[Technology] Hiked price for RING Doorbell plan

[Thunder Bolt]

Would love to get another dog but health disallows it.

The Ring Doorbell for me is more about being able to answer the door using my phone on days when my mobility is poor (I would often miss deliveries even when home because of this) - not so much about security. It also means if I have a delivery when I’m out, I can tell them not to sling my parcel over the gate or leave it in the rain in the road, which happened all too often if I missed a call.

I live in a very safe area but my Sister’s Ring Doorbell videos in London have been used several times by the police in incidents of neighbourhood crime so having a playback video feature or snapshot feature is certainly a security benefit for many people.

This, and the ability to talk to a person, whilst we were on holiday in France, to ask what they wanted. It turned out the person concerned wanted next door and had got muddled with house numbers.

 

[The Clamp]

Ring is another device people have been convinced they need. They don’t. It’s just another monitoring device, no doubt tracking your lifestyle habits and harvesting info to monetise.

The majority of Amazon’s revenue comes from selling data bundles from its customers. So I question their motivation behind Ring.

There is a review coming in soon about the use of Ring doorbells / GDPR / cctv regulations. So the way they are used could well change soon .

 

[Westdene Seagull]

You don't *need* the subscription do you?

Nope - mine works perfectly without a subscription. Can review actions it's recorded and live view from all over the world just as long as I have internet access. Never understood the need to subscribe.

 

[chip]

I think this stuff just fuels fear and a sense of insecurity.

 

[Zeberdi]

Nope - mine works perfectly without a subscription. Can review actions it's recorded and live view from all over the world just as long as I have internet access. Never understood the need to subscribe.

i don’t know how you do that without a subscription/basic protect - Ring does not record videos without a plan, it only allows you to access live view. You may get a log in the settings that you missed a ring but it won’t tell you who it was or give you a playback option.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

i don’t know how you do that without a subscription/basic protect - Ring does not record videos without a plan, it only allows you to access live view. You may get a log in the settings that you missed a ring but it won’t tell you who it was or give you a playback option.

Really - I don't pay a subscription but can review recordings. Admittedly I have one of the original rings so maybe they didn't need a sub.

 

[Arthur]

Would love to get another dog but health disallows it.

The Ring Doorbell for me is more about being able to answer the door using my phone on days when my mobility is poor (I would often miss deliveries even when home because of this) - not so much about security. It also means if I have a delivery when I’m out, I can tell them not to sling my parcel over the gate or leave it in the rain in the road, which happened all too often if I missed a call.

I live in a very safe area but my Sister’s Ring Doorbell videos in London have been used several times by the police in incidents of neighbourhood crime so having a playback video feature or snapshot feature is certainly a security benefit for many people.

Why do you need a sub if that is all you use it for?

I don't have a subscription for my door bell. I do for both the stick up cams I have. Was a little taken back when I got the email yesterday but in the grand scale of things I'm going to be £2 a month worse off so will keep it as it works well.

 

[swindonseagull]

The price increase is just taking the mickey and cannot be justified. There should be the option to save recordings to your own storage, local or cloud based. I guess the question is:- stick with it and suck up the increase or research alternatives,

dumped my subscription last night....I dont need a video of the postman.

 

[The Fits]

XL Bully.
Heard they're going cheap these days.

 

[METALMICKY]

I had an email yesterday to say the cost of my basic plan for Ring Doorbell is increasing by 40% in March from £34.99 to £49.99 - that’s the second big increase in 2 years representing 100% increase since I bought my Ring Doorbell a few years ago.

There is no upgrade of service with this either. Just another example of Amazon fleecing more and more money from those who subscribe to its services. (Amazon Prime recently introduced ads to all it’s streaming unless you paid a premium and fewer and fewer films are included in its free Prime video collection).

Does anyone know of any alternative technology to Ring, if so, how much

Ring is another device people have been convinced they need. They don’t. It’s just another monitoring device, no doubt tracking your lifestyle habits and harvesting info to monetise.

The majority of Amazon’s revenue comes from selling data bundles from its customers. So I question their motivation behind Ring.

There is a review coming in soon about the use of Ring doorbells / GDPR / cctv regulations. So the way they are used could well change soon .

This! We survived years quite easily without them. It seems the covid period also drove up their popularity with the increase in deliveries. Also is their security value proven? CCTV and security lighting elsewhere fine but I imagine the average thieving scrote is not coming via the front door.

Maybe my soon to be new next door neighbors dog can do the security job for me. It's an XL bully!

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I've played around with friend's systems that cost a lot more than ours and the quality isn't much better and ours is much more user friendly and quicker to react to notifications.

View attachment 175260

Your secret garden isn't a secret any more, now you've posted that on the internet!

