Any home will become smart in 10 minutes. This is the Life Control 2.0 system

Everyday life is becoming more and more closely connected with innovative technologies every day. The market is constantly updated with new devices. These are tracking and security systems. The installation of these devices leads to increased fire safety and protection from penetration, and simply makes the life of a modern person easier. The Russian mobile operator Megafon offers assistance in this regard. Recently, clients were offered to increase the range of services provided. An additional option has been added for them. This is integration into the Life Control “Smart Home” system.

Life Control Smart Home Center

The design of this system may vary. It may include sensors operating from your Wi- Fi or Bluetooth , which is not suitable for a large-scale solution due to distance limits. In addition, if you install many sensors, it will be noticeable that they will work unstable and incorrectly. However, it is possible to organize an individual network for devices, in which there is a central control system called a “hub”. Existing devices are connected to this module, the data is processed and transmitted to your mobile gadget.

The hub can transmit information directly to the phone, or through an intermediate server to save data. This is more practical and reliable; sometimes the phone may not be online. The basic designs of such smart home systems use Wi- Fi , which is a clear and simple standard. Many home owners have this type of wireless technology. However, if there are a large number of such devices in an apartment building, device conflicts will begin, the range will decrease, and it will be impossible to expand the home network.

The solution to this problem was the ZigBee , which forms a network of elements. Each installed device expands the network and is a kind of repeater. This makes it possible to provide connection anywhere in the house. In Russia, this standard operates at a frequency of 2.4 gigahertz and does not require a license.

A SIM card is installed in the smart home system so as not to be tied to the electrical network, which may turn off in an emergency. As a result, the home owner will not know what is happening in the house. The “ smart home ” has a battery installed that allows the system to power the system for several hours in an emergency, depending on the load and the number of active sensors and the size of the transmitted data.
In any case, the user will have information about what is happening in the living space.

System capabilities

What features are available to Life Control users from Megafon? They are very large, since the device includes various sensors that allow you to make a smart system out of your home that will be completely under your control.

Here are some things you can do on an ongoing basis with Life Control.

Receive timely notifications about events in the premises, for example, water leaks, smoke;
View online broadcasts from the camera;
Monitor the weather in the house: humidity, temperature and carbon monoxide levels;
Monitor the actions of pets through a motion tracker;
Track your fitness loads and monitor your results to always be in good shape.
Monitor your baby's sleep using a camera.

This is only a part of the possible options for action, as you understand, with the help of these devices, you can come up with much more!

How much does Smart Home Megafon cost? The price varies depending on two factors:
Selected set of services;
Number of devices.

To better understand the system, we advise you to watch the video in which you will see a full overview and its application!

Control system features

An important point is that the system control center is a kind of router that supports the mobile network and is not dependent on the Wi-Fi wireless network. However, if necessary, you can connect this network to your own. Wi-Fi is connected only to a camera that transmits video images in good quality, and the sensors operate using the ZigBee . For users using an Ethernet , it is possible to connect the cable directly to the center of the system. Many similar devices do not have this feature.

As a result, the smart home system is a small case with a small 3.5- inch screen. The screen supports color images, but the data is displayed in black and white for better viewing from different angles. The screen is touch-sensitive and displays the weather and time. Inside the case there is a “ smartphone ” running on the Android version 4.4 1 of RAM and 4 gigabytes of built-in memory. You can install a micro SD card.

A video camera is built into the wall of the control system housing, which is often used as a security system. On a smartphone, the user sees what is happening in the room where the center is installed. Of the auxiliary functions, there is only an alarm clock, which can be set directly from the screen. There are connectors on the back for connecting devices.

The presence of the Android system makes it possible to create programs that display various events from the calendar, tips, and reminders on the display. Great opportunities for development are opening up.

SMS and MMS

The cost of sending SMS messages within the Megafon Smart Home tariff varies depending on the mobile operator, country and region of the recipient subscriber.

Home region	2 r.
Mobile network MegaFon Russia	2 r.
Other Russian operators	RUB 3.55
CIS countries, Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia	5 rub.

The cost of an MMS message to any number in Russia is 7 rubles.

Life Control capabilities from Megafon

A smart home includes a system of devices and sensors that monitor a living space online. Briefly, the capabilities of a “smart home” can be described by the following capabilities:

The system monitors changes within the sensor operating area. The owner of the apartment will be aware of changes in temperature, lighting, air quality, the presence of water leaks, fires, and take care of the plants in a timely manner.
Simple controls . System devices are connected to a single center. It can be accessed through a mobile application on a smartphone, or in the Personal Account on the service’s web page on the Internet. By pressing a button you can adjust lighting, ventilation, open door locks, heat water, and set heating savings.
Quick alerts . Changes in the situation in the house are sent to the home owner via the Internet to a smartphone or email.
Automation . " Smart Home " automatically controls the house. In the absence of the owner, the mobile application monitors his removal and distance from the house. If the distance is greater than the specified one, the observation mode is automatically activated. At the same time, the lighting, appliances and sockets are turned off, the alarm system, motion sensors and other devices are activated, the locks lock the doors and windows, switch to burglary protection mode, and the economy mode is activated.
Electricity consumption . A smart home can significantly reduce electrical energy consumption or keep it at a constant level. The system monitors where people are and turns off lighting where it is not needed. The same situation is with air conditioning and heating. A person may forget to turn off the light or lock the door, but the Smart Home will do its job.
Video cameras . The Megafon operator offers users of this system to buy space in cloud storage, in which various recordings of information from cameras will be saved. They can be viewed at any time on the Internet.

