It looks like there’s a new excellent addition to the market of security camera systems by the company “Rogers”. This service will allow you to use your smart phone or tablet pc to control all of your home security cameras and alarm systems, as well as things such as thermostat, information on carbon monoxide levels, and even water leaks.
A security system that also lets homeowners control appliances and thermostats remotely using a smartphone is being offered by Rogers Communications.
Ian Pattinson, vice-president and general manager of Rogers Smart Home Monitoring, a new service that launched in Ontario Wednesday, said his family uses the system to arm security, turn off lights, automatically shut off devices such as a curling iron and adjust the thermostat in a single step when they leave home. Further adjustments can be made using his iPhone while he is out of the house.
“I’m connected everywhere,” he said at a media demonstration in Toronto. “If an alarm goes off, I have a better idea of what’s going on. This really gives the homeowner incredible control.”
This is very much along the same lines as the services offered by Verizon that we reported about just recently. It’s interesting to imagine how the future may be, with everyone able to control even the most minute of settings at their home remotely from any location in the world.
The technology, which Rogers hopes to make available outside Ontario soon, consists of an interactive touchpad that controls a typical security system monitored by Rogers from a central station for a monthly fee. The system has both cable and wireless connections, and is only available to Rogers cable high-speed internet customers.
It integrates email and text messaging to keep homeowners informed. Sensors and cameras detect motion, smoke or carbon monoxide or allow automatic or remote control of small appliances, thermostats or lights to save energy.
Adjustments can be made through the touchpad or through an iPhone or iPad app, although Android and BlackBerry apps are in the works.
Erica and Anthony Antonelli are among the 750 Rogers employees and their families who have been using the system recently as part of a final test before launch.
Anthony, 41, said he was initially most interested in the security features, as he and Erica, 39, have a new four-month-old daughter, Luciana. But the family has found other uses for it.
“The thermostat we use like 20 times a night,” he said, adding that there are several flights of stairs between the bedroom and the thermostat. Now the couple can make it warmer or colder using the iPad beside their bed.
Thankfully, the more this technology progresses and becomes more available, the more able we all will be to keep our families safe and sound no matter where we are in the world, or how far away.