Wireless Technologies

WiFi

Easily the best known wireless technology currently in use in homes, WiFi is optimized for high-bandwidth, high-complexity devices and works well for everything from checking email to streaming video.
 

 

Star Topology

No Network Healing

255 Device Limit per Subnet

2.4GHz Wireless

Z-Wave

Unlike WiFi, Z-Wave was designed to be more focused on building automation and control than general media transport. Utilizing a routed mesh network, Z-Wave devices can interconnect throughout your home over a wireless link.

 

Routed Mesh Topology

Adaptive Network Healing

232 Device Limit per Network

908MHz Wireless

Insteon

Insteon is the only home control technology designed to utilize wireless radio and hard-wired powerline networking. Combined with several unique and patented messaging techniques, Insteon is perfectly suited for home control.

 

Dual-Mesh Topology

No Network Healing Needed

1000+ Device Links per Device

915MHz Wireless
131.65KHz Powerline

 

For an in-depth comparison of Insteon and other networking technologies, see Insteon: Compared.