Turn Your Whole House Into A Smart Home With This Simple WiFi Plug

Just a few years back, an automated and voice-controlled home was something we only saw and appreciated in the movies. And then apps like Alexa and Google Home began to enter the market, and many were skeptical and scared what these appliances brought into our homes. Conversations like “The government is listening to our conversations!” “My daughter just ordered something online by talking to Alexa!” “Alexa, play Despacito!” clouded the judgement of many.

But in the age of technology and innovation, we shouldn’t resist change. We shouldn’t resist development.   After all, one can argue that a smart home is a beautiful home.  With all of the conveniences and possibilities it offers,  it would do us well to ride the tide of the innovation.  Now, our smartphones have become an extension of ourselves; we’re never going anywhere without it and relying on it for almost everything—banking, directions, recipes, reminders for your next meeting, entertainment, and even monitoring your sleep patterns and health goals!

Because of our affinity with our smartphones, smart home technology found a way to creep into our homes and hearts. And soon, smart appliances began appearing everywhere.

While digital natives will not find it hard to adapt easily to a multitude of smart devices, it’s a different story for those who don’t have the patience or technological savvy to try and understand each new piece of technology that comes out. What if I can’t be bothered to set-up each appliance one by one? What if I already have a fully functioning electric fan or TV and don’t want to buy a new one?

Well, if you want to control your entire home with just one app, on your phone, how about getting a smart plug?                                                                                  

Smart plug

A smart plug will let you turn any appliance into a smart one. This means that you can control the appliance remotely using only your smartphone. It works by connecting the appliance to your WiFi system, which then enables you to control it through an app or via voice commands.

While there are a number of smart plug providers online, one of the brands we’ve tried is Lasco Home, a Filipino-owned company who curates their list of devices for the Filipino market. Included in their product line are a variety of smart plugs, depending on the needs of the user. They have single and dual plugs; and universal strips, which can accommodate a number of appliances and USB charging ports.

One of their bestsellers is this Smart US plug, which can virtually turn any appliance into a smart appliance. Just plug and play!

How it works

All you need is the Lasco Home smart plug, a WiFi router with 2.4Ghz internet connection (note: don’t use 5G), and the Lasco app on your smartphone. Just plug an appliance—an electric fan, for example—into the Lasco Wifi Smart Socket, connect the plug to your app (which usually just takes seconds), and that’s it! You can now control your electric fan from your mobile phone, whenever, wherever. So that means whether you’re at home or not, you can check whether you’ve left your appliances on, and then turn them off remotely if you must (or maybe even use it to prank your family members by turning appliances on and off?).

You can also schedule or set a timer for your appliances, which is very handy with older electric fans and air conditioners that don’t come with a timer. You can schedule your aircon to turn off at a specific time, and then automatically have your electric fan turn on when the aircon turns off. No more waking up in the middle of the night! Awesome!

The plug and app also comes with an energy monitor capability, which lets you monitor your energy consumption by the day.

For the even lazier—or rather, tech-savvy—people who don’t want to spend that extra time opening the app to turn appliances on and off, the programming of the plug is compatible with voice-controlled assistants like Amazon Echo and Alexa, and Google Home. We tried turning on the electric fan through our Google Home with “Hey, Google, turn on the electric fan” and it worked smoothly.

All of these functionalities and all your appliances are logged into the Lasco app so you don’t need to learn or open separate systems to set-up or operate your now-smart home. It’s all in one app, which is so straightforward and easy to use.

Where to buy

Lasco Home has more products apart from the smart plug, such as the smart air purifier, which can let you sanitize your room when you’re in a different one so you won’t be exposed to the UV rays; universal remote, which should let you control all your television and air conditioners with your smartphone; and, one of our favorites, the smart bulb, which lets you achieve up to 16 million colors since you can tweak the color, brightness, and warmth of the light through the app.

Check them out on Facebook and purchase their products via Lazada. They’re very responsive in both platforms, and will answer all your questions if you need advice on deciding which products will work best with your home.