How 4G LTE Will Change Home Control

4G LTE could be the biggest thing in home automation since the iPad, ADT and Z-Wave.

The evidence was at the Verizon (VZ) Mobile booth during CES 2011.

There, Verizon demonstrated how its new Home Monitoring and Control system, powered by Motorola's 4Home platform, might utilize a 4G backbone and integrate with 4G-embedded devices such as surveillance systems and home health solutions.

It is that 4G integration that could give Verizon an edge in mass-market home control – a market that is increasingly crowded by the likes of ADT today and Comcast, AT&T and other service providers in the near future.

After reviewing several of the competitive offerings, I found Verizon’s standard home management system – demonstrated in the CES press room -- to be unexceptional, except for a nice TV interface available only through Verizon FiOS.

But the future for Verizon looks bright, thanks to the emergence of 4G LTE.

Home Control, 4G Style

As in the press room, Verizon demonstrated its Home Monitoring and Control system at the Verizon Mobile booth on the show floor.

The demonstration was similar to the one in the press room – showcasing remote home control of thermostats, door locks, lighting and wireless cameras – with one major exception: The demo at the Mobile booth used 4G instead of wired Internet as the system backbone.

As opposed to the real Actiontec SG100 Internet gateway used in the press room, the gateway on the show floor was a prototype device incorporating 4G LTE, Z-Wave and Wi-Fi wireless technologies. (The Wi-Fi is strictly for communicating with local Verizon-branded cameras.)

That gateway could be used to bring any number of new standalone LTE-embedded devices into the home. And there were plenty of them, including surveillance cameras from Sercomm.

Imagine placing a 4G camera in your very large yard or your lake house – where wireline broadband isn’t available -- and using a single interface to monitor both the remote locations and the local spaces within your home.

Go one step further and integrate your 4G aftermarket OnStar system, also introduced at CES. Now you can view car data at home, via Verizon’s connected home interface – and vice versa -- checking the 4G-connected home control system from your car dashboard.

In addition, standalone tele-health systems are now coming to market, bolstered by 4G's exceptional performance. As demonstrated by BL Healthcare during CES, 4G enables high-def video conferencing between patients and their doctors -- an important factor in developing intimacy between the parties, and a useful tool for examining medical conditions up close.

Those same tele-health stations can be used for social communications between grandma and her kids by way of a 4G-enabled Verizon home management system!

During CES, Verizon did not fully integrate these standalone 4G services into its home control ecosystem … but it could. The 4Home platform is up to the task.

4G is still in its infancy and still expensive. As is the case with most newer technologies, we'll probably see some interesting implementations at the higher end of home control, but in the next few years as adoption spreads, look out!