Ring doorbell users - your reliability
Discussion
I have a Ring Doorbell Pro 3 with pre-roll function i picked up with the Amazon Echo Show 5 for a seemingly reasonable £130 ish in the prime deals.
I love the functionality, able to quickly look at the front door etc and the motion alerts are quite handy on the echo show as it usually pre-empts someone ringing the doorbell so i can get downstairs.
but twice now, i have had people press the doorbell and nothing happens. We have a chime and the alexa show that should both go off in addition to our phones, but nothing. No motion, no doorbell notice - When i test it, same thing happens.
The first time it happened the only way i could get it working again was to restart the internet. But the same thing happened today, all that was needed is for me to go onto live view to kick start it and the button presses were registered again.
Is this normal? Kind of destroys the point of a doorbell, i just walked downstairs a moment ago to notice a courier at the door that had been waiting unbeknownst to me.
Ideally i would like a way to reboot it every morning or something, but can't see an option for that. It has otherwise been very good, running for 1 month with just those 2 occurences but still annoying.
I did, just an hour or so before, sign up to the Ring plan for the year as my trial had lapsed - but that shouldn't have impacted live notifications.
I love the functionality, able to quickly look at the front door etc and the motion alerts are quite handy on the echo show as it usually pre-empts someone ringing the doorbell so i can get downstairs.
but twice now, i have had people press the doorbell and nothing happens. We have a chime and the alexa show that should both go off in addition to our phones, but nothing. No motion, no doorbell notice - When i test it, same thing happens.
The first time it happened the only way i could get it working again was to restart the internet. But the same thing happened today, all that was needed is for me to go onto live view to kick start it and the button presses were registered again.
Is this normal? Kind of destroys the point of a doorbell, i just walked downstairs a moment ago to notice a courier at the door that had been waiting unbeknownst to me.
Ideally i would like a way to reboot it every morning or something, but can't see an option for that. It has otherwise been very good, running for 1 month with just those 2 occurences but still annoying.
I did, just an hour or so before, sign up to the Ring plan for the year as my trial had lapsed - but that shouldn't have impacted live notifications.
We have just installed a 3 plus and so far the notifications seem to be working.
Where I have issues is the live view only works 10% of the time. It seems to think it has terrible Wi-Fi (there is a mesh network node next to it in the house) and with my phone stood in the same place gets really good speeds.
When the door does ring it always connects so it’s a weird one!
The live view was a nice to have but I’m not sure what I can do to get better Wi-Fi coverage.
Where I have issues is the live view only works 10% of the time. It seems to think it has terrible Wi-Fi (there is a mesh network node next to it in the house) and with my phone stood in the same place gets really good speeds.
When the door does ring it always connects so it’s a weird one!
The live view was a nice to have but I’m not sure what I can do to get better Wi-Fi coverage.
Interesting again, we don't suffer with connection issues - we have a Virgin router which seems to be excellent in fairness, every room has 100% signal
Urgh, postman just came and told us the doorbell isn't working again! Press the button, nothing.
I turned off notifications for ring and motion in the settings then turned them back on again and seems to be working.
The rubbish thing is that ther are now 4 holes in the brick where it's drilled in, that will annoy me if i remove it.
Urgh, postman just came and told us the doorbell isn't working again! Press the button, nothing.
I turned off notifications for ring and motion in the settings then turned them back on again and seems to be working.
The rubbish thing is that ther are now 4 holes in the brick where it's drilled in, that will annoy me if i remove it.
joropug said:
...but twice now, i have had people press the doorbell and nothing happens. We have a chime and the alexa show that should both go off in addition to our phones, but nothing. No motion, no doorbell notice - When i test it, same thing happens.
The first time it happened the only way i could get it working again was to restart the internet. But the same thing happened today, all that was needed is for me to go onto live view to kick start it and the button presses were registered again.
Is this normal? Kind of destroys the point of a doorbell, i just walked downstairs a moment ago to notice a courier at the door that had been waiting unbeknownst to me.
