This particular homeowner is baffled that anyone would buy a washing machine that needs an internet connection. I'm all for smart appliances, but a smart washing machine is a solution in search of a problem.
I guess it can notify you via your cell phone when a load is done. I could see that having value.
Mine plays a loud jingle when it's done, which seems to be enough for me.
Yup. There are two situations here:
If I'm at home and won't hear the sound for some reason, I'll just set an alarm on my phone. My washing machine tells me how long it'll take, so there's no guesswork here.
My washing machine tells me how long it'll take, so there's no guesswork here.
Washing machines exist that are smarter than just running a fixed program. They adjust the program, and thus duration, based om how dirty the clothes are. The same goes for dryers that look at the actual humidity of the clothes to determine if they’re finished.
Sure, and if I'm off by a few minutes, that's totally fine. I honestly don't need to know the moment my clothes are done, it can wait 20-30 minutes usually. In general, a laundry run takes an hour, plus whatever soak time I choose.
So I really don't need any network access. I guess it's fine if others want it, but I see it as a liability. If it connects to a network, that's a security vulnerability (don't want a laundry DOS) and another thing to break. Ideally, every model could optionally ship without it.
Its enough for me too. But not everyone has the same use case and environment. I definitely see why someone would want this.
What I disagree with is that it needs to communicate to the internet to do this. It adds delay and potential for outage if your internet is out. But they do this so they can force you to get their app and milk you for extra data to sell. Internet capable smart devices are to harvest data not grant features. Features could be done better by ZigBee and a hub, but that doesnt grant the device a way to phone home
Mine is in my garage, and I can't hear the jingle from inside the house.
But two power monitoring smart plugs+ home assistant fixed that issue
Then again, a simple timer on your phone could do the same thing.
Wait: Do the times listed on the screen of your washer/dryer actually reflect reality‽
My dryer will say it's got 20 minutes remaining for like an hour and a half. And yes, I clean the lint screen and vent regularly (all the way up to the roof!).
I’m all for smart appliances
I'm personally not. I'm for appliances with a standard interface, maybe, through which it can be connected to some smart home system.
I do not mean internet access or anything else "smart" in the appliance itself. I mean being able to use the same functions as buttons and indicators offer, remotely. I2C will do.
Forgotten laundry leads to mildew. Plenty of home assistance scripts out there to remind users to empty washer/dryer.
Makes sense for manufacturers to want to build this feature into the appliance itself.
Mildew doesn't grow in 15min, it takes hours to even smell weird and days to grow fungi. It's literally been cleaned with soap and hot water, there's not much to grow left.
This is an old article and iirc this was a reporting issue with their router. The wash machine was not using that much data.
This nonsense keeps getting reposted, when it was discovered previously it was a router reporting error
Why the fuck does my appliance need wifi? It's not ordering refills for consumables when low at a great discount nor is it going to schedule it's own maintenance as it passes lifetime milestones or detects errors.
I don't want my fucking washer/dryer to text me when the load is done and I definitely don't want my fridge to alert me I'm low on milk or bread, or the door is open. That's such a huge backdoor for anyone looking to maliciously gather data and peer into my life, definitely without my consent.
If, just for fucking once, they could use fully open source software to send that information directly to my mobile phone instead of using black box software to send all my info their corporate overlords, we might talk.
In principle these things aren't directly a bad idea. The fact that these asshats inserted themselves in the process is.
My fucking washer has NFC and I cant even figure out why I would ever need that, let alone WiFi?
Features for features sake, I guess? Another bullet point on the features list.
It's not very useful. But, I can start a program from an app which is a lot easier than understanding all the little logos on the unit. Plus I have more flexibility to tweak it, like be faster or gentler or schedule it to cheaper electricity hours all much more easily and intuitively than in the panel.
Also timer, remote start, and letting me know when it's done are something I might use once in a blue moon.
Can I live without it, hell yes, but is it a totally useless gimmick... Well 50/50.
Glad I bought a non-smart washer and dryer. I've yet to encounter any situation in life where I thought, "too bad my appliance doesn't have Internet". Not once ever.
