How Shipshape Uses Your Internet Connection
The Short Answer
Shipshape uses a very small amount of your internet bandwidth. Most households will never notice any difference in their internet speed or performance after installing Shipshape, even if you work from home.
How Much Bandwidth Does Shipshape Use?
Sensor data is tiny. Each reading (temperature, humidity, power, water detection) is just a few kilobytes of information. Your Shipshape gateway sends these small data packets to our cloud servers throughout the day.
Typical monthly usage: about 200 MB. Homes with many devices can use 400 MB or more.
To put that in perspective:
| Activity | Data Used |
|---|---|
| Shipshape (entire month) | ~200 MB |
| Streaming one hour of Netflix (HD) | ~3,000 MB |
| One video call (1 hour) | ~1,500 MB |
| Downloading one phone app | ~100-500 MB |
| Browsing the web (1 hour) | ~60 MB |
Your entire month of Shipshape monitoring uses roughly the same amount of data as 4 minutes of streaming video. It will not slow down your internet, affect your streaming, or impact anyone else's online activity.
How Often Sensors Send Data
The messages your sensors send are very small and, in most cases, infrequent:
- A battery-powered sensor (leak detector, humidity/temperature sensor) reports only a few times an hour, depending on the changes it detects.
- A smart power plug can report a few times a minute.
- Each message is under 2 KB. Streaming one movie downloads more than 500 MB, over 250,000 times as much as one of these messages.
How the Gateway Connects
Your Shipshape gateway is the hub that collects data from all your sensors and sends it to the Shipshape cloud. Here is how it works:
- Sensors communicate with the gateway over their own separate wireless network, using Z-Wave, a low-power wireless protocol (not WiFi). See Z-Wave Technology for Homeowners and Technicians, or Z-Wave on Wikipedia
- The gateway connects to your router via a wired ethernet cable
- The gateway sends data to Shipshape cloud servers over your existing internet connection
- The app and web dashboard retrieve your data from the cloud
The gateway uses a wired ethernet connection rather than WiFi for reliability. A wired connection is more stable, less prone to interference, and ensures consistent data delivery. This means the gateway needs to be placed near your router or a network switch with an available ethernet port.
What the Gateway Does NOT Do
Understanding what the gateway does not do is just as important:
- Does not slow down your internet. The bandwidth used is negligible.
- Does not access other devices on your network. The gateway communicates only with Shipshape sensors and Shipshape cloud servers. It does not scan, monitor, or interact with your computers, phones, smart TVs, or other connected devices.
- Does not use significant bandwidth. A typical home uses about 200 MB a month, and even homes with many devices rarely go far past 400 MB.
- Does not require a high-speed connection. Any standard broadband connection works fine, including basic DSL, cable, fiber, or fixed wireless.
- Does not use your WiFi. The gateway connects via ethernet cable, so it does not compete with your wireless devices for WiFi bandwidth.
Minimum Internet Requirements
Shipshape is designed to work with virtually any home internet connection:
- Connection type: Any broadband, including DSL, cable, fiber, fixed wireless, or satellite
- Router requirement: One available ethernet port (or a simple network switch if all ports are in use)
- No special configuration needed — plug in the ethernet cable and the gateway connects automatically
If your internet is fast enough to browse the web or check email, it is fast enough for Shipshape.
What Happens If Your Internet Goes Down
Internet outages happen. Here is what to expect:
During the Outage
- Monitoring pauses. The gateway cannot send data to the cloud without an internet connection, so real-time monitoring is temporarily unavailable.
- Sensors keep working. Battery-powered sensors keep running. They do not depend on the internet to function.
- There will be a gap in your history. Readings from the outage are not stored and sent later.
- Sensor alerts pause. Without a connection, readings can't reach Shipshape, so alerts based on them can't be raised. Shipshape does notice that the gateway is offline, and the app shows a gateway offline alert.
When Internet Returns
- The gateway reconnects automatically. No action is required on your part.
- Shipshape reads each sensor's current value. The app catches up within a few minutes. Readings from the outage are not recovered.
- Monitoring resumes. SAM begins analyzing data and generating alerts again.
- The gateway offline alert clears once the gateway is back online.
For more details about power outages (which affect both internet and the gateway), see What Happens During a Power Outage.
Network Security
The gateway connects out to the internet on its own. On most home routers, you do not need to open ports, set up port forwarding or change your router settings for it to work.
- Encrypted connections. The gateway's connection to Shipshape is encrypted, and the gateway proves who it is with its own security certificate. The app's connection to our servers is encrypted too.
- No reliance on your router. We don't rely on the security of devices outside Shipshape's own systems, including your home router. The gateway adds its own layer of protection, so your router's settings can't weaken it.
- Protected sensors. Sensors talk to the gateway over their own wireless network, not your WiFi. For each device, we use the strongest protection it supports.
- Watched around the clock. Our servers are constantly monitored for unauthorized access, and security checks run automatically.
Have a question about how the gateway behaves on your network? Contact us and we will get you a straight answer. Our Privacy Policy explains how we protect your information.
Changing Internet Providers or Routers
If you switch internet service providers or replace your router, reconnecting Shipshape is simple:
- Unplug the gateway's ethernet cable from the old router
- Plug it into the new router (any available LAN port, not the one marked WAN or Internet)
- That's it. No reconfiguration, no app changes, no setup process
The gateway will detect the new connection and resume normal operation automatically. If the switch takes a while, the app may show a gateway offline alert, which clears once the gateway reconnects.
If your new router is in a different location and the ethernet cable does not reach, you may need a longer cable or a network switch. Your internet service provider's technician can usually help with this during installation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Shipshape with a mobile hotspot or cellular internet? Technically yes, as long as the hotspot provides an ethernet connection (via adapter) and stays on continuously. However, mobile hotspots are not recommended for reliable home monitoring because they can disconnect, have data caps, and may not provide consistent connectivity.
Does Shipshape work with mesh WiFi systems? Yes. The gateway connects via ethernet to your primary router or mesh base station. It does not use WiFi, so the type of wireless system you have does not matter.
Will Shipshape conflict with my other smart home devices? No. Shipshape sensors talk to the gateway over Z-Wave, which runs on a different radio frequency (908 MHz in the US) than WiFi, Bluetooth and Zigbee, so they do not interfere with them.
Can I see how much bandwidth Shipshape is using? Most modern routers have a traffic monitoring feature in their settings page. You can check the gateway's usage there. It will be one of the lowest-bandwidth devices on your network.
What if my router does not have an available ethernet port? You can use a simple network switch (available at any electronics store) to add more ports. Plug the switch into one of your router's ethernet ports, then connect both the gateway and whatever was previously using that port to the switch.