assistant for a BUNCH of years. Almost from the very beginning actually. This channel is focused on bringing what I have implemented at my own house to you so that you can bring it to your house. The channel will be a mix of reviews, tutorials, and inspiration. It is a companion to my GitHub site that holds all the code for my Smart Home and my main site where I keep the more in-depth technical writings. I hope you will enjoy the videos and consider subscribing. CREDITS: Design by Steve Fatone - IG: @Steve_Fatone