I have the exact same problem/a similar problem. My 3 Plus would identify and record motion, but would then fail to convert that into a doorbell ring when the button was pressed. I live on a busy street, so I disabled motion notifications but allowed motion to be recorded for later reference if needed. Looking at the motion footage, I was able to clearly see the person press the button and hear the doorbell ring.The first time it happened the only way i could get it working again was to restart the internet. But the same thing happened today, all that was needed is for me to go onto live view to kick start it and the button presses were registered again.
Is this normal? Kind of destroys the point of a doorbell, i just walked downstairs a moment ago to notice a courier at the door that had been waiting unbeknownst to me.
I've had my Ring 3 Plus since June 2020 and ultimately switched off the motion detection as it prevented the doorbell functionality from doing the job. Pressing the button now triggers an instant doorbell ring notification, so that works as intended.
No connectivity issues. The wifi router is 2 metres away and has clear line of sight through one window. I've even tested it on different wifi hardware/network with the same problem.
Researching online, it does appear to be a problem that's not limited to just the 3 Plus but appears to go back to the 2 for some users.
Spoke to Ring, but they were useless. John Lewis even swapped out the hardware for me but the same problem occurred.
Edited by Cybertronian on Wednesday 20th January 12:36
We have a ring 2, and mostly it works, but had an instance where someone walked past to get to the back garden, steal my sons bike from a shed, and then back out with the bike past the camera, and it picked up nothing, caught every other person approaching the house though.
Someone mentioned wifi blocking can negate their intended functionality, so have invested in cctv now.
Door bell ringing aspect has worked pretty well, live view is hit and miss at times.
Someone mentioned wifi blocking can negate their intended functionality, so have invested in cctv now.
Door bell ringing aspect has worked pretty well, live view is hit and miss at times.
We have a camera then got a doorbell but honestly, they aren't great.
We have 1GB full fibre with x4 mesh boosters so our connection through the house is very good but for whatever reason, the doorbell either works perfect, its doesn't work at all or its so delayed it renders it useless.
Half the time I always get a 'connection' error to the doorbell when going live yet the camera very close to it always works live just fine.
You also need to upgrade your subscription if you want to store recordings on both devices which is a bit of a p*sstake.
The recordings often miss things or you just see someone leaving but not coming or small things like cats will set it off but a car coming into the drive gets missed!
We have 1GB full fibre with x4 mesh boosters so our connection through the house is very good but for whatever reason, the doorbell either works perfect, its doesn't work at all or its so delayed it renders it useless.
Half the time I always get a 'connection' error to the doorbell when going live yet the camera very close to it always works live just fine.
You also need to upgrade your subscription if you want to store recordings on both devices which is a bit of a p*sstake.
The recordings often miss things or you just see someone leaving but not coming or small things like cats will set it off but a car coming into the drive gets missed!
I bought the same deal at BF and installed it all about a week later. So far, so good. The connection with alexa is a bit disappointing in the sense that it only shows when someone rings the bell, not when someone is "sensed".
Other than that - I get the notifications on my phone (Samsung S20) no problem, Live works fine and I've only had to recharge the battery once.
We're about to start a building project though, so may have to go back to the old doorbell for a while as the constant notifications will drain the battery and do my head in!
Other than that - I get the notifications on my phone (Samsung S20) no problem, Live works fine and I've only had to recharge the battery once.
We're about to start a building project though, so may have to go back to the old doorbell for a while as the constant notifications will drain the battery and do my head in!
Got a 3 Plus here.
On the whole I'm impressed but I'll echo others about the live view being hit and miss.
A friend at work suggested switching to the 5GHz band on the router, although I'm struggling t work out how to flip between the two. It's a TalkTalk router if anyone knows how to do it? My old EE one was far better, you could actually choose to connect to either band as if it were a separate network. With the TalkTalk one all I appear to be able to do is see what devices are on what band, and the only thing showing on the 5GHz band is my iPhone 12 Pro. Would have thought the Ring would go on there, and maybe my MacBook or PS4?
On the whole I'm impressed but I'll echo others about the live view being hit and miss.
