@jabecker , @ritchierich ’s suggestion is an absolute no-brainer. After many years of home automation (going back to the X10 days), when wifi based devices first came out, I started with the provider provided wifi routers. Not only did it become a major hassle when they the provider would change settings, but over the years, my wife would shop providers and/or upgrade our plan through the provider, without my knowledge, then complain when the wifi devices would all go out. This was all solved by @ritchierich ’s suggestion. When we switched to fiber optic a year or so ago, since I had all my automation devices linked to my own mesh system (which only uses the provider fiber router to connect to the internet), the transition was seamless.
Anyway, in this day and age, I cannot believe that your provider would actually disable your wifi and LAN when working on a WAN issue. Also, this is another reason to not rely on wifi to connect your hub (ethernet all the way FTW!). This, in addition to all the other advantages of only relying on your provider for the WAN access makes this a no brainer. JMHO.
also make sure if you have your own router and you are on comcrap.. occasionally they have remotely turned on their xfinity wifi without my permission to try and give roamers a wider footprint.. and it obviously interfered with my own wifi.. Check every so often for that...
I did the same thing. Scrapped that useless cable company stuff and saved myself a few bucks since I was renting it. Now I go straight from Verizon's optical network terminal (ONT) to the WAN port on my router and the rest of my network. And I hard wire everything that can be hard wired. Conveniently my router has provisions for more than one WAN connection so if I ever decide to get a backup internet connection I'm ready to rock 'n roll.
same thing i have a second copy of my main router plugged into a separate port of my modem and also a separate wifi router hooked up.. all are on kasa wifi switches on a backup 4g access pt so i can reboot remotely. . however since the wifi will be the same default gw if i boot up the backup i also had to put all the network switches on kasa as well becuase if you dont reboot those at the same time everything doesnt work (doesnt like the default gatway changing ports and mac address on your network)..
I have considered it. Fortunately things like static IP addresses are possible with this one. Given the state of my personal economy right now, I was looking for something cheap and fast.
its not for backjup for my main internet.. it is for the wifi router or the main router behind the internet.. when remote once if ffd up the main router reloading the firewall.. and had no access
another time i wasnt expecting the wifi router actually died when again we were not home.. now i have both redundant.. unfortunately the 3g/4g backup would not really be fast enough to handle my home network with over 100 devices. its fine though about 10 kasa wifi switches to reboot things remotely in case of component failure..
You want cheap and fast, with tons of options? Load PFSense on an old laptop or desktop, and you'll have the most powerful free router ever, which can easily be backed up and restored
I think I would just get a new router (I recommend Asus) and put the Cable company combo box in bridge mode and connect the hub to the router. IF your provider's name sounds kind of like rectum, you don't even need to do the bridge thing, you can just swap their Router for your own and save $5 a month. I know you said you're trying to save some money right now, but it isn't that much more than the band-aid approach you are considering anyway. While this isn't the router I have, it's close and $90 cheaper. I really like their Instant Guard app, which is a built in, almost no configuration needed VPN, which allows you to access your hub from anywhere. As I'm looking at this, I might even pick one up to use in mesh with my main router. Another Nice feature of Asus routers.
I'm going to try the button approach for now. I've thought of a few other things I can do with it as well, so...
I appreciate all of the suggestions to get my own router. This is a problem that has only happened a few times in all of the years that I've been doing home automation stuff. It's a scratch, not a hemorrhage. Really I think a band-aid is probably sufficient for now.
Yes, that will work. I have one that I bought as a spare to the Aotec Wallmote Quad (I currently use for lighting and manual Mode changes). It works great, but any compatible button device would do the same.
The Tuya inbuilt device driver has been working fine. But mine doesn't show battery reporting updates. It has been in the basement almost a year and is still working.
I just searched Hubitat Package manager and found a couple other drivers to try. Maybe I can get the battery reporting with one of the community drivers.
Coincidentally, it has 4 buttons, I have 4 lamps I'd like to control, and also 4 modes. I set it up with Button Controller so tap/double-tap on each button turns a lamp on/off. "Release" takes an annoyingly long time — you have to hold the button until the LED goes out — so that made it perfect for changing mode. I won't have to worry about mode changing accidentally.
I'd been using the "home" buttons on my Harmony Remote to control a couple of those lamps via the Hue bridge (they are all Hue bulbs). It sometimes worked. Sometimes. But this gives me a way to control mode also.