Composition of budget “Smart Homes”

Let's look at the general list of smart devices. This is the most suitable set of various home control devices. It allows you to make custom settings.

Smart socket – controls the supply of electricity to consumers, their operation and shutdown, takes into account electricity consumption.
Smart camera – transmits sound and video images of the current situation in the house to the subscriber’s smartphone.
Smart smoke sensor – transmits information about smoke in a residential area to a smartphone or email.
Door open sensor – transmits data about an open window or door to a mobile device or email.
Motion sensor – triggered by the movement of objects in a given space and transmitted to email or smartphone.
Air quality sensor – monitors the content of harmful substances in the indoor air and informs the apartment owner about this.
Water leakage sensor - detects the flow of water under pipes, near taps or at pipe connections, transmits data to a smartphone.
Plant control sensor – checks lighting, soil moisture, informs the owner.
Smart lamp – allows you to set the type of lighting (colored, warm, cold), its brightness.
Geotracker with a SIM card - calculates the coordinates of the place where it is installed using GLONASS and GPS receivers. It can be worn on your hand, mounted on a bicycle, on a dog’s collar, or on a travel backpack.
Fitness tracker – monitors a person’s physical activity and sleep.

The last two “smart home” devices clearly do not fit in with it, since they have other purposes that are not related to the living space, but they were included in this set.

How can Smart Home be used?

Before purchasing such devices, you need to know how they can be used to get the most benefit from them. For example, let's look at several ways of using it:

The door to the room opens, the sensor operates and turns on the lighting on the smart lamp.
The plant control sensor detects that the soil is too dry and sends a signal to the smart socket, which turns on watering. When the desired humidity is reached, watering is turned off.
The air sensor detects pollution and sends a signal to the smart socket, which starts the air purifier.
The smart lamp turns on at specified times, thereby creating an imitation of the presence of the owners in the house when they are not there.
A motion sensor detects a person approaching the house and turns on the lighting.
A system of motion sensors in a country garden will protect it from thieves, and a smart video camera will provide an image of the thieves.
The temperature sensor detects its decrease in the house and sends a signal to smart sockets that connect electric heaters.
If you have hired a nanny for your child, use a camera that will automatically record by sound or movement how the nanny treats your children.
When you go on a trip, you don’t have to worry about water leaks in your apartment. A special sensor will tell you about problems. The main thing is to make sure that your relatives have the keys to the apartment so that they can fix the water leak.

How to activate the Smart Home tariff from MegaFon

It is clear that such a complex system requires well-trained specialists to install and adjust the equipment. The process may take several days and require additional capital investments for the installation of complex equipment, all kinds of sensors and WEB cameras. Everything will depend on the buyer’s requirements and wishes. The package can only be purchased through the official website or at the company’s office, where a specialist will answer any question the client may have.

How much does Smart Home Megafon Life Control cost?

The cost of a system kit from a white-green operator consists of the following elements:

Purchasing a Megafon SIM card.
Purchasing a starter package with the Smart Home .
Purchasing devices for the Life Control . Prices vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

The main expenses of money go to subscriber services for sensors connected to the system, along with video cameras:

Up to 5 sensors – 300 rubles.
Up to 10 sensors – 500 rubles.
Up to 30 sensors – 700 rubles.

In addition, you can buy access to cloud storage, which you will need to save video recordings to review them if necessary. There is no limit on the volume of records, but there are restrictions on storage time:

for a storage period of up to 3 days – 300 rubles;
up to 10 days – 350 rubles;
up to a month – 500 rubles.

The bulk of the money needs to be spent on purchasing a system and a set of sensors. In general, purchasing a “ Smart Home ” in a complete set of the most necessary devices will have to spend from 300 to 500 thousand rubles.
If you need to carefully configure the system and maintain it, you will need to pay additional specialists.

Tariff plan "Smart Home"

The operation of the system is impossible without the special tariff Megafon - “Smart Home”. There is only one special product for Life Control - now let's talk about it in detail.

Description of the “Smart Home” tariff

The subscription fee for the tariff plan is 0 rubles, connection is free. The package includes the following services:

Calls to numbers in your home region and within the network – 5 rubles/min.;
Calls to other numbers – 15 rubles/min.;
Messages within the network and in the home region - 2 rubles;
SMS within Russia – 3.55 rubles.

Let’s take a separate look at the Internet, which is included in the Megafon Smart Home tariff package:

Free traffic volume – 50 MB;
If the package is over, 1 MB will cost 3 rubles.

Traffic is not charged:

When viewing video from cameras or from an archive;
When using a geotracker;
When using the system website or mobile application.

