My wife and I were forced to travel for work for some years and it was absolutely worth it to have a remote programmable thermostat. The number of times we were able to fix the temperature setting after it turned out we were both gone and the heat or AC was left on by accident saved us, in all likelihood, thousands of dollars.
Similarly once we got in the groove with that we started renting the place when we’d both be gone for long stretches of time and we were able to remote control prevent things like a guest turning the AC on in the late fall and letting the compressor freeze or just leaving the heat on after they checked out.
I know piling on an unpopular opinion by claiming it is a solution to other unpopular lifestyle choices isn’t what Lemmy is usually looking for, but yeah they serve a really valuable purpose to some of us.
I’m sure when our kids are teenagers and fucking with the thermostat all the time I’ll appreciate it all over again.
There’s a difference between something having an optional internet connection, and something requiring one. I can control my smart home through the internet, but when the internet connection breaks and I’m at home, I can still control it.
My wife and I were forced to travel for work for some years and it was absolutely worth it to have a remote programmable thermostat. The number of times we were able to fix the temperature setting after it turned out we were both gone and the heat or AC was left on by accident saved us, in all likelihood, thousands of dollars.
Similarly once we got in the groove with that we started renting the place when we’d both be gone for long stretches of time and we were able to remote control prevent things like a guest turning the AC on in the late fall and letting the compressor freeze or just leaving the heat on after they checked out.
I know piling on an unpopular opinion by claiming it is a solution to other unpopular lifestyle choices isn’t what Lemmy is usually looking for, but yeah they serve a really valuable purpose to some of us.
I’m sure when our kids are teenagers and fucking with the thermostat all the time I’ll appreciate it all over again.
There’s a difference between something having an optional internet connection, and something requiring one. I can control my smart home through the internet, but when the internet connection breaks and I’m at home, I can still control it.