A friend at work suggested switching to the 5GHz band on the router, although I'm struggling t work out how to flip between the two. It's a TalkTalk router if anyone knows how to do it? My old EE one was far better, you could actually choose to connect to either band as if it were a separate network. With the TalkTalk one all I appear to be able to do is see what devices are on what band, and the only thing showing on the 5GHz band is my iPhone 12 Pro. Would have thought the Ring would go on there, and maybe my MacBook or PS4?
I have an original and a mk2.
One of the originals is in a very exposed position and the case is looking a bit ratty now. Charging these is also marginally more awkward (whole unit has to come off, rather than slipping out a battery pack). They need charging every 2-3mths IME I think (motion detection on etc).
Generally very pleased with them. Main times I've had the "pushed the button but nothing rang" was down to battery charge - I get notifications on these (by email) but they're not the most reliable.
I don't bother with a subscription for live view. Live view works pretty well. Again, battery charge needs to be kept up IME.
Pleased with them.
If I could run wiring to them I would do as that would take away the battery faff (during my next down time from work I may look into that again).
One of the originals is in a very exposed position and the case is looking a bit ratty now. Charging these is also marginally more awkward (whole unit has to come off, rather than slipping out a battery pack). They need charging every 2-3mths IME I think (motion detection on etc).
Generally very pleased with them. Main times I've had the "pushed the button but nothing rang" was down to battery charge - I get notifications on these (by email) but they're not the most reliable.
I don't bother with a subscription for live view. Live view works pretty well. Again, battery charge needs to be kept up IME.
Pleased with them.
If I could run wiring to them I would do as that would take away the battery faff (during my next down time from work I may look into that again).
I also have Ring 3 Plus, battery powered. Useless.
Once in the while it does not respond to app connection or pressing the button. Rebooting the router does not help. Only re-inserting the battery solves the problem, until next time.
Sometimes it works fine for two weeks, sometimes you have to re-insert the battery a few times per day.
Once in the while it does not respond to app connection or pressing the button. Rebooting the router does not help. Only re-inserting the battery solves the problem, until next time.
Sometimes it works fine for two weeks, sometimes you have to re-insert the battery a few times per day.
I'm a postie and have several Ring doorbells on my regular round and also do a parcel duty at other locations from time to time so I've seen plenty of Ring doorbells.
The only one I've ever seen which definitely worked was when a bloke came running up to me further down the street about five minutes after I'd left his house and he'd just had the notification. He asked me why I hadn't just knocked on the door as everyone knows they aren't reliable.
The only one I've ever seen which definitely worked was when a bloke came running up to me further down the street about five minutes after I'd left his house and he'd just had the notification. He asked me why I hadn't just knocked on the door as everyone knows they aren't reliable.
Desiderata said:
I'm a postie and have several Ring doorbells on my regular round and also do a parcel duty at other locations from time to time so I've seen plenty of Ring doorbells.
The only one I've ever seen which definitely worked was when a bloke came running up to me further down the street about five minutes after I'd left his house and he'd just had the notification. He asked me why I hadn't just knocked on the door as everyone knows they aren't reliable.
Yep, I’m doing a temporary parcel delivery job for Royal Mail, and I encounter countless Ring video doorbells. They must have sold millions of them!The only one I've ever seen which definitely worked was when a bloke came running up to me further down the street about five minutes after I'd left his house and he'd just had the notification. He asked me why I hadn't just knocked on the door as everyone knows they aren't reliable.
Probably about 25% of them don’t respond at all when pressed.
And I have never, not once, had a conversation with someone through it. Either they don’t work very well, or people simply don’t use them how they’re intended to be used.
As with all doorbells, I press the button but immediately knock the knocker or letterbox as well. I’m under too much time pressure to risk wasting time on a faulty doorbell.
Useful thread. A postman's opinion on this is very valuable 
The scattered layout of our house means a video doorbell would be really useful but reading between the lines of the reviews (and ignoring all the fake ones) I couldn't escape the impression the technology wasn't quite good enough yet.
The scattered layout of our house means a video doorbell would be really useful but reading between the lines of the reviews (and ignoring all the fake ones) I couldn't escape the impression the technology wasn't quite good enough yet.
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