Insteon customers turned Insteon’s lights back on

Image: Insteon

The good news is that Insteon is back and it was resurrected by its customers. The message was posted by the company's new CEO.

We are a small group of passionate Insteon users that have successfully acquired Insteon. Like many of you, our homes are powered by Insteon’s amazing dual-mesh technology and highly configurable products.

SmartLabs, the company that owned the smart lighting system, ran into financial difficulties, which caused Insteon's server to go offline. A group of passionate users stepped in and took over after a financial services firm sold its assets.

The group wants to re-build the Insteon business. It is not known if a subscription fee will be needed to keep the server going. When Wink ran into financial issues a few years ago, they started charging for services that used to be free.

Image: Insteon

In order to stem the loss of customers, the first priority was to get the hubs online. The slightly worrying stealth move is due to the fact that they were able to reactivate the service before they had access to the site. More and more customers were giving up hope so it was important to restore it as soon as possible. Not all functions are back online, but we are working on it. We want you to understand that this is urgent and that you need to be patient.

It's great news for owners of Insteon devices, which include smart switches, plugs, and other lighting products. There was no way to program the devices using the app because they had lost their cloud connection.

It isn't a good sign for the smart home as a whole. No one who buys a smart light switch wants to have to buy the company just to keep the lights on.

Connected home manufacturers need to develop products and services with longevity in mind and have an actionable plan in place if they have to switch the lights off. These two strategies should be included in a business plan for smart devices.