Tags
disconnect, FIOS, hub, Iris, iris system, issue, Lowe's iris, Lowes, Modem, Verizon Communications, Verizon FIOS
I got this issue where my Iris hub would disconnect daily and at random times with my broadband connection from Verizon FIOS. I’ve contacted Lowe’s Iris support line and at first they told me it’s an known issue and new firmware upgrade to the hub that was coming out soon, (End of April 2013) was to resolve this. Once the version 3.04r25 was released I upgrading right away and the issue still continued.
I went to check out their support section and product review of the hub. It seems I’m not the only one with this too. The suggestions I’ve found online was to check your internet provider because it’s a connection issue and/or a router configurations.
Neither of them gave me a clear path of resolution quickly, so I decided to purchases their Verizon Cellular USB Modem to see if this makes it any better.
The installation was seamless and Lowe’s provided a video for installing the USB modem.
I started to use the cellular modem as by backup connecting hoping that if it does disconnect it will go to the cellular backup connection, but unfortunately it never did and would have the same symptom like before. My only option was to use the cellular connection as my primary and remove the Ethernet cable. Once this was done there hub doesn’t disconnect anymore and have been running fine for a month without an issue.
While having the cellular service and Iris subscription brings me to $19.98 a month, (Iris: $9.99, Cellular connection: $9.99) it’s still cheaper then the $40 plus a month by going with traditional security companies like ADT with their Cellular plans.
Even though I have a workaround for this issue I rather set the cellular connection as my backup and pay $4.99 a month. So back to testing mode again to find a solution like how I did with finding an alternative siren for Iris. I’ll update later on my findings.
**Update 6/7/2013**
I’ve installed a second hub and it hasn’t disconnected since. I’ve recently even set up cellular from primary to backup and haven’t and any issue since.
I wonder what was fixed. Either Verizon or Iris resolved something regarding these disconnections issues with the hub. I guess I won’t know until this happens again.
**Update 6/13/2013**
I’ve spoke too soon. Both hub disconnected last night at the same time. This leads me to believe there is some kind of issue with FIOS connection. I’m setting my cellular connection back to primary from backup and see if this still happens again to both hubs. If it does then it’s a Iris issue, if not then it’s a FIOS issue. Either way I think Iris should still address that there is a connection issue and use my cellular connection which it didn’t do and also know there is some error condition and the hub should reset itself.
**6/18/2013**
The hub with the dedicated cellular connection hasn’t disconnected, while my other hub which is connected to Verizon FIOS has disconnected multiple times. I have seen where my FIOS connection was slow sometimes, but not sure if it show how related to the disconnection issue. My Vuezone cameras doesn’t have any issues like Iris currently.
**7/10/2013**
A Iris user name Alex contacted me today and mentioned that what seems to helped him was to configure his router setting to do the following.
- Configure your router to provide the Iris hub a static IP address so it’s not on a Dynamic one that changes all the time.
- Then configure the router to forward all port traffic from 443 (secure https traffic) to your Iris hub static IP address
I wish I can provide more detail instructions but each router has different procedures to successfully configure the above steps. I’m sorry that I can’t provide every router types, but I did provide detail instructions for myVerizon FiOS router
**7/12/2013**
Hub still disconnects, but now I’m looking at my router logs and etc. I think there might be some networking issue but still not sure.
**7/18/2013**
After making the IP static and forward all traffic for port 443 seems to cause the hub to disconnect and reconnect on a daily bases compare to before where it might be days before it would reconnect.
**8/12/2013 My workaround**
I found my solution by not using my Verizon FiOS broadband connection and use the free 4G network through FreedomPop as my primary connection. I still have a 2nd hub so I may still try to figure out why my hub would disconnect through Verizon FiOS with Iris support.
**8/21/2013 Resolved!!**
I’ve upgraded the hub on 8/15/2013 from version 3.04r25 to 3.06r47 and haven’t had a disconnect since!
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**Survey**
I hope to understand how big of of an issue this is, would you do me a favor and fill out this short survey? Thank you!
##Poll Results as of 7/12/2013##
I only very little responds from the survey but it does seem the disconnect issue seems to be on different internet providers. I have the following.
