How I know I am home

Thu Jun 4 16:51:52 EDT 2015

I think RFID is also the way to go, but, with passive systems you need
the receiver close to the tag (so, basically exposed if the reader is
outside), and the active systems are expensive (at least I haven't
seen a decently priced active system yet).

I've looked at the Vera plugin solution, but it relies on using iCloud
and there is a comment on the plugin's website from one consumer who
said his/her iCloud account was hacked after installing the plugin...

I worked on one of the active systems in the past and it worked well
except for the short battery life of the active tag, the fact that the
supplier company is no longer, and the range was limited - I was
looking for at least 20m.

Mark

On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 1:38 PM, Jeff Wooding <jeff at qualitytubandtile.com> wrote:
> George why don't you just use RFID a small card in your wallet or slipped in
> your iPhone case between the phone and case will work. Or you can put a
> garage door opener connected via XBee  the button of the xbee will notify
> XTension (whatever you are trying to do??Alarm!!??) and then open the garage
> door. I think your solution to this always working never touching I'm home
> solution is to optimistic. I don't rely on this system of home presence as a
> bullet proof system(just a connivence) but I think if you are looking at it
> in a stand point of it is absolutely necessary there will always be holes or
> better yet delays. Another solution that I'm using is Launch Center Pro on
> the iPhone it has been 100% reliable for me at least. But I use Geofency and
> it has been working 100% for my wife, but we don't need it to work 100% so
> our expectations are not crushed.
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff
>
> On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 7:24 AM, George Handley <ghandley at kc.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>> Rich,
>>
>> Your entirely different way of doing this needed job intrigues me, as well
>> as being very clever.
>>
>> I would like to know, however, exactly how responsive your system works,
>> as I had some discouraging results yesterday with Geohoppy after the
>> previous day’s total successes.
>>
>> Specifically, there have been a few times over the years I’ve noticed that
>> when I first use my phone at home, even a few times after I’ve been home for
>> almost an hour, that it will start out in LTE, 3G or 4G, and not WIFI from
>> either our Airport Express used here for guests, or our AT&T M-Cell (A mini
>> cell tower with satellite and internet, [Time Warner] access) we have for
>> our phones for best reception.
>>
>> I need a foolproof system to know whether my wife or I or both of us are
>> arriving at home, and I need to know it BEFORE the garage door is opened
>> upon arrival. Geo tags on a set of keys is not a solution.
>>
>> I just ran a discouraging test in that I merely walked down our street
>> three houses watching how fast I would lose our WIFI, and it only took two
>> homes. Even worse than that, as I watched it on the way back, it didn’t
>> revert to our WIFI until I literally was touching the front door knob.
>>
>> I’m going to assume your’s has to work the same way, but I hope I’m wrong,
>> and will sure look forward to your reply.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> George
>>
>> PS I’ve got it! I just contact the NSA to have chips implanted under our
>> skin! :-)
>>
>>
>> On Jun 3, 2015, at 6:02 PM, rnaleonard <rnaleonard at rcn.com> wrote:
>>
>> When there is motion in selected outside areas like the driveway, and if
>> we are not home, then an external script runs.  This script checks the ARP
>> entries for our phones.  If either is found, the necessary incantations to
>> update XTension to at home status are issued.  My guess is that since the
>> phone(s) have just arrived and are switching from cellular to wi-fi, the ARP
>> tables update immediately.  We choose not to let the system determine when
>> we are not home.  We have a separate process for that.  Here is the external
>> script (with personal identification elements removed and described inside [
>> ] ).  Run the shell script to get the exact entries for your phones. Works
>> every time for us.  YMMV.  The advantage is that there is no external web
>> service or app involved.
>>
>> on arpcheck()
>> set theMsg to ""
>> repeat with theCount from 1 to 60
>> set theResult to do shell script "arp -a"
>> if theResult contains "? ([Assigned IP for phone 1]) at [MAC address for
>> phone 1] on en0 ifscope [ethernet]" then
>> set theMsg to "Phone 1 "
>> end if
>> if theResult contains "? ([Assigned IP address for phone 2]) at [MAC
>> address for phone 2] on en0 ifscope [ethernet]" then
>> set theMsg to theMsg & "Phone 2 "
>> end if
>> if theMsg is "" then
>> set theCount to theCount + 1
>> delay 1
>> else
>> exit repeat
>> end if
>> end repeat
>>
>>
>> tell application "XTension"
>> write log "Checking for iPhones"
>> if theMsg is not "" then
>> set theMsg to theMsg & ": At Home"
>> [do things here to turn on your at home status]
>> else
>> set theMsg to "No iPhones are home"
>> end if
>> write log "" & theCount & ": " & theMsg & return & theResult
>> end tell
>>
>> set theMsg to ""
>> set theResult to ""
>> end arpcheck
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