O2 has a range of smarthome packs, aiming to make it easy to get your home connected.
Rather than you going out and buying a range of individual devices, the O2 Home approach will let you choose a pack, have O2 install it and support it in your home, in exchange for a monthly fee, rather than paying for it all upfront.
All the O2 Home devices use the same central hub, which then gives you control via one central smartphone app. This app - available via browser, iPhone or Android apps - will mean that there's one point of access, rather than many.
There are three packs on offer called View, Comfort and Connect.
O2 Home View
- Two internal cameras
- A motion sensor
- Door sensor
- O2 home hub
- £30 a month
This pack is designed to give you a enough to be able to remotely monitor your home. Using the cameras you'll be able to see what's happening, with the motion and door sensors able to alert you to what's happening when you're away. If someone opens your back door, you'll get an alert on your phone, for example.
O2 Home Comfort
- Tado thermostat
- Two smart plugs
- A motion sensor
- O2 home hub
- £30 a month
With more of a leaning towards controlling your heating, the big piece of the Comfort pack is the Tado thermostat. This will give you controls over your heating remotely, meaning you won't be wasting energy heating an empty house. Smart plugs are handy, letting you turn lights on and off, or turn off devices like hair straighteners remotely.
O2 Home Connect
- Two motion sensors
- Two door sensors
- Two smart plugs
- O2 home hub
- £20 a month
The final pack that's offered has a range of devices to get your home connected. This misses out on the big ticket items like the thermostat or the camera from the other packs, but it does have a range of sensors so you'll know when things are happening at home.
Those packs aren't all that O2 offers however, there's a full selection of additional devices that you can add to the system and control through your O2 Home app, but you have to get those devices from O2, which is the catch.
There's a parcel box that will allow deliveries to be securely placed in the box, with an alert letting you know you've got mail, there's smart door locks, intruder sirens and even a keyfob to let you secure your house with a click of a button and a whole lot more.
Underlying the O2 Home is that monthly bill you're paying, with a 2-year contract. O2 aims to add to that with additional support services, something you wouldn’t get it you just started piecing together your own smarthome devices.
On the other hand, the ongoing subscription costs might deter some, especially when some smarthome systems will let you get started for a low initial cost and let you piece together what you want, how you want.
O2 Home is available now, but it's initially only available in the south east of the UK. There's plenty of information on O2 Home at home.o2.co.uk.