10 Ways to Dramatically Improve Your Front Door Security

[Member 34319]

I've been wondering about ring.

Costco has a Lorex 4 camera bundle on sale for $199 and I'm really tempted

Thing about ring is the $3 a month. Since I didn't have much of a choice to not have it on the house since it's already installed, I'll pay it. However I've read that without the monthly $3 the camera is essentially worthless. You can't see older footage and it becomes an alert system basically, but they (according to reports online) throttle the app if you aren't paying for the services. This means that by the time you get the app loaded after the delayed alert (according to online reports) on your phone the person is usually already gone if not there to see you. IE you might get the delivery driver walking away. So with the paid service you can see what happened all the time, without it, it's an alert system with real time video only.

 

[Kruel J]

Thing about ring is the $3 a month. Since I didn't have much of a choice to not have it on the house since it's already installed, I'll pay it. However I've read that without the monthly $3 the camera is essentially worthless. You can't see older footage and it becomes an alert system basically, but they (according to reports online) throttle the app if you aren't paying for the services. This means that by the time you get the app loaded after the delayed alert (according to online reports) on your phone the person is usually already gone if not there to see you. IE you might get the delivery driver walking away. So with the paid service you can see what happened all the time, without it, it's an alert system with real time video only.

I have a Ring wireless camera in my place. It catches the living area, entrance points and most importantly my safe. I don't care about viewing old footage, I just want it to alert me if there is motion. It does the job well and so far, knock on wood, the only alerts I have received are from me forgetting to disable it when I get home.

 

[Stomper]

Trapdoor over a 50' drop into a pit of hungry gators is all I've ever needed.

 

[slimmer13]

Yeah, I dont know about Ring and other internet connected cameras. Especially since Amazon really wants to share your video with LE (I'm not anti LE, just kinda private). I think that the end goal is to create real time monitoring of every square inch of the country.

Currently, if one of the 400+ agencies that partnered with Amazon want access to your Ring footage, they request it and you have to approve, but I can't help but see the potential for abuse.

Amazon Ring Will Survive the Anti-surveillance Backlash

People are far more comfortable with surveillance when they think they’re the only ones watching.

www.google.com

Use this map to see if your local police department has access to Amazon Ring's unofficial surveillance network of video doorbells

Amazon's Ring has partnerships with hundreds of local police departments, giving them access to locations of Ring doorbells in nearby neighborhoods.

www.google.com

 

[titsonritz]

Trapdoor over a 50' drop into a pit of hungry gators is all I've ever needed.

LOL, I always thought a trapdoor with a 15' or so drop into the dungeon would do the trick. Along with tilt panel construction and overhead sprinklers with a diesel and gas fuel mixture

 

[Stomper]

LOL, I always thought a trapdoor with a 15' or so drop into the dungeon would do the trick. Along with tilt panel construction and overhead sprinklers with a diesel and gas fuel mixture

Naw, I like to hear the crunchy noises...

 

[Rickenbacher39]

Our front porch is about 60 feet wide and 10 feet deep surrounded by a 3 foot tall railing.
It had an opening so people could get to the front door.
I duplicated the railing and closed off the opening. Now you can't get to the front door.
We never used it as we always come in through the garage.
In addition we have two security cameras watching the front sidewalk leading to the porch
and also the porch itself. The cameras are not connected to the internet. I'm ugly, not stupid.
We also have the obligatory decals stating "You are on camera. Smile pretty".
I really don't know how I could make the front door more secure than I have.
Oh wait..........landmines. Yeah, that's it.
I'll have to check the classifieds now.

 

[Member 34319]

I have a Ring wireless camera in my place. It catches the living area, entrance points and most importantly my safe. I don't care about viewing old footage, I just want it to alert me if there is motion. It does the job well and so far, knock on wood, the only alerts I have received are from me forgetting to disable it when I get home.

Didn't think about adding cameras. Looking at that now.

 

[Member 34319]

I have a Ring wireless camera in my place. It catches the living area, entrance points and most importantly my safe. I don't care about viewing old footage, I just want it to alert me if there is motion. It does the job well and so far, knock on wood, the only alerts I have received are from me forgetting to disable it when I get home.

Are you ok with Amazon basically always seeing the contents of your safe though? Or is it angled in a way that the camera never sees all of its contents? Cover the camera when putting things in and out?

Just some questions, the stuff makes me super paranoid.

 

[Kruel J]

Are you ok with Amazon basically always seeing the contents of your safe though? Or is it angled in a way that the camera never sees all of its contents? Cover the camera when putting things in and out?

Just some questions, the stuff makes me super paranoid.

Ring isn't Amazon. And it indeed IS angled so only the side is visible. Even with the door open nothing can be seen but the side and the door.

I called Ring once for some technical support. The guy I spoke to said they can't see any video on their end. They can see data such as time stamps of detected motion but supposedly the actual video is encrypted and only available to the user. Unless they use the neighborhood sharing feature. Since mine is inside and not a doorbell device I don't even have that option.

 

[Kruel J]

And when I'm home, the camera is disabled by me so it does nothing. I know its inactive because its battery powered and I've yet to have to charge it. Installed 5 weeks ago and battery is still at 63%.

 

[Member 34319]

Gotcha, I'm not trying to say anything badly, just being paranoid.

Ring was purchased by Amazon, and it is part of their home services thingy if you have an Alexa set up with the cameras.

There are reports of Amazon recording literally everything from their devices, so I'm not entirely sold that they wouldn't do the same with cameras if they could.

They are selling discounted, or even giving free doorbell cameras away, to folks in cities that passed laws allowing police to utilize the footage they see and are recording even if you do not pay for the services to view the recordings.

Not trying to scare you or anything, I personally don't want any opportunity for my rights to be restricted because some tech companies are skirting constitutional rights via user agreements that are 1000 pages long.

 

[HA556]

I've got my front door covered! Sits right next to my recliner and easy to grab.

 

[CoastRange57]

Staying with our son right now as the house is being built and I was driving out the sons driveway on my tractor this morning when a carload of Jehovahs pulled in the long drive way. I called the wife up who was a bit under the weather and not in a real good mood anyway and told her to have Gemma, our pit bull grand dog go do her stranger welcoming performance at the front window.

Worked quite well, she raised all kinds of hell at the window when 3 strangers knocked on her door. It amazes me that these people will roll around rural Central Oregon and randomly knock on doors to preach. You were uninvited and unwelcome, so why do somehting like this.

 

[308]

Speaking of surveillance...

We installed the RING front door camera. Replaced the doorbell button with this unit. it sees the front door and front yard 24 hours a day, and it is easily monitored from my cell phone. Clarity is incredible. And it instantly alerts us when somebody walks towards our door.

There are many similar brands and systems to choose from.

Two of our little neighbor kids got busted for ringing and running. They didn't know they were on video...lol