Set up device tracking with virgin media hub - how do I know it's working?

Configuration
1

I have a virgin media superhub here in the UK. I did some googling and found that a component from Switzerland seemed to work with the VM hub in ireland, so took a punt and thought it’d work for me.

I’ve added the following under config: in my configuration.yaml file.

device_tracker:

  • platform: upc_connect
    password: SECRET
    host: 192.168.0.1
    interval_seconds: 12
    consider_home: 180
    track_new_devices: yes

I have also created a new file called “known_devices.yaml” and added the following for my iphone:

kinteshs_iphone:
name: Kintesh
mac: SE:CR:ET:XX:XX
track: yes
hide_if_away: no

However, my device currently shows as away.

I have two questions.

  1. How do I know my virgin media device tracking is working?
  2. Do I even need to do any of this? Should I just install the home assistant app instead? If so, how does location tracking work from that and do I need ‘known_devices.yaml’ if I do it this way?
2

Recommend to go for the iphone app. Iphones disconnect from the router when in sleep mode so the router based presence detection is not recommended for iphone

3

Thanks for the quick reply.

Does this mean I should delete my known_devices.yaml file and remove the router device_tracker?

Once that’s done I presume I just add “ios:” as a line in my configuration.yaml file?

4

I would :slight_smile: Not sure if there is any benefit of having the router tracker as well as the app tracker

5

Final question I guess - I just installed the iphone app, but I’m not quite sure how to get homeassistant to know if I’m home/not home. Does this happen automatically?

6

You need to setup the home zone in config.yaml, and enable location tracking in the app, that’s it I think

7

Ah yes, I need to add:

track_ios: true

under ios: in my configuration.yaml and it worked! Thank you! Hope this thread helps someone else too!

Kinda looks like I need to send one shot updates to the server, but we’ll see. Hopefully the app just recognises when I’m at home.

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