How does an IoT device receive a command from the internet?

[alastairstevenson]

Kudos to the OP for asking a question which has generated some excellent and useful responses that many readers will benefit from.

 

[looney2ns]

Cloud based "automation" is (relatively) cheap and easy which has made it very successful in the US consumer market. It is not a good way to set up your home however and using cloud based automation is actually a recipe for disaster. There are countless "cloud based automation" companies that have gone under, stopped supporting older devices, or changed their business model from a free one to a paid subscription (I'm looking at you IFTTT). They shut down or block access to their cloud servers and effectively turn their customer's hardware devices into doorstops. If your light switch requires communication with a cloud server to work (even if it is just a heartbeat type connection from time to time), it is going to fail when the server gets shut down. It's not a question of IF, but WHEN.

For this reason, I will never buy an automation device that requires the "cloud" to work. Obviously security is a concern too (see my last post), but the fact that companies can shut down, decide to stop supporting your device, or change their fee model at the drop of a hat which will cause your device to stop working, should be a much larger concern.

PS - I use the term "automation" very loosely here. A smart plug isn't really automation. True automation is a system that brings unrelated systems together so they can work together. For example, my alarm system, HVAC system, media/audio systems, lighting devices, etc cannot communicate with each other. However, my automation system can communicate with each of those systems and therefore I leverage it to tie those systems together into a large cohesive setup. The automation system is the glue that brings those other systems together. So now my alarm system IS be able to communicate (through my automation system) with my other systems like HVAC and lighting systems so that when I disarm/arm the system, certain events takes place (HVAC setpoints change, certain lights turn on if its dark out, audio/media devices are shut down, etc, etc, etc). That's one example of real automation.

This is why I still cling to my antiquated, Omni Pro II system.
No cloud crap, and works with most any other system.
I've been doing all this homeautomation stuff for roughly 20 yrs with the OmniPro.
Add a homeseer to it to gain new fangled features.

 

[Holbs]

This is why I still cling to my antiquated, Omni Pro II system.
No cloud crap, and works with most any other system.
I've been doing all this homeautomation stuff for roughly 20 yrs with the OmniPro.
Add a homeseer to it to gain new fangled features.

I almost went the HomeSeer route as it is more user friendly to config. However, the $$$ to buy this integration, $$$ to buy this integration made me pause. For I did not know what all integrations I was going to be into next week, or next month, or next year. The cost of each integration (or is it called module?) would add up in hundreds of dollars over time.
Home Assistant is 100% free. But a much harder learning curve. Not ready for commercial deployment as HomeSeer is. Kinda like comparing Blue Iris (learning curve) to a standard NVR (easy learning curve).