Telstra wants to sell you a subscription to a smart home

Telstra is hoping to take on the "internet of things" with a subscription-based smart home service that will see customer homes kitted out with connected gear in exchange for a yet to be confirmed monthly fee. While the service is still a couple of months away, Telstra will offer two smart home packages at launch: "Watch and Monitor" and "Energy and Automation". The Watch and Monitor option will give subscribers a couple of motion sensors and a camera, while Automation and Energy will include smart power plugs and motion sensors.

"Telstra Smart Home brings real benefits," said Executive Director Home and Premium Services John Chambers, "from knowing exactly what time your kids get home from school, to checking in on the wellbeing of your mum who lives alone, to knowing that your garage door is closed, your dog is in the backyard and the iron is turned off when you leave the house."

Telstra's smart home appliances will be built on the ZigBee platform, which could potentially allow for interaction with other ZigBee based devices outside of what Telstra will sell. In fact, Telstra says that its smart home offering will be designed to integrate with devices from different suppliers, and support a range of new products and technologies.

Desktop, smartphone, and tablet apps will be used to control Telstra Smart Home appliances when the platform launches this year.

Telstra has yet to confirm how it will charge for its smart home packages, but says it will be equivalent to a "couple of movie tickets" per month.