Frequent Nest service outages have me rethinking my choice of home security, but there may be hope

Yesterday, Nest Wi-Fi cameras experienced a widespread outage which prevented users from peering through the camera via the app to check on their valuables or loved ones. Though it was resolved shortly thereafter, this probably comes as no surprise to many of you reading this. Nest has experienced frequent outages over the past year, and though I’ve never owned another home security system, I have to believe that this track record is unusual. At the very least, it’s certainly unacceptable to me and many others who share my sentiment.

Most of the time when I see Nest outages take place, it’s when I’m asleep. I only get notified of it in the morning when I wake up and I realize that my home was unguarded for several hours in the dead of night – the time I feel it’s needed the most. Yes, I understand that most burglaries happen in broad daylight, but one can’t help but feel that the darkest hours are the darkest hours, so to speak. With that said, these frequent Nest service outages have me second-guessing my choice of home security.

I like to think of Nest as home security on training wheels. Maybe I’m wrong, but when I think of a super security-minded individual, I think that they have wires running through the attic, plugged into a DVR where they’re recording every second of footage and storing it on hard drives for later recall. Being a computer savvy person, I’m steeped in the tech industry more closely related to Nest and other products like it, and certainly have a passion for wireless tech and convenience. However, that convenience seems to come at a larger cost than I initially realized.

I’m not saying that Google and its Nest team have to be perfect, but I am taking notice of the fact that they’ve been slipping up pretty hard this year – pandemic struggles aside. I say that because while the pandemic has caused individuals to work from home and thus has created a situation where services simply can’t operate at full capacity, I’ve seen the company pour way more effort and excellence into their Workspace for Education and Enterprise products and other services than I have seen them pour into making Nest devices solid and reliable – and that’s absurd. I’m not saying I believe that distanced learning tools are unimportant, I’m just pointing out that the work from home phenomenon hasn’t seemed to slow them down as much as many have come to believe.

I’m inclined to believe that Google’s recent partnership with ADT is its public admittance of defeat and it knows that it can’t continue to deliver stellar home security on its own. To this, I say props to them! Why not let the home security experts of over one hundred years handle things? Since we are likely to see the company’s new devices with Google Assistant built-in before the end of the year, it does give me hope. Perhaps the new hardware will be accompanied by reliable service and support. Perhaps I won’t have to move on to other products after all.

One thing is for certain – if the future looks as unprotected as the present, I will not remain a Nest customer, and I’m sure I’m not alone. If you’re in the camp that says the number of outages we’ve had with the company compared to how much it’s protected its users, then I would pose this question to you – How do you feel the frequency of these mishaps appears to the layperson? It only takes one incident to change someone’s life, and while Nest is not solely responsible for one’s protection, millions are relying on it to do one job in exchange for their money, so when it fails at that then their confidence is understandably shaken.

While all companies are prone to outages, I have to believe that ADT’s are far less frequent than Nest thanks to their infrastructure and experience in the industry. I’m pleased with the easy set-up and usage of Nest products, but if they can’t properly assist me in protecting my family, then they are worthless. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I don’t know what’s going on at Google these past few years, but I certainly hope it gets its act together soon because its public image has been severely besmirched by its lack of attention to quality.

Investing more money in the reliability of its security infrastructure for its users seems a whole lot more important than spending tens of millions of dollars to acquire game deals for Stadia, so the appearance is that the company has its priorities backward. I hope that my disappointment is understandable and that I don’t just sound like I’m being unreasonable. Let me know in the comments how you feel about Nest service outages and whether they seem all too frequent or if I’m just being too critical on the matter.