Hot take: wireless alarm sensors are way overrated for most homes

I keep seeing guys on here pushing those all-wireless systems like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. But I've been doing this for 12 years around the Dallas area and I'm telling you, wired sensors still beat them for reliability. Last month I had a customer call me back three times because their wireless door sensor kept losing sync after a neighbor installed a new WiFi router. The interference was messing with the frequency. You don't get that with a simple 2-wire contact running back to the panel. Sure, wireless is faster to install and looks cleaner if you're lazy about fishing wires. But when the power flickers and the backup battery is weak, guess what still works? The hardwired stuff. How many of you have actually had to replace dozens of wireless sensor batteries in a single year on a job? That adds up real quick for the homeowner.

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan.rose3d ago

Three callbacks over a WiFi router? That's wild.

wilson.joseph3d ago

And yeah, @morgan.rose, that's what I'm saying. You see it with everything these days, not just routers. Phones, smart TVs, even some kitchen appliances now come with updates that break simple features. It feels like companies rush stuff out half-finished and we're the unpaid testers. Three callbacks for a router just proves they're sending out hardware before the software is ready. I miss the days when you plugged something in and it just worked.

murray.jana2d ago

My friend dealt with the same thing on a smart thermostat last year. Every update would kill the scheduling feature and eventually it just stopped connecting to the app altogether. Three replacements later and she gave up and bought a basic dumb thermostat that doesn't do anything but hold a temperature.

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