currently using Ring for home surveillance, but looking for a Canadian alternative. I was looking into Eceboo as they are Canadian based, but their parent company is based in the US. do you think it would still be worth it to go for them, or do you know of other alternatives?
thank you!
Likely not what you’re looking for, but a note to consider: Most monitored security/camera/automation services (the ones with monthly fees) in Canada use the Alarm.com platform, meaning you’re supporting american indirectly.
Telus launched its own competition to ADC, with their own cameras, etc. But when you dig into the coding a bit, you can see the platform uses Amazon’s AWS, and the cameras are manufactured overseas.
If you have the patience and savvy, the self hosted Home Assistant suggested elsewhere is the way to go.
I personally went with Ecobee because they’re the most Canadian option I could find. Head office and I’m sure majority of product development is done here in Canada. The smart cameras were made in Malaysia rather than China too, which is a plus
thanks for the info. so far they do appear to be the most promising.
I personally avoid hooking my house up to the surveillance state in general.
good for you, but that wasn’t my question
Air-gapped local security system if you give a shit about privacy at all.
Home assistant and many other options to provide a nice interface.
Anything hooked up to the internet and “insert company’s” servers is a privacy nightmare and more trouble than its worth
What do you mean “air-gapped”? For backups, like off-aiir?
It means unable to access the internet, nor preferably your home network either (except dependent resources, like a storage server for the footage and/or control systems like Home Assistant). Remote access and control – if you need it – should require getting through an independent security layer, like a self-hosted VPN service.
I do care about privacy, and have been trying to convince those I live with to switch away from Ring because of it. I’m hoping there will be more convincing now with everything happening in the states.
I’m not the most knowledgeable on stuff like this, but with an airgapped system, how would that work for connecting? Realistically I’d like to be able to check the cameras when I’m away from home, and to me that sounds like it’s local only?
I’m just guessing here.
But it could be possible to put the doorbell and camera system in its own network that’s only accessible via the local network. If you make a VPN to the local network, only the person with credentials could VPN into the camera network from outside.
I’m a noob at this though, so I’d need a guide.
+1 to this. I’ve mostly “disconnected” most of my devices from the internet with home assistant. Anything still using the internet is heavily restricted and on a separate network from my main lan.
Zwave and ZigBee devices are amazing for most “smart” switches and don’t require internet access when hooked up via a home assistant deployment.
Ok what would a monitored security system have to do with privacy? I’m talking like old school alarm monitoring.
