Canada Outpacing U.S. in Smart Home Technology Adoption
According to Calgary home automation company Vivint™, Canadian customers are adopting smart home technologies at a higher rate than customers in the United States. As of July 2011, 54 percent of new Canadian customers added smart home features like remote door locks, video surveillance, energy management, and lighting and small appliance control to their basic security packages—compared to 48 percent in the United States.
Smart home features are easier to use and more affordable than ever—with full packages running about the same price as a cell phone plan. New technologies, professional installation services, and innovative financing plans have made the safety, convenience, and energy management benefits of home automation accessible for a wide variety of consumers.
Gail Albin and her husband Michael of Qualicum Beach, B.C., use Vivint’s smart home technology to stay safe, and stay connected: “My husband travels overseas for his job and the big time change can make it hard for us to stay in touch,” Gail said. “Michael uses the Vivint app from his smart phone to check the system log, which tells him when I have armed and disarmed our system. That way, he knows that I’m safe at night, and when I’m awake and he can call me in the morning.”
Ted and Karen Betts of Lethbridge, Alberta, use Vivint to manage their energy use and give family members access to their house while they are away. “My husband and I own a business that takes us away from home quite regularly. It’s great to be able to adjust our thermostat, from the Vivint website, to make sure our house isn’t too warm or too cold—especially during the winter months.” She continued, saying that “My sister checks on our house regularly, when we travel, and it’s so much more convenient to just give her a personal code she can use to get inside. She doesn’t have to worry about keeping track of a key, and the system arms automatically when she leaves. The ability to access the Vivint website and monitor all entry and exits taking place, regardless of where in the world we might be, provides us with an extraordinary sense of security and control of our home while we are away.”
Alberta led the country with 66 percent of new customers adding smart home features. The lowest adopting province is New Brunswick at 33 percent—which is still higher than 18 U.S. states and territories.
New customer smart technology adoption by province:
| Alberta: 66.32% | Newfoundland and Labrador: 45.33% | |||||||||||||||
| Northwest Territories: 56.88% | Nova Scotia: 34.80% | |||||||||||||||
| Manitoba: 58.19% | Ontario: 34.04% | |||||||||||||||
| Saskatchewan: 51.77% | New Brunswick: 33.08% | |||||||||||||||
| British Columbia: 46.43% |
