I’m looking at ways to make a smart home useful even when the internet goes down. Which functions keep working for you, and what hub, protocols, or local-control settings make the biggest difference? I’m especially interested in lights and sensors, but would be glad to hear what you’ve learned with other devices too.
Local control makes the biggest difference. Lights, motion sensors, and basic automations can keep working through a hub like Home Assistant with Zigbee or Z-Wave, even when the internet is down. I’d prioritize devices that support local control instead of cloud-only Wi-Fi devices.
i’d add that “internet outage” and “home network outage” are different. if only the ISP connection is down, a local hub and devices on your LAN can still communicate. if the router or hub loses power, automations that depend on them may stop, so keeping the router and hub on a small UPS can help.
for lights, zigbee or z-wave switches and sensors paired directly to a local hub are a good start. Set up the basic automations in the hub, and check that device control and any voice assistant routines don’t depend on a cloud service. Some devices still need the internet for setup, remote access, or features like weather data, even if basic local control works.
one useful test is to unplug the router’s WAN connection while leaving your home network running, then try the things you care about: wall switches, motion-triggered lights, and schedules. That shows what will keep working without accidentally testing a full power or network failure.
for lights, zigbee or z-wave switches and sensors paired directly to a local hub are a good start. Set up the basic automations in the hub, and check that device control and any voice assistant routines don’t depend on a cloud service. Some devices still need the internet for setup, remote access, or features like weather data, even if basic local control works.
one useful test is to unplug the router’s WAN connection while leaving your home network running, then try the things you care about: wall switches, motion-triggered lights, and schedules. That shows what will keep working without accidentally testing a full power or network failure.
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