I like my old dumpy dryer. Its a motor, a belt, and the most complicated component: a timer. Ive fixed the thing several times, still runs fine despite being 15+ years old.
Botnet node? 3GB sounds excessive even for a company that's notoriously invasive.
As someone else already posted, the 3GB was incorrect, it was a router reporting incorrect traffic.
But that doesn't seem to stop everyone here from continuing to post how the thing that didn't happen in the first place is ridiculous...
When your washing machine tries to download Baldurs Gate 3 because it’s bored too
Data laundry.
I find the idea of "downloading new wash programs" to be absurd.
Main Menu:
Wash laundry
Mine crypto
Launder crypto
Now the Chinese government knows exactly how many socks have gone missing, but no it won't tell you where they all went.
If you put any of these things on your wifi add them to your parental control settings that most routers have. Restrict what it can access and what times it allowed to connect to the internet.
Or ideally just don't put it on the wifi. I just set a timer for when it is done. Even those with variable cycles are fairly predictable and it isn't usually a big deal if your timer is 15min late.
I dunno, isn't the homeowner an idiot for putting a smart washer on WiFi in the first place? We don't need smart devices, they aren't making our lives better.
To the average person, putting that much thought and effort into it is for elite hackers only. I know a guy that does cybersecurity and still has smart everything in his house.
Must not actually be good at cybersecurity then.
Anyone I know who’s actually deep into cybersecurity avoids extra devices, including smartphones. If you’re not hyper paranoid, you’ve missed the majority of what the nation states are up to.
Or you just know how to block and segregate it on your network.
You already have a phone in your hand just put an alarm on there. There are you eliminated the supposed use of internet on a washer.
Newer washing machines vary in time depending on how dirty your clothes are. So the same program may take 50 minutes or 90 minutes. This cannot be solved with a regular timer.
If you have a job with varying hours, you might want to start the washing mashine when you're heading home. Then you're clothes are ready to be hung as you arrive and they aren't laying around for hours.
If you own photovoltaic, you might want to time energy intense home appliances such as washing machines, dish washers etc. to a period of overproduction.
Not saying, these issues are super important but there definitely are use cases for smart devices. However, I'd always recommend using a local / self-hosted rather than a cloud-based solution.
y'all are min-maxing life a bit hard there.
Solution in search of a problem.
I guess a mobile alert that lets you know the cycle is finished could be handy? Ability to schedule a load to start later? Maybe a maintenance or problem alert? Depleted detergent and fabric softener reservoir?
Possibly an energy usage chart for the nerds out there who like that kind of thing?
But damn, all of that shouldn't need more than a few kb a day max.
For most of these events an internet connection isn't necessary at all.
My machine shows the time that is needed for the program when I start it. I know when it will be finished right from the beginning. There's no surprise, no message necessary. If I tend to forget the time, then I can set a reminder in my smartphone.
I can program the machine while I load it to start the washing later. Why load the machine but then program it from a distance? Makes no sense.
Detergent is filled in before each washing cycle. There's nothing to be depleted.
A maintenance or problem alert would be the only thing that could be worth a message function. But: My machine works without problems for 15 years now. So: what should it be messaging me? We can really live better without these useless electronics that only push up the price and the distraction.
If you think the useless appliances are bad, just take a look at more critical connected devices.
I needed some POE security cameras, found some foscam ones on the cheap. Plug them up, go to IP, "install our app"... was pleased to find it allowed a local account without the need for an email, but found that half of my network traffic was comprised of requests to their "ivyIOT AI detection". I didnt measure what data was going through before sectioning them behind a firewall zone.
My fault for not having looked further into other brands, they were still a bargain and work without issue with my setup, but annoying
Homeowner should be baffled at why he was
I have a supposedly smart washing machine that came with the apartment. Setting it up in my locked down appliances network, it didn't work with home-assistant, required cloud access and wanted me to open up ports in the firewall. Nope. No network connection for you. You are a regular dumb old washing machine.
I would imagine that someone might have compromised the washing machine and used it as part of a botnet to attack another system. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that washing machine companies might not be the most-proactive at pushing security updates.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
