August Smart Home Access System

Building a Smarter Home with TELUS, Part Two

Last updated on April 14th, 2021 at 10:53 am

How to Let the Right Ones In!

I can still remember it vividly: it was a nippy day in January 2000, and I left home in the morning—as I often did—to go write a midterm exam at school. The Mississauga Palmers followed their routine in suit—my brothers went to their school; Mom went to work; and Dad was the last to leave to open the restaurant for 10. I don’t remember the exam. I don’t remember what I wore. What I do remember is how odd I found it when I called home and all I got was a busy signal instead of the answering machine.

This next part is still crystal clear to me—reaching the front door of our house and trying the key… only to find the door already open.

In the space of something like 3 hours, my family had been robbed.

Building a Smarter Home with TELUS, Part Two—Letting the Right Ones in With the August Smart Home Access System!—The Palmer House c 2000

It’s hard to understand what it feels like to be the victim of a home invasion unless you’ve suffered it yourself. Though the main floor was left largely untouched, I’ll never forget the sight of our bedrooms upturned, drawers piled on the beds yanked loose from their cabinets, and piggy banks devoid of their change. They took the wedding rings, computer, MP3 players and more—they even emptied the suitcases my Mom had packed for a trip to Jamaica, using them to cart away their ill-gotten goods with no one being the wiser.

Even after we’d given our police statements, bought an alarm system and replaced what we could when our insurance claim went through, things didn’t feel the same for a long time thereafter. The home we’d once taken for granted didn’t feel quite so cozy anymore, and we were left with more questions than answers: Why us? What could we have done differently? How could we make sure it wouldn’t happen again?

The place that was supposed to be our safest was violated, and it’s really hard to come back from that.

Building a Smarter Home with TELUS, Part Two—Letting the Right Ones in With the August Smart Home Access System!—August Product Suite

More than 15 years later with a family of my own, the memories still ring vividly in my head, inspiring me to do whatever’s in my power to keep them all safe—and fortunately, 2016’s technology gives us options that simply weren’t around back then, with plenty of choices for how we can make our homes smarter at a fraction of what it used to cost to do the very same thing!

And the August Smart Lock with its companion—the August Connect—are two little devices that’ll do just that: change how you think about home security and the things you can do to stay a step ahead of those who might not have your family’s best interests at heart.

But what makes a smart lock so “smart”? I mean, we all know how locks work—you either have a key to open your door or you don’t. It’s that simple. I mean, of course, if your lock doesn’t get jimmied. Or, I mean, there’s also the fact that keys can be lost—they’re so dang small, after all! We worry about whether we actually remembered to lock our doors in the first place, often doubling back to check; get accidentally locked out; fumble for keys in the dark to get in… I’m sure our ancestors meant well all those millennia ago, but it’s probably time we put a little more thoughts into the thing that keeps the wrong people out of our homes and lets the right ones in whenever they need it!

Which is why the August Smart Home Access System turns the very idea of locks and keys on its head with features you can’t get from a simple chunk of metal.

Using the power of the August App, the smartphone software that does everything from determine whose phones can open the door to automatically giving you notifications and logs on who’s coming and going, the August Smart Lock will protect your home in ways you’ve likely never even thought about.

Building a Smarter Home with TELUS, Part Two—Letting the Right Ones in With the August Smart Home Access System!—August Smart Lock

The door automatically locks behind you and opens upon your approach. It lets you create virtual keys for your guests that expire when you want them to expire. And it connects to the Apple Watch. It takes 15 minutes to install and keeps your existing hardware so you can still use your keys if the batteries run out. It’s literally designed to help you put worrying about your home’s safety squarely at the back of your mind.

And when you pair it with an August Connect, you don’t even need to be home to open the door! If you’ve got a dog walker, cleaner, or anyone who’s going to need entry, all it takes is an alert and the push of a button to let them in! Sure, it probably feels like this is all straight from a sci-fi movie, but we’re finally hitting a point with technology that truly challenges what we can demand of our lifestyles, and I for one embrace it!

And a recent study commissioned by TELUS tells me I’m not alone—while only 34% of Canadians currently own a smart home device, 68% predict they’ll own at least one by 2018, and half of those think that number will be three or more! Rob Currie, vice-president of Mobile Devices at TELUS notes that while today “we’re seeing basic functionality like controlling lighting or thermostats from our smartphones”, this is just the beginning to get us used to new technologies—can you imagine biometric security systems like you see in Mission Impossible? Kitchens that sort their functions through learning your preferences and habits? The future’s coming fast, folks, so we’d better start getting used to its ideas while we still have the chance!

The August Smart Home Access System—Keep the Wrong Ones Out and Let the Right Ones IN.

Building a Smarter Home with TELUS, Part Two—Letting the Right Ones in With the August Smart Home Access System!—August Smart Lock Cross-Section

When it comes down to it, the August Smart Lock won’t solve all your home security woes—when we were robbed those 16 years ago, the thieves jimmied a window open at the back of the house, taking advantage of an absent security system to have their way—but I can imagine that things would’ve gone far differently had my family received alerts on our phones that all wasn’t as it should be at home!

You never know when something like this might happen to you—if that’s not incentive enough to keep up with the ever-changing times, I don’t know what is.

Building a Smarter Home with TELUS, Part Two—Letting the Right Ones in With the August Smart Home Access System!—Casey Palmer and His Sons

But the August Smart Home Access System—I’ve gotta admit, its possibilities have me excited. Even if home security’s not something you often think about, I assure you it’s not to be taken for granted—it’s just like insurance: it seems like quite the investment up front, but if you don’t do it, you won’t truly appreciate what it offers until it’s too late.

