Taking The Internet To A Whole Different Level: Home Monitoring From Your PC

Phone companies have partnered with small firms simplifying home monitoring.

Have you ever been on the other side of the country and wondered what was going on in your home? You call, the kids answer and everything sounds great? Well, this past October AT&T showcased their latest in remote monitoring. It lets anyone nationwide watch what’s going on at home through their PC. All you need is a broadband internet connection at home.

Cingular phone carriers out there? Well, monitor your home through your video-enable cell phone.

This home monitoring package includes a web camera, built in motion detector (buyers have to install yourselves…good luck), censors that measure temperature (in case of fire or a massive amount of people gathering in your living room), detects water, and knows when doors and windows are open.

This package is valued at $199, but AT&T is offering it for $99 for the rest of this month. “There are a number of players lining up at the gate” says a Parks Associate analyst. This device controls any internet-enabled device or appliance (locally via TV or PC, remotely via cell phone).

The great thing about this device is that at its most basic form, it will turn on the lights before you get home or after you’ve gone to bed and reassure you that you didn’t forget to close the garage door. For the piece of mind of just the garage door, I would pay the full price of $199.

Some of the other features of this device is that it will send a message to a parent alerting when the kids get home school or a date and then lock the front door. Using video capabilities, mom can see little miss Teen from her cell phone and makes sure she sits at the dinner table and does her homework.

A market research analyst from IDC notes, by 2010, 16.8 million U.S. house holds will be using these home monitoring services.

Now this might sound like the greatest thing ever, but what they don’t tell you is that the installment is encouraged to be done by the consumer. I don’t know about you, but I’m likely to set the motion detector on my cat and lock the kids in the house all day. On a serious note, the set up does require some common sense. For instance, not putting the light next to the camera will likely make the picture you see completely dark.

I’m not at the stage in my life where I need to be so concerned for my home. But once the family grows, this might be something I consider.

Rich Dad Says: “No need for Pooch anymore, soon technology will replace him.”