What Do Your Walls Say? How New Technology Can Sense Water Leaks and More

Oh, if your walls could talk! Imagine what they’d tell you.

While your walls may not be able to communicate, wireless technology is giving your home a voice through innovative products designed to help provide peace of mind whether you’re home or away.

Home automation tool Wally is a sensor network that can detect water leaks, small changes in moisture and temperature fluctuations in the immediate vicinity of one of its sensors. Wally got its name because it uses walls, and the existing wiring of your home, to send an alert to your smartphone when a water leak is detected, keeping small problems from turning into big and expensive ones.

While some surprises are great, others – such as a flooded basement – aren’t so wonderful. A failed sump pump can be catastrophic. PitBoss, a wireless alarm system, will send a text message to the homeowner’s smartphone letting them know the electricity is off or the pump is beginning to fail—enabling them to take immediate action and avoid the surprise of a basement full of water.

How many times have you wondered if you left the lights on or forgot to close the garage door?  

With the Wi-Fi® enabled WeMo Light Switch, you can turn lights on or off from anywhere – such as across the house, outside in the backyard or even from the other side of the world—all from your wireless device. 

Chamberlain MyQ Garage lets you open or close your garage door from a compatible smartphone or tablet. Customized alerts will let you know when your garage door opens or closes.

These and other machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions are enabling consumers to manage their homes more efficiently. The Nest Home Thermostat, for example, helps conserve energy in your home while you’re away. This thermostat learns your schedule and programs itself to adjust temperatures when you’re not home. You can also control the Nest thermostat while away from home using your compatible mobile device.

These technologies, among the latest innovations in managing and protecting your home, ultimately depend on the homeowner’s wireless network coverage. Verizon Wireless customers’ home solutions run on the nation’s largest, most reliable 4G LTE network.