Smart home automation is a term that’s thrown around a lot, but isn’t well understood. What’s the difference between smart home automation and smart home control? What are the best technologies to make your Colleyville, TX home into a smart home? If you’d like to know the answers to any of these questions, keep reading!

Defining Smart Home Automation

Smart home automation refers to the process of upgrading different aspects of your home – lights, window shades, entertainment systems, etc. – to be part of the Internet of Things. Essentially, these home components are now able to be controlled via any internet-connected device. The next step is to then connect all of these devices into one complete ecosystem that works automatically to keep your home in the perfect environment for safety, comfort, energy efficiency, and beauty.

SEE ALSO: Frequently Asked Questions about Smart Home Automation

The Difference Between Smart Home Automation and Smart Home Control

These terms are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. However, most smart home systems use a combination of automation and control. It all boils down to how you want the devices to act throughout the day. 

If you have window shades that detect that too much solar heat gain is causing your home’s air conditioner to work harder than it should have to, those window shades could automatically close to block out the sun. That’s smart home automation because you didn’t have to do anything to achieve that effect. The system intelligently chose the right action to keep your home energy efficient. 

Connected devices have exploded in popularity in recent years. With the rise of the Internet of Things, devices communicate with each other throughout your Southlake, Texas home, from your refrigerator to your speakers. Many times when these products malfunction, it's not because of faulty manufacturing but rather a bad network. As people upgrade their technology, they fail to improve what matters most: the home network that serves as its foundation. In this blog, we guide you through some of the questions you need to ask to make sure your network is up to the task.

SEE MORE: What Are Some Perks of Living in a Smart Home?

How Do You Plan to Use Your Network?

The first step is knowing what you want out of your network. The hardware offered by your internet service providers works fine for basic functions: checking emails, browsing the web, watching videos on your computer, etc. However, if you are planning on using it as part of a connected home, you’re going to need an upgrade.

Sometimes, it may be enough to add a couple of routers and invest in a more expensive internet package to bolster your signal. Sometimes you need to upgrade to a router that can handle bigger bandwidths (if you expect to do a lot of media streaming, for example). In the case of a connected home, you may even need subnetworks called VLANS to divide up your traffic.