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Author Topic: Numerous problems! Not happy!  (Read 6870 times)

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Offline Rafael

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Numerous problems! Not happy!
« on: January 09, 2017, 04:59:14 pm »
1- Wifi speeds are terrible. Much better with any of two other wireless routers I have tried.
2- Firewall blocks access to my girlfriends web page: www.thebloomingplatter.com. A direct connection to cable modem and two other routers work just fine. Securifi accepts no responsibility for this issue.
3- Cannot change time zone from Midway /Island to Eastern Time. It always reverts back.
4- Zwave dongle works, mostly. It controls 4 GE light switches fine, but two of the switches status is not updated on the Almond 3 when they are switched manually, two of them do. All 4 work fine and show status changes when status is altered from touchscreen or app or thru ITTT.

This whole thing is so half-baked.....I wonder why anyone is using it. Currently I am using a cheap TPlink AC-1200 router for firewall and wifi, and have the Almond in AP mode with wireless turned off.....using it just for HA. The TPLink is fast, and has had zero problems.....it just works! Looking for a replacement for HA so I can send this POS back. Securifi support is polite.....but not helpful. They blame the website, GE switches, Z-Wave. Still, they are confident in their device! LOL
Oh, and good luck registering for this forum! Most email hosts seem to block the account verification email! I suggest you use a GMail address.....that seems to work.


Seriously disappointed!
« Last Edit: January 09, 2017, 05:37:21 pm by Rafael »

Offline mparadis

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2017, 05:14:32 pm »
4- Zwave dongle works, mostly. It controls 4 GE light switches fine, but two of the switches status is not updated on the Almond 3 when they are switched manually, two of them do. All 4 work fine and show status changes when status is altered from touchscreen or app or thru ITTT.

Are these the same switches? The device company needs to license the ability to provide instant updates after manual activations from Leviton. If they did so for some devices and not others only some will provide those updates. It is very unfortunate but that specifically isn't a Securifi issue , I have had similar issues in other brands of controllers as well. Personally I hope the patent runs out soon and it is so vague that it shouldn't have been allowed to start with.

Offline Rafael

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2017, 05:18:15 pm »
Yes. All 4 are GE 12727 switches.

Offline mparadis

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2017, 05:39:58 pm »
I believe newer GE switches have licensed the automatic status update. I am not familiar with these particular switches but I believe someone on this forum had an issue like that where they had an older version and newer version of the same device and one updated and one didn't because they were different firmwares. I have had no issues with speeds myself and know nothing about the firewalls but should that just require an open port? I have heard some people having similar issues with the time zones but I thought it was taken care of when the firmware updated the other day. Also some people have issues seeing it after updating, are you checking on the device or on the web UI? The web UI is caching a lot of data and some of it is being held back inadvertantly.  Hard refresh or using incognito should resolve this.

Offline Rafael

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2017, 05:54:11 pm »
Thank you for the replies!
I am not sure how to know the firmware version on the switches.......Almond does not seem to provide such detailed info on connected devices.

You seem to be correct on the timezone.........going incognito did show Eastern time. Still, I would think the webserver would show correct info....maybe force updates to the browser.....otherwise how would you know what is really going on?
Also......when I check the time on the Almond.....it often shows about 20 minutes slow....not sure how that could happen with a time server reference.

Offline fillibar

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2017, 08:45:06 am »
You generally cannot do anything about on-switch firmware. Basically no manufacturers allow other companies to update them nor do they provide the information... So we (the consumers) are sometimes stuck.

One thing to test, for the switches that do not give status, sometimes pressing them quickly twice will trigger a status to be sent... I know it is awful, but for whatever reason many switches out there are this way with only newer models having the "instant status". Often there is no visible difference between them...
Almond 3 mesh handling the home.

Offline anwar.shiekh

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2017, 08:59:26 am »
Oh, and good luck registering for this forum! Most email hosts seem to block the account verification email! I suggest you use a GMail address.....that seems to work.

I also saw this problem on an .edu account; glad I'm not the only one.

