New Ring Alarm System 199

weigle2 said:
Need lots of details on how secure, network wise, this system is. Does it use upnp, etc. Will need to do alot of research before allowing this on my network. Looks pretty promising, though.
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It does not use upnp. As with any other iot device, just put it on the guest network or create a vlan. Do you not use any streaming device like a fire stick on your network? Ring is not a china company, its amazon. What alarm system do you use now that is not subject to these issues?
 
fenderman said:
It does not use upnp. As with any other iot device, just put it on the guest network or create a vlan. Do you not use any streaming device like a fire stick on your network? Ring is not a china company, its amazon. What alarm system do you use now that is not subject to these issues?
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Using an older GE Concord 4 system with a cellular card. No network connectiviy at all. I can get to it for monitoring purposes via Cellular.
 
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weigle2 said:
Using an older GE Concord 4 system with a cellular card. No network connectiviy at all. I can get to it for monitoring purposes via Cellular.
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How much do you pay monthly? You can pay for a vlan capable router with that kind of cash in a few months...or simply connect to your guest network.
 
weigle2 said:
I pay $10/month for the cellular access. It's a 2nd line on my cell phone service. And the Alarm.com fee, too.
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What is your alarm.com fee? Does it allowed you to arm/disarm via the app... regardless there is no security issue..
 
weigle2 said:
I have had it so long, 7 years now, I still pay the $8.99 fee. Yes, I can arm/disarm, and see what sensor(s) have been tripped.
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You are not paying enough to make it worth switching out the entire system. Is your system hardwired?
 
weigle2 said:
I pay $10/month for the cellular access. It's a 2nd line on my cell phone service. And the Alarm.com fee, too.
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I'm curious what communicator you have and what monitoring company? Separate monitoring / cellular isn't that common... maybe tellular. The VZW 2G/3G shutdown is eminent.
So you're paying a total of $18.99/mo for monitoring?

If your current system is hardwired, in many ways this would be a downgrade, but the monitoring would be cheaper.
 
hmjgriffon said:
domoticz LOL or similar. just using various zwave devices and stuff.
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Getting something like that monitored would be difficult. Alarm companies want to minimize false alarms, they aren't prone to trusting their customer's ability to write their own alarm logic.
Many areas have alarm ordinances requiring a permit in order for the police to even respond to a call from the monitoring company. The permits often impose requirements about how the alarm functions to reduce false alarms (look up CP-01). Monitoring companies also like the ability to remotely adjust things if needed.

The only practical way to professionally monitor a homebrew alarm is by making it provide simple outputs that indicate the alarm state like a relay that closes when the burglar alarm is going off. This would then have to be hooked either to a real alarm system or a communicator that supports simple inputs like this (a few do, but this provides no info about what zone triggered the alarm). You'd pay close to $20/mo in monitoring and when your system generates a false alarm you'd find yourself in hot water.

The ring system would be a far cheaper and more practical option for you.
 
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tangent said:
Getting something like that monitored would be difficult. Alarm companies want to minimize false alarms, they aren't prone to trusting their customer's ability to write their own alarm logic.
Many areas have alarm ordinances requiring a permit in order for the police to even respond to a call from the monitoring company. The permits often impose requirements about how the alarm functions to reduce false alarms (look up CP-01). Monitoring companies also like the ability to remotely adjust things if needed.

The only way to monitor a homebrew alarm is by making it provide simple outputs that indicate the alarm state like a relay that closes when the burglar alarm is going off. This would then have to be hooked either to a real alarm system or a communicator that supports simple inputs like this (a few do, but this provides no info about what zone triggered the alarm). You'd pay close to $20/mo in monitoring and when your system generates a false alarm you'd find yourself in hot water.

The ring system would be a far cheaper and more practical option for you.
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I'm still rolling ideas around in my head but at this point I'm thinking of just hooking up powered PC speakers to my cell phone when I am sleeping remote, I have my phone already where when its all muted certain apps can over ride with the priority only setting, but I'm also wondering if there is an app that will let me do it to where the notifications from my system make noise on my phone that even over rides the volume being set down all the way. Honestly that is the ONLY reason I have considered a monitored system, if I have something that will wake me up somewhere else, I really don't need monitoring, my system is better than the pre made stuff, I'm not locked into anything.
 
fenderman said:
You are not paying enough to make it worth switching out the entire system. Is your system hardwired?
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Concord 4's are a mix of hardwired and wireless, with a 96 device capacity. It was all self installed, except for the cellular card which a user does not have access to set up due to the cellular activation part. I did the whole install myself, otherwise, and got everything on ebay or from the home security store (cellular card). Pretty easy to do as all manuals at the time were available from GE Security via download.
 
weigle2 said:
Concord 4's are a mix of hardwired and wireless, with a 96 device capacity. It was all self installed, except for the cellular card which a user does not have access to set up due to the cellular activation part. I did the whole install myself, otherwise, and got everything on ebay or from the home security store (cellular card). Pretty easy to do as all manuals at the time were available from GE Security via download.
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Hardwired is always ideal..though there is not much you can efficiently hardwire after construction .. this is a different diy market and is the cheapest by far...
 
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weigle2 said:
Concord 4's are a mix of hardwired and wireless, with a 96 device capacity. It was all self installed, except for the cellular card which a user does not have access to set up due to the cellular activation part. I did the whole install myself, otherwise, and got everything on ebay or from the home security store (cellular card). Pretty easy to do as all manuals at the time were available from GE Security via download.
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I asked what specific model of cellular communicator you were using because it's possible you're using a model that will no longer function after December of this year...
 
This is an awesome system for the price. I was planning to buy one for my mom last Christmas before ADT sued Ring to delay the release. And then Amazon bought them and I was curious if they'd keep the $10 price. Which I heard includes video storage for all their cameras as well (i.e. doorbell cams and floodlight cams)? That is easily less than 1/3 the price of ADT or Comcast when you factor in video access.

I've been using a similar zigbee wireless system from the cable company for about 5 years and am pleasantly surprised by how reliable it has been. With 30+ sensors I have only had one go bad and the batteries last a good 2 years.

Fenderman, thank you for the review! That was the last thing I was waiting for to try it out.
 
TechBill said:
It won't wake me up. I doubt it will wake a hearing person up either if the sound wasn't working. It need to be a strobe light. Maybe I should write to the manufacturer about it.
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This is true. Most of the sirens on ADT, Comcast, and Simplisafe are woefully inadequate. What I did for my Comcast system was to purchase 6 wireless sirens on ebay and place them strategically throught my home. I.e. Two in the garage, two near the front door and a couple others spread throughtout the house. When all 6 go off I guarantee everyone in the house and most of the neighborhood will wake up.

I went this route after reading "ask me anything" posts on reddit from a burglar and alarm system call center employee. Both said to get the loudest most obnoxious sirens you could find.

P.S. I am not sure if Ring supports it yet, but Comcast allows light/appliance modules to be triggered by an alarm event so you can also hardwire strobes or external sirens. Just plug in a transformer into that module and install the loudest hardwired siren(s) you can find wherever you want them.
 
Baja said:
I went this route after reading "ask me anything" posts on reddit from a burglar and alarm system call center employee. Both said to get the loudest most obnoxious sirens you could find.
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With a couple caveats, air raid sirens can sometimes get you in trouble and you better be sure you don't have any false alarms.

All you really have to do is put a siren in the attic next to a vent or in the crawlspace next to a vent.
 
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