We have given a detailed description of the Megafon Smart Home tariff - study the offer, while we will tell you about the monthly cost of service.

Personal account Life Control

To manage the “smart home”, the Megafon operator has created a Personal Account, located on the lifecontrol.ru service web resource. In addition, you can install a mobile application developed for the Android and iOS operating systems. In both systems, the Personal Account is structured in a similar way, so let’s look at how it works for Android.

First you need to register in this service. You can install the mobile application and get acquainted with the operation of the service without registration. For this purpose, a test input is provided that displays the operation of the application and the action of various sensors. To get acquainted, this is the best option to find out how the application works.

The list of notifications displays all events occurring in the house. At the same time, you can set up notifications to receive them by email or directly in the application, which simplifies the use of the application. You can add additional sensors to it. You can establish a connection with a specific camera by scanning a QR code with your smartphone's camera. the smart home web resource . Each user chooses where to configure the system independently.

Setup and management

At the center of the system is the hub. A hub is a kind of command post to which all devices are connected. It is the hub that ensures the correct operation of the system and the interaction of devices with each other.

To access all features:

Create an account on the website or application;

Add all the appliances in the house;

Set up the operation of sockets, lights and cameras, as well as other devices;

Receive notifications about what's happening online.

Now let's find out what equipment for Life Control users can purchase and what are its characteristics.

Advantages and disadvantages

Life Control Smart Home service and the purchased system have positive and negative factors that are worth considering in more detail.

Device compatibility can be considered a positive and a negative point. The system can work with many devices, sensors and instruments. However, there are devices with which it does not work. When purchasing devices, you need to make sure they are compatible with the system. Otherwise, the purchase will not justify itself. If the device provides feedback, then the system is compatible with these devices.
Cost is considered a negative factor; not everyone can afford the purchase. However, the issue needs to be looked at more objectively. Purchasing a Smart Home system from Megafon will be expensive for the subscriber. But it will be cheaper than equipment manufactured by Apple. For people with a sufficient budget, it is quite possible to purchase this system. The price also depends on the manufacturer. But if you buy sensors that are too cheap, there is a chance that they will quickly fail. As a result, this can lead to dire consequences.
Variety of settings . Life Control system can be configured for any purpose. In a certain sense, this is a disadvantage for those users who are afraid of so many settings. But the application has a clear and simple interface with a large number of functions, any person will quickly understand them. Commands can be specified manually, voice and gesture recognition can be installed, for example, hand clapping.
Multitasking . This factor is an advantage. While the owner is working in the kitchen, the fan, air conditioner and other devices turn on automatically.
Saving . In terms of energy savings, Megafon's system is practically no different from its foreign counterparts. The lighting is automatically adjusted according to the situation: the light will be brighter if there are many people in the house, the light intensity will decrease if everyone is watching TV or someone is working on the computer. In addition, the time of day, the location of the sun by geolocation, and whether light enters the window are taken into account.

In Russia, this system is sold officially; all devices have been certified and meet the standards. Mobile traffic when the devices are operating is not charged, even when watching videos.

What kind of technology is this

Smart home Life Control is an operator-controlled system that allows remote control of sensors and electrical appliances in any room of a house or apartment.

Management is carried out on a special website of the system or in a mobile application for popular operating systems - the program works on both Android and iPhone.

To download it to your device, simply open the application store, enter the name and download the desired option.

Life Control smart home reviews

On the Internet, users of this system leave reviews about the work. We have selected a few of them, both positive and negative.

Peter Wi- Fi , a water leak sensor and a motion sensor for a month now Not much time has passed, all devices work without problems, you have to pay a little. There are problems with the water supply in the house, so the leak sensor helps us out; the neighbors saw it and installed it too. I like the system because the information is displayed on the smartphone, all functions can be configured remotely, which is very convenient.

Sergey : We bought and connected a “ smart home ” for ourselves and are satisfied. We tried the fitness tracker, everything works fine, there are no malfunctions. There are no complaints about the quality of the devices; installation went quickly without any difficulties. I consider this system to be a good option at an affordable price.

Olga : Operator Megafon is again trying to rob customers, collecting money for every step: connecting sensors, for mobile traffic, and other matters. This is similar to security companies that respond to signals, where a cheap alarm button costs a lot of money and the subscription fee is huge. I assume that this next attempt to get money for Chinese devices by building LTE and 4 G will fail, like the previous venture with GSM sockets.

Ksenia : I didn’t make big changes right away, I decided to start gradually testing new communication technologies. You need to start with something simple, understandable and inexpensive. I purchased two smart plugs. They are easy to manage via a mobile app. The commands are executed correctly and no faults have been identified.

Elena : I purchased the system in February. The first month there were no problems, then strange write-offs began. The prices shown are valid for the first time only. Then, when replenishing the account, all funds are debited from the balance and the “ smart home ” does not work. This went on for a couple of days. Judging by the breakdown of expenses, mobile traffic consumption has been exceeded, although there were no such problems over the past month. The help desk explains that there was access to the network through the system, although there was no way out smart home The operator cannot be trusted; money is written off at different prices.