Comcast, Verizon FiOS, Verizon, RCN.
Lately I have not ad a disconnect in over two months, it’s not the Internet provider but it’s more of an Iris issue which now seems to have been fixed. Back when Iris was introduced hub disconnects happened every week. Lowes is slow to fix “known issues”
I am having problems with my devices disconnect from hub. I am 550 miles away . I can’t just go down there and see what has happened. IRIS is just not reliable. I should have listened to all the negative comments. I really wanted to like this thing.
Turn on alarm last night, woke up this morning forgot to turn it off, open door NO ALARM sounded!!!! Opened another door NO ALARM sounded. Perhaps alarm was no on, check status alarm armed! Iris is not only unreliable it is rip off. I am paying 10 dollars a month for nada. Thank goodness I was not an intruder in the middle of the night. Called support got a recorded message saying that numerous users are reporting disconnects. So if Iris is down alarms are down also. This is not what I was told by support on a previous call. We are so taken in by what this technology offers that we are blind to the fact it’s unreliable and has numerous problems. Cannot trust my families safety to Iris, its worthless. I know Iris Support monitors this site. You have unreliable and worthless product. As soon as I can afford to waste an hour (on hold for next support rep) of my time I will be happy to personally tell you.
Please all users do not trust Iris to provide a layer os safety, when you need it most it will not work.
Mine has been down for a couple of days also. Good thing i saved the boxes because this junk is going back to Lowes
I would have to agree my hub disconnected o 13 Jan 2014 and I can’t do anything with the IRIS system. When the hub internet connection is down it doesn’t see any sensor. I can’t turn on the alarm and all the automation does not work. I came home to a dark house and ended up plugging lamps back into the sockets. Very disappointed. 😦
Seems many hubs disconnected yesterday. Unfortunatly I am 90 miles away and could not reset.
Same issues here in Alabama guys!……Long drive to property and numerous problems….Prior to the late December upgrades my system was rock solid. Since that time I’ve totally lost faith in expecting any reasonable stability. Won’t give it much longer and I’ll be forced to move on to another approach to security…..
Oh yikes. I think I must have bought one of these angry user’s systems from ebay. It didn’t even arrive yet, and now I’m scared!
Mine has been down now for at least three days. When I call the support center it stated that they were aware of a system outage and that they were working to resolve the issue. This was left as a recording when you called. Now when I called tonight, I didn’t get that message and am still waiting for someone to pick up the phone.
Time Warner Cable- – same issues. Internet service is spotty, poor three times a day when the local hospital hogs the area’s infrastructure with a big data transmission. Every time a cloud goes over, service goes down. …symptoms of poor build-out and undersized infrastructure. I’m going to try FreedomPop, as suggested elsewhere on this website. Maybe it will be more reliable.
Wow, these replies have me worried. I was very intrigued by this system, i liked the idea of not having a giant 40-50 dollar a month payment from a local company (or nationwide like ADT) plus the 3 year contract. Just wanted something to help secure my house, i don’t really even need the home automation pieces, just security. So I bought the large smart kit about 2 months ago. Just got around to trying it out last night and spent nearly 3 hours trying to get the Hub just to register.
22 credit card pre-authorizations later, its still not working. started noticing that my hub drops anywhere from 1 out of 5 pings to about 1 out of 10. it’s the only device on my network that does. i have 25+ devices connected via wifi/wired and nothing exhibits this issue. first off, the hub only connects at 10Mb/Half. Really? This day in age? Read lots of these posts that say upgrades seem to help, but from what i can tell, you can’t upgrade without it being registered on the site, that seems absurd. Nearly every device in the world not that contains firmware has a method of using something like USB to update it. After all, there is a USB port.
Anyway, it seriously will not register with the site. I’ve tried everything from bypassing my Cisco Catalyst 3500 switches, directly to router, directly to router using it’s own built in DHCP vs. my server based DHCP, etc. Tried DHCP reservations, firewall rules for 80/443, etc.
Also, customer service only seems to be open during business hours? Is that true?
Ultimately, if my answers here are as obvious as they seem, i think i’m taking this back to Lowes. So far, my opinion is terrible. Can anyone else shed some light here?