Thanks for reading, y’all, and may you always choose to invest in peace of mind!

Until the next,

The second logo for Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad

Disclaimer: While TELUS originally compensated me for this post with an August Smart Lock and August Connect of my own, it turns out that our house is old—like 100 years old—and they probably didn’t design homes with smart home technology in mind back then.

But good thing this isn’t our forever home, right?

By Casey E. Palmer

Husband. Father. Storyteller.

Calling the Great White North his home, Casey Palmer the Canadian Dad spend his free time in pursuit of the greatest content possible.

Thousand-word blog posts? Snapshots from life? Sketches and podcasts and more—he's more than just a dad blogger; he's working to change what's expected of the parenting creators of the world.

It's about so much more than just our kids.

When Casey's not creating, he's busy parenting, adventuring, trying to be a good husband and making the most of his life!

Casey lives in Toronto, Ontario.

48 replies on “August Smart Home Access System”

I do have an alarm system on all the doors and windows but this would be amazing when the alarm is shut off during the time we are home and have company coming and going. Great idea for the doors, love it! Much more affordable then a monthly bill for sure!

About the only thing we do is keep our doors and windows locked. Nothing fancy.

I live in an in-law flat in my son’s house, so it’s him who has to sort all this out. I do know that they are looking into what to do to make the house more secure.

We just have regular locks on our doors, we could actually use a bit more security!

We have an alarm system, motion lighting outdoors, and great neighbors back front & sides who watch our home when we are away.

We dont have much for security,we just live in a small town around 2500 and the crime is really low

We always keep our deadbolts locked, even when we’re home. We lock our windows too and don’t leave windows open we aren’t home. We also leave our outside lights (front and back) on at night and have a motion activated flood light. And I leave the kitchen light on all night too just so no one can tell if we’re still awake or not.

never leave windows unlatched and we have a deadbolt on the front and back.. in all honesty it is not that secure

T.O. is Iwhere I grew up and our home was broke into 2xwhile we were sleeping. I now live in a small town up north. Some people here still do not lock their doors. I keep doors locked. I even put dowls in the windows when they are open plus I have a dog.

We have an alarm system. I was broken into once while I was home & the guy tried to grab me….I’m so lucky I got away. Needless to say I’m super paranoid about safety – and even more so now that I have a baby girl.

We just use regular door locks. I’m from a small town where we didn’t even really lock the doors often. Now that I moved to a bigger city we have changed that!

We live in a rural setting so good locks and door hardware are really important. We also have movement lighting.

We lock up everything when we go out and at night…we have a very yappy dog… and we have taught our kids to close up the garage and the door when home alone.

We keep all the windows and doors locked. Our neighbours and ourselves also have a unofficial neighbourhood watch as well.

we just keep all the door and windows locked , we don’t have anything fancy , but this sounds amazing , and would love it for our home , thanks for the chance 🙂

We lock our two doors and windows at night or if we leave the house.
There are some frightening things going on in everyone’s neighborhood!!
It’s not like the old days when things were so much quieter and safer or so
it seems.We have to have smarter home locks to stay ahead of crime.

We installed window locks on the windows we have on the main floor and window security bars on our basement windows. We also lock the door even when we are home to prevent people from just walking in unexpectedly.

I’m really lucky to have amazing neighbors and we all help keep an eye on each other. I keep the doors locked all the time even when I’m home and I live in a really small town so people kind of make fun of me about it but you just never know!

I’m so very sorry to hear about your story. I can only imagine what it must feel like to have your safe place, your home, your sanctuary be violated! When my husband and I moved into our home 9 years ago we changed the doors and locks. We’ve recently installed new windows. The original ones were so frail that a five year old could have kicked them in if they wanted to! We don’t have anything is way of a security system or smart lock but with two little ones at home now I think it’s time to invest in our safety. Thank you for sharing your story and for such a great giveaway! Good luck all!

I recently added some ip cameras but it is a constantly updated item to feel secure.

We have deadbolts on the doors & safety latches on the windows and an alarm company monitoring the home. I can relate to your feelings of violation following your home break-in, we also had our home broken into almost 20 years ago and it was extremely disturbing. We didn’t have an alarm system at that time, but had one installed immediately following it.

We keep an irregular schedule and have limited routines that would make us more susceptible to burglars or other disasters.

we keep the windows are door locked, our neighbours are great we all keep an eye out for each other, notify each other if we are going to be away

We are honestly terrible about security because we live in a pretty safe place. I’ve been working on reminding the family to just lock the stinking doors.

Honestly we only have a regular lock. We did replace them all when we bought the house though! I’m lucky that i have neighbours home during the day on both sides. We always watch out for each other.

We have a 120lb American Bulldog, who doesn’t like strangers… So that helps lol

Deadbolts on all doors, window locks, motion activated camera with notifications to my cellphone

I keep the house locked and the windows closed and locked. I think I should also get an alarm system or something else to make the house safer. I wouldn’t want to lose any of my possessions as don’t have the ability to replace them.

We have locks on our windows, plus chain locks on the doors with added protection of child-proof above door guardian door locks.

Whenever we go away for a period of time we let our trusted neighbor know. He also has a security system to monitor around both our houses. We also have two locks on our door and also we use a special stick to use at our sliding door to secure it from opening. And we have locks on all our windows!

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