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On 29 May, global peripheral giant Belkin will flick the "off" switch on its Wemo NetCam IP cameras, turning the popular security devices into paperweights.
It's not unusual for a manufacturer to call time on physical hardware. [...]
But this is a little different, because Belkin isn't merely ending support. It also plans to decommission the cloud services required for its Wemo NetCam devices to actually work.
"Although your Wemo NetCam will still connect to your Wi-Fi network, without these servers you will not be able to view the video feed or access the security features of your Wemo NetCam, such as Motion Clips and Motion Notifications," Belkin said on its official website.
"If you use your Wemo NetCam as a motion sensor for your Wemo line of products, it will no longer provide this functionality and will be removed as an option from your Wemo app," the company added.
Adding insult to injury, the ubiquitous consumer network gear maker only plans to refund customers with active warranties, which excludes anyone who bought their device more than two years ago. The window to submit requests is open from now until 30 June.
Customers will also have to provide the company with the original receipt, showing how much they paid for the unit. Though it shouldn't be too hard to fish out an Amazon invoice from an inbox, if you bought the unit from a bricks-and-mortar retailer, there's a chance you won't have that information to provide.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 30 2020, @02:04PM
Belkin does not support anything that is not currently bringing cash flow, period. They are buy a good name to push quick cash solutions. Like Linksys was a good name in home networking, now another zombie in the Belkin stable.
I had an IoT device, a MONSTER Power Switch, used with my Christmas lights. Belkin bought it up and killed it off. Found out when setting up the next season. No email to notify of the shutdown. No local tool to take over functionality.
I have 4 IoTs in the house now, mainly thanks to wife. The only still working is cheap ($5) Amazon power plugs, for my daughter bedroom. Likes being able to heater (oil with ANALOG controls so can be turned on/off at power plug - now that was hard to find) and Christmas lights as stars on ceiling. These are connect to their own WiFi network, outside of firewall.
The another that in box and dead... Norton "Cloud" Security Router, again NO software update to make it a stand-alone router. I do like the 9" golfball look of the router.
Still using a Netgear Arlo Cameras - works OK, but EATS special batteries. We have it inside a bird feeder/house first to watch backdoor (WHY???) but then found it fun to watch the birds to watch just the birds. Near use to support them on their routers, now you must have a separate custom router just for them. That router is plugged into cable outside of firewall, too.