Hello everyone I'm new here and have been reading through the forum and gathered a fair bit of information. I'm a server/network admin by trade and geek/tinker by hobby. For years now I have invested in a Z-wave/Alarm.com automation solution for my home but have been frustrated by a number of things with that system.
I've recently moved and did not bring most of the Z-wave modules with me since they are wired into the fans/walls. This gives me a chance to start fresh. I've contacted the closes C4 deal to me but am still waiting to hear back after more than a month with a couple of back and forth emails with their salesman.
I've gathered that with C4 either I become a dealer and heavily invest in the training or I let my local pro do the work. So one of my questions is how difficult is it to do things like add additional light switches? Maybe window blind controls? If I go with C4 am I really going to have to pay my local pro to do all the physical work?
When it came to the old Z-wave system I got the code from the installer to my panel and was able to add/remove devices and integrations at will. Is it all or nothing with C4? Can the install be done in phases?
One of the biggest reasons I'm looking at C4 is that my wife had a hard time with scenes in the Alarm.com app. Basically she is the exact opposite of me and hates tech, she's an artist. C4 seems to make things a whole lot simpler for her. We want to control lights, shades, thermostats, and at some point our media room. I use Plex for my media library and Sonos for our home audio. Currently using Unifi for networking and VMs running in a couple of ESXi hosts, Plex Media Server being one of them.
The second big concern I have is security and privacy. My wife's big question is how hackable is C4? I haven't looked into the papers on it, but am curious of how much of the home's data is feed outside of my home be to ti C4 corp or other third party companies. I like having my surveillance be closed circuit and not part of the alarm system. Basically, I don't want anyone else being able to see the footage/feed from the cameras and am wondering if C4 allows it to be done even if "no one ever looks". I had a Skybell at my old place and hated every minute of it. I won't add Google or Alexa into my home so I'm going to "miss out" on the voice control functions unless Siri is integrated in some way.
Anyway, I have way more questions and likely all would be answered if my dealer actually contacted me back with a sales pitch. At this point, I'd rather do my own searching.