 

[The Grockle]

Is that the set for Big Brother

We need an indoor camera for the dog but we are next to a playpark so like to have the garden covered.

It might seem like paranoia but when we first moved in someone tried to force entry at 3am and threatened by partner through the door when he failed to get in. The police were close to useless so we have panic alarms linked to the police, cameras basically anything that makes my partner feel secure. It really affected her to the point she was having panic attacks when she heard the slightest noise at night.

 

[The Clamp]

I've played around with friend's systems that cost a lot more than ours and the quality isn't much better and ours is much more user friendly and quicker to react to notifications.

View attachment 175260

This is what is being reviewed with home camera systems. Not having a pop at at you at all but on your cctv system you can see into the backs other people’s houses, next door’s garden, the fronts of other people’s houses and a good chunk of the street.

Under proposed (well, existing) measures, this wouldn’t be allowed. It isn’t actually allowed now and if your neighbours complained, you’d have to change the angles.

But it’s a conundrum because they could well help to solve / deter a crime. Much like dash-cams.

 

[Zeberdi]

This! We survived years quite easily without them. It seems the covid period also drove up their popularity with the increase in deliveries.

This is true definitely but while most people are now back to their normal shopping habit, my reliance on deliveries increased as a result of long term ill health following Covid.

It isn’t actually allowed now and if your neighbours complained, you’d have to change the angles.

This is also true and has been the case for CCTV for years but most Ring Doorbell users don't have additional cam corders around the property, just the video camera on the bell which faces the street.

 

[The Grockle]

This is what is being reviewed with home camera systems. Not having a pop at at you at all but on your cctv system you can see into the backs other people’s houses, next door’s garden, the fronts of other people’s houses and a good chunk of the street.

Under proposed (well, existing) measures, this wouldn’t be allowed. It isn’t actually allowed now and if your neighbours complained, you’d have to change the angles.

But it’s a conundrum because they could well help to solve / deter a crime. Much like dash-cams.

We were open with our neighbours and they were happy and two of them have shared access to the cameras. They are also only set trigger when movements are picked up in a agreed areas, they don't trigger when someone enters the playpark.

Also if a neighbour wasn't happy we would reposition/remove them straight away

 

[Triggaaar]

You don't *need* the subscription do you?

I don't have a smart doorbell. We did need a new doorbell around six months ago, and I thought that would be the excuse I needed to get one, but when I looked at them and thought about it, I decided we just didn't need one

Same. Don't need one.

 

[Nicks]

I had an email yesterday to say the cost of my basic plan for Ring Doorbell is increasing by 40% in March from £34.99 to £49.99 - that’s the second big increase in 2 years representing 100% increase since I bought my Ring Doorbell a few years ago.

There is no upgrade of service with this either. Just another example of Amazon fleecing more and more money from those who subscribe to its services. (Amazon Prime recently introduced ads to all it’s streaming unless you paid a premium and fewer and fewer films are included in its free Prime video collection).

Does anyone know of any alternative technology to Ring, if so, how much it is?

Don't go out
Cheapest option I can think of

 

[Justice]

I purchased some Tapo cameras no subscription you can insert an SD card if you want to record. Toolstation sell them off from time to time think they do a doorbell although you can speak through the camera just as you can a ring doorbell.

 

[Justice]

The whole point of Ring Doorbell (and others like it) is they give you remote access to answering the doorbell within in one App and with a basic subscription, allow you to play back a video if you miss the notification. I know someone that has several of these Tapo cameras which he has set up to watch his birdfeeders (of all things!) and they look like a great idea (until you can no longer bother to recharge them )

However - Unless the cameras are linked up to a doorbell app, how will they work as a way of answering the door when you can not physically get to your front door for whatever reason? )( ie on holiday, at work, upstairs etc)


Yes, that was suggested during Covid - it didn’t go down very well with the vast majority of people then either.

Tapo has an app you receive movement alerts straight to your phone just like the ring. I have the wired ones easy for me I guess as I’m a sparks. I primarily got them to watch over work van at night.

 

[mikeyjh]

The whole point of Ring Doorbell (and others like it) is they give you remote access to answering the doorbell within in one App and with a basic subscription, allow you to play back a video if you miss the notification. I know someone that has several of these Tapo cameras which he has set up to watch his birdfeeders (of all things!) and they look like a great idea (until you can no longer bother to recharge them )

However - Unless the cameras are linked up to a doorbell app, how will they work as a way of answering the door when you can not physically get to your front door for whatever reason? )( ie on holiday, at work, upstairs etc)


Yes, that was suggested during Covid - it didn’t go down very well with the vast majority of people then either.

They're all using the same underlying tech, if you can do it in the Amazon ecosystem, you can create the same thing with devices from other suppliers. And, all your Amazon products will still take to them and interact with them ...