I remain skeptical. I find it hard to believe that this company has negotiated with all the cell providers to carry their data in perpetuity. I suspect someone is making a monthly payment. When that payment stops, the service stops. Or maybe they just announce a change in their terms of service next week. Now you have to pay $29.99 a month to keep using it.
I’m just not ready to believe the sales people. I’d have to see something very specific, in writing, to prove that I can continue to use cellular data, for free, forever.
Good point, I put in a request and they’ve come back with the following:
“Our cellular connectivity is included in the price of the product for up to 20 years.”
I think this is quite novel and sounds like they’ve established a relationship with the cellular providers to lump the cellular coverage up front (probably given that they stay below certain data limits). The monitor pings 4 times a day, which is plenty for the tank that I’ve got.
I’ve been tracking the cellular IoT space for a while and connectivity solutions + pricing have been improving over time. Great to not worry about monthly fees. I’ll let you know how it goes over time.
This is a new concept for me. It would be great if it were possible to have a 20-year subscription, paid up front.
Still, I have to wonder whether this company will be around for 20 years. And I note the use of the phrase “up to.” Maybe I’m cynical. But I’ve seen too many companies in the home automation/monitoring space go belly-up and abandon their customers, or change their model and block or charge for functionality which was available for free at the time of purchase.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope there’s a new model where you can pre-pay for 20 years worth of service and never worry about losing access or being shaken down for a subscription. It sure would be a game changer!
I use mopeka but use an esp32 to read the ble signlas from each device independently. could your custom card be adapted to work with individual sensors?
I assume you have 3 different names for 3 different sensors.
Replace ‘sensor.propane_2’ with the name of your sensor. There should be a total of 8 replacements per card.
We will also have to get you the right icon through FontAwesome
Interesting. I wonder If anyone here lives near Brighton, MI and can swing by and see what kind of company is operating out of that location.
My BS meter is now firmly in the red. My most generous assessment would be it’s some sort of marketing company catering to small start-ups or importers who aren’t big enough to sell their own products directly or through conventional channels. And there are some positive reviews of this product, even on this forum, so apparently it’s at least real.
Let’s assume for a moment that it’s all totally legitimate; a start-up with a great new idea. In my climate, monitoring my heating system is mission critical. I have to ask myself, do I want to be the guinea pig for some new business model? Will this start-up survive? Does this “up to” 20-year contract for free cellular data survive the business being shut down, or sold to an investment house?
I’d love to be proven wrong. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I’d like to see the contract with the cellular providers which locks them in to carrying this data for me for 20 years with no additional fees. That would be a game-changer, and I’d gladly jump on the opportunity.
ill have to do a little more research as to what card mods i may also need here. my tank levels are in inches if that makes any difference, but I get nothing on my card but an empty gray circle using this code, even when the sensor names are changed.
This is awesome. I just got my mopeka hardware working in HA. I’m just using a gauge at the moment but love this idea. Are the “fapro:tank1” icons in HA by default or did you have to load that in somewhere? Care to share if you have them? Thanks!
