How Does Smart Home Security Keep You Safer Than Traditional Systems?

In a traditional home security system, users have an access code for arming and disarming the system. This critical series of numbers is what you type each time you arrive home and each time you leave the house.

Today’s smart home security systems are using different types of technology to arm and disarm your home’s security, and to distinguish intruders from approved guests.

Let’s compare access codes of traditional systems with smart home permissions technology to see how home security has advanced.

Access Challenges With Traditional Home Security

Human Error (It’s Inevitable)

With a traditional system, you’re typing your access code when you leave, and you’re typing your code when you arrive. Not just you, but each family member is typing their code. And with all of that typing, it’s inevitable that mistakes will happen.

Maybe you’ll mistype your code, forget your code when you’re distracted, forget that you armed the system and set off the alarm, or worse, maybe you’ll forget to arm the alarm altogether. Human error is inevitable.

Decreasing Security Usage to Avoid Hassle

It’s a hassle to be repeatedly entering your security access code. And this often results in users starting to get more casual about when they arm their system. Maybe instead of arming the system every day, it turns into once a week, or only on vacation.

This means the hassle of the alarm system is preventing the system from actually protecting your home.

Access Codes Are Transferable

Traditional home security codes can become problematic when relatives and guests are visiting. Once you provide them with that security code, there’s no telling how secure they will keep that access information.

In these outdated and lo-fi systems, it’s not an intuitive task to be creating temporary access codes, tracking who you gave them to, regularly changing the codes, and informing trusted contacts of the updates.

How Smart Home Security Goes Beyond Access Codes

Arming and Disarming by Using GPS

At Ooma, we have taken new approaches to home security. Instead of a manual arming and disarming of the security system, we’ve automated the process.

Ooma Smart Home Security will automatically disarm your home security when you arrive home and automatically arm it when the last person leaves for the day. The technology (called geofencing) functions using the GPS of trusted users’ cell phones.

With the Ooma Home Security mobile app, you can toggle access for each contact on and off. You can also receive notifications when people leave the house or arrive at the house. This automated geofencing technology works in tandem with the security schedule that you set up.

Smart technology has made it much easier to use home security.