Offline fillibar

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2017, 09:41:33 am »
Account verification emails are always problematic. I have to check my junk mail for most of them. Thank spammers for all the algorithms having to get so aggressive about filtering.

For the WiFi speeds, and you post some numbers from SpeedTest or Google's speed check, along with what you are supposed to be getting from your ISP? Many people can run into problems with WiFi speed or reliability if there are conflicts with other people's WiFi frequencies. I was hitting that previously (in the 2.4Ghz band) due to neighbors. I checked using WiFi Analyzer (for Android) and found some bands they were not using. That helped a lot. 5Ghz is still pretty rare though, so it would be a surprise if there was lots of overlap there.
Almond 3 mesh handling the home.

Offline Rafael

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2017, 03:16:39 pm »
Sorry for not replying sooner; life happened. :)

Yes, I am on a channel that is not in use anywhere around me. I make it a habit of looking at all my neighbors channel usage and separating myself from them.
I have disabled all the functions but HA on the almond 3, and do not wish to fire it up again to provide current results, but I do have the stored results from that time.

Using the Speedtest app on my Android phone, quite often it would take forever to even get through the initial ping....and my stored results from that time run anywhere from .87mbps down and 2.34mbps up to about 20mbps down and 5mbps up............with 32mbps down and 9.48mbps being typical with both an Asus and now a TPLink router I am currently running. It was a rare thing that I didn't experience long waits or no download at all when looking at news or sifting through websites with the Almond 3.
The difference is drastic.

I get great speeds from the TPLink AC-1200 and the TPLink extender I got to provide better coverage in the back yard. These two cost me less than $100.00 total. Also....the extender did not work reliably with the Almond 3. I gave up on it talking to the Almond and just unplugged it.
It works VERY well with the the cheapo TPLink router!

I am no fan of TPLink.....but I needed a solution that allowed my girl to access and maintain her website.........grabbed the cheapest and most convenient router I could find.

Thank you for the suggestion on the channels.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 10:19:50 am by Rafael »

Offline fillibar

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2017, 01:29:47 pm »
Those speeds are pretty dramatically different. Very strange. Do you just have one Almond 3 or do you have it set as a mesh? Well, I guess I should say "had' from the sounds of it.

Eh, the channel idea did not help. Sometimes simple ones like that can help, sometimes not. Since it is just HA for you now, how is it working?

On a related note... You could still set it up as a secondary router, within the network of your TP-Link, but with separate wireless. That way there might be a chance to figure out what is "weird" without messing with your current working network. Just a thought. I set up my Almond 3s "within" my Almond+ until I figured I could switch over.
Almond 3 mesh handling the home.

Offline Rafael

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Re: Numerous problems! Not happy!
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2017, 11:01:30 pm »
Thanks for the suggestions, fillibar.
Only the one Almond 3, no other Almonds.
The problem with the two most-distant GE switches persisted. Never got them to report back to Almond when state was changed manually at the switch.

I picked up a Smart Things hub today and it has now replaced the Almond for HA chores.
Seems to work very well. No problems at all. Will give it a few days before I call it a total success.
I really like the Z-Wave utilities it has.......Exclusion, Inclusion, and the Z-Wave network repair tool! Great features!
Wish the Almond had them; it would likely have made the HA usability acceptable.

Going to proceed with returning the Almond 3.

Thank you all, and thanks to the Securifi staff for trying to help.
Problems with Z-Wave, problems with router causing 403 errors on my girlfriends website when multiple "other" routers have zero issues, problems with slow internet access when using it as a wireless router, problems with wireless signal strength when compared to multiple other wireless routers. Then there was the "friendly" note from our ISP threatening to kill our service because the Almond 3 was an open DNS resolver. I see that every generation of Almonds had this problem at one time or another; how many times does one need to learn this lesson? It makes me wonder if the programmers are taking things seriously.
It's just not worth it to me to fight so many problems when I don't have to.

My time is worth more than the extra $60.00 or so I spent to get reliability and ease of setup/use........ to have zero problems. Everything works perfectly now.
I hope Securifi can get all of these things ironed out and wish them success in the future.

Best wishes to all.
RAF

 

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