Do you remember those spider like cables that have to be put on your walls just to get your home armed with a monitoring system? Those holes that you have to drill for the wires? Or those carpets that were ripped up during installation?

Horrible, right? While you may have your own good and bad experiences about hardwired systems, it’s still a good thing that they’re in the past now.

However, if you still have those wires and cables at home, it’s not really necessary that you throw them all away. Insteon claims to work even with hardwired systems like the X10 units.

• Insteon works through the hub. It’s the white rectangular device that brains the entire system.
• It has an LED and two ports at the back.
  • It has an Ethernet port which you use to connect the device to a router. The other port is for the power source.
• It has the only dual-band mesh network capability.
  • This works to make sure your signals are sent and received by double sending them when the first attempt fails. The technology involves radio frequency signals and your house’s present electrical wirings to communicate.
• The Insteon won’t ask you to pay any monthly fee.
• It also has its own mobile app.
  • It is available for both iOS and Google play. Although a recent version for Windows and Windows phone has been released.
    • The latest release was integrated with the capability to listen to your voice commands.
  • You use the app to create scenes for your home such as setting your sensors to trigger your IP camera once it senses something.
• Other than the mobile app, Insteon has HouseLinc. It is a desktop software which you can download to customize your system.

      The Insteon Hub can be purchased at $39.99 per piece through their purchasing page. If you want to have control over thir party devices such as your door locks and lights, you may want to take a look at Insteon’s Hub Pro although it only works for iOS 8.        

Insteon offers several packages and equipments. You can purchase and add devices to the system without the need to worry about overloading it. As a matter of fact, as you add more devices, Insteon gets stronger. Each device can act as a receiver and a repeater based on your system. Therefore, the larger the system, the stronger the Insteon set.

• Insteon Hub Home Automation Kit

Price:    $99.99.

• Hub
• Lamplinc
  • It is Insteon’s version of a lamp dimmer.
  • It comes integrated with the same dual-band mesh technology.
  • It has a creative approach as a lamp light in that it has an adjustable ramp rate. You can set how your light behaves when it’s triggered. It can fade slowly or light up fast.
  • It can get you safely to bed without tripping over your dog.There’s no need to rush, too.
  • The Lamplinc can remember your scenes even when the power fails. It has a non-volatile memory that keeps your command on its system.
• Wireless Motion Sensor
  • If it senses something out of the ordinary, it can automatically turn its light on.
    • You can set how long it should keep its light. You can choose on having it on for 30 seconds or for two full hours.
  • It is also fully adjustable. You can take control of its motion sensitivity, threshold and even the said lighting control.
  • The motion sensor will work best when you place it within a range of 150 feet from the nearest dual band device. The motion sensor only works through radio frequency signals and it has to be near an access point or a dual band device for its signals to be interpreted accurately.
  • You can keep the sensors working through the batteries or by plugging them to a power source.
  • For the more fun part, the sensors are also made to be paint receptive. You can color them to match your interior.

Insteon Hub Home Automation Starter Kit

Price:   $149.99.

• Hub
• LampLinc Plug-In Lamp Dimmer
• Mini Remote- 4 scene
  • It serves as a wireless control to managing your lights and appliances at home
  • Since it also relies on radio- frequency signals, it needs to be near an access point or the hub for the signals to be converted properly.

Insteon Hub Home Automation Starter Kit Deluxe

Price:   $199.99.

• Starter Kit devices
• Switchlinc Dimmer
  • It has dual mesh and is able to control a light’s fade on and off setting.
• Insteon LED Bulb
  • It’s the world’s first networked dimmable light bulb.
  • It has a 9 watt LED light that can give you a 52, 000 hour life.
• Screw-less Wall Plate and a wall mount bracket.

Home Automation Starter Kit Premium

Priced: $499.99

• IP camera which is able to pan and tilt
• Leak sensor that has a ten year battery life.
• Insteon Thermostat lets you write a command for seven days. It remembers and carries out the command by the non-volatile memory.
• Hidden Door Sensors
  • It has a 150 feet range and are able to manage home lightings when it senses doors opening and closing.
• The 6 Button Keypad Dimmer Switch, on the other hand, functions as an access point, a controller and a dimmer.

Other than controlling your home, you can also set your Insteon to follow schedules depending on how you set it. You can have your lights turned on at 6 pm and have them off by 6 am. If you’re feeling more creative, you can set your fingers to work on creating “Scenes”. It can let you control more than one device while playing with more advanced features.

Setting up your kit is easy. You just plug the device to a power source and your router through the Ethernet port. You then download the app and you can start controlling Insteon. On the other hand, as you may have notice, buying the hub alone or device per piece would be more costly than purchasing them by set.  As there is no monthly fees, it’s kind of expected that the devices would cost more.