When people think of smart homes, many picture a distant future where we talk to our fridge, a robot brings us our coffee, and a computer voice controls everything. In reality, many of us already live in smart homes.
If you take the time to think about it, you might realize that your home internet already connects many of the devices that you rely on in daily life. Internet-connected technology throughout the home is the real basis of the smart home concept.
Relying on these devices could also mean that your home internet is working a lot harder than you thought. After all, it can require a strong internet service to support half a dozen different smart products at once.
Don’t believe it? Here is just a small list of the smart devices that many of us use every day:
- Smart speakers. If we’re being honest, your smart speaker is as much about the Internet as it is about your speaker. These devices work by connecting to the cloud and giving you access to a vast store of data on servers. That’s how your speaker can process your speech and provide you with so much information. It also means that your smart speaker is only as good as your Wi-Fi.
- Smart thermostats. One great way to save energy and money is to purchase a thermostat that can learn your habits and adjust the temperature when you aren’t home. Many of these devices rely on a connection back to the cloud to help process information and update software.
- Modern TVs. These days our TVs are much more than TVs. We can stream videos and music without plugging into anything. We can also control our TVs with our phones and tablets. We take it for granted now, but these are smart devices too.
- Baby monitors or pet monitors. Whether you keep a web camera to watch your children, your fur children, or potential burglars, home monitoring cameras are a popular smart home product as well.
- Smart lighting. This one might be more obvious, but if you can connect your phone to your lighting you are living in a smart home.
- Video game systems: Of course, we all know that online gaming requires an internet connection, but have you ever stopped to think of the many other ways your gaming console uses Wi-Fi? It seems like almost every new game requires an update from the internet, and many people also use gaming systems to stream videos or download additional content.
Realize it or not, many of us already live in smart homes. To make the most of this technology, be sure you have the best wireless internet possible, because without the right internet, none of these devices will function at their best.
This article is AT&T sponsored content written by Matt Johnsen, a TechBuzz contributor. The statements in this article are his own and don’t necessarily represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of AT&T.
