Telstra Smart Home

Shocking service – I purchased a google home mini through Telstra points store The mini stopped working a few months later On contacting Telstra I was told it was not their problem .I was told to contact Google.I contacted Google Only to be told to contact Telstra.I again got the same response from Telstra. I give up . Well done Telstra (not) Show details

Telstra Smart Home is okay once you get it set up – Purchased in Aug 18, couldn't set it up, rang the support number, they identified it as a broken hub. They sent a new hub straight away, but it still wouldn't work. Seemed like the attempt to set it up the first time had somehow messed up the account. Oh well, no worries, they escalated to next level support. Now this guy was awesome, he called… Read more

when he said he would call, did what he said he was going to do, and after a couple of weeks effort, he got everything working. I have the security kit, which came with an indoor camera, a power plug for the tv (or anything really), two door or window sensors, and two remote light globes. Everything is working perfectly now, the camera is really good, excellent night vision and very clear day vision. The door sensors are great and work every time. And the power plug has our tv connected and it works every time from anywhere. I havent connected the light globes yet, and probably wont for a while, but we checked them and they are fine. Yes, the initial set up and effort getting it working was a total pain in the butt, but the Telstra support folk didnt stop trying until it was working, which included sending me spare parts very quickly. And because it didnt work for the first few months, the refunded me the fee I had paid without me having to ask. I dont think it is always as easy to set up as they advertise, but once it is set up, it is great. You get emails or a text, or both, when someone walks past the camera, or opens one of the doors or windows with a sensor. You can set the system up numerous different ways. It is very flexible and efficient. Quite good and I would recommend it. I qualify it by suggesting those like me, with little to no IT skills, just go ahead and ring the support number right off the bat. That way you wont mess it up and lock out your account like I did. 4/5.....

Don't bother – As someone who is usually an early adopter this is one of the most disappointing tech devices I have ever bought. Total waste of money. It is difficult to set up, totally unstable and support is non-existent. And once you have bought into the service you are stuck with it until at least the end of the contract period or if you have bought… Read more

expensive items like cameras until you can sell them, hack them (no success so far) or afford to replace them.

Does not work – Brought this system and all went well for a week then it crashed. After hours on the phone trying to sort it, I was the. sent another hub and it doesn’t work and has never worked. Months later and countless hours and hours trying to get it to work, it is useless and so disappointing. Don’t waste your money and don’t even bother trying to get help over the phone. Can’t wait for this subscription to finish as I am paying for nothing.

Premium Service - what a joke – I have had the misfortune of being gifted a lemon, namely a Telstra Smart Home system. Worked OK for two weeks, them “critical hub” error. Over 2 month’s & numerous hrs to supposedly “24/7 premium support” which I pay for, still no resolution. Consultant that tried to provide support admitted that they were not familiar with the system. Do yourself a favour and check out other non Telstra services (Ring eg) to achieve a more superior service.

Good Idea, Bad, Bad Execution – Out of the box the smart home system from Telstra started strong, Super easy to pair door sensors and motion sensors, however it all started to fall apart from there. Cameras: The indoor and outdoor cameras are very hard to pair with the smart home hub, Pressing the WPS button on the modem followed by the WPS button on the camera they would… Read more

pair with the modem but not the hub, and therefor not reflect in the app, to get them to pair I had to reset them back to factory defaults a few times before they finally paired. Once they were all paired we moved on to mounting them, to get hit with the next speed bump, the power cable for the outdoor cameras is not long enough for easy install without to much hassle or limiting your placement options. Even setting the motion to the lowest detections settings, my outdoor cameras trigger to record on a bug flying past, this is very annoying especially only being limited to 30 video recordings limited to 15 seconds for automatic and 30 seconds for manual recordings (already to short to be actually useful) total per day and they are being wasted on bugs. The next lowest setting Is motion detecting off, which essentially renders the cameras useless. The cameras are high enough quality to make out some detail, and most of a face however still very pixelated and blocky. They jutter and take a long time to load when opening the app. The night vision is mid range good but defiantly not the best. Overall the cameras fall short of the $216 price tag

The App/Automation settings:

Oh the app, where to even begin, once everything is paired and connected, using the app is slow and buggy, opening the app takes a long time to log in if it works at all 30% of the time it fails and requires you to enter your password again, after the 20-30 second log in time add another 30-50 seconds to wait for the cameras to load if they do at all, otherwise they fail and you have to close and reopen the app. Setting the automations is long and complicated, I already have a Philips hue system which integrates with the app but its very difficult to set it up the way you'd like, if you want a sensor event to turn on multiple lights at once you require separate automation set up for each individual light bulb, this is such an easy fix but doesn't look like it will be changed any time in the feature.

The app sensors are set up like an alarm system, having home, away, night and holiday modes, but fails in its execution, the sensors can't be polled meaning they can't be monitored other than the text/email alerts there is no other notification.

Overall, Telstra started strong, but fell short, with a hard to use unintuitive and buggy application, low quality and badly designed cameras, high price tag small product range and small third party integration it just perform the way it needs to and can't simply can't justify the cost, perhaps in the feature with app updates and product refinements this could be an amazing home automation product but at this point, it just doesn't perform the basic functions it needs to.

Disappointing – I purchased Automation and energy starter kit August 2918, I was told that it would pair my existing Sengled bulbs. I have been attempting to pair the device for the past 4 hours, without success. Tried to contact telstra 24/7 with no response, tried to call telstra Knox (Victoria) and waiting for a call back. Poor customer service. Regrettable purchase.