Have considered a plain old doorbel and a peep hole on the door?
Low tech, cheap, cheap to install, lasts a lifetime.
Heck, if safety is the concern, install a periscope. Yes, mirrora inside a tube, to get to see, from a distance, who is at the door.
You want footage? Photos?
Install a local camera. Like one of those that are setup by biologists to film animals in the wild. Triggered by motion sensing. Or talk with someone technically inclined and install a local system.
I’ve disconnected the doorbell at every place I’ve lived in the last 10 years. If I’m expecting you I’ll be waiting and opening the door for you, everyone else can leave a message or find a different way to contact me
What’s fun is now UPS wants a second shipping fee to schedule a time or hold your package for you. You can no longer presign their little paper to leave the package. The only option is to pay, or they’ll return your package.
It’s extortion.
Worse, I was home both days and they never knocked or rang the bell. I let them return the package, on them, took my full refund, then reordered. We cycled through this game until someone rang the bell.
Not everything is about me. My comment was more tongue-in-cheek than anything.
More seriously, the tracking numbers usually narrow it down to an hour or 2 if you actually follow it. Given the once every few years that I have a package requiring a signature, I think I can handle it.
Absolutely this. Not many people understand this, especially not my gen (x) or older.
Here they’re all pavlov’ed to open the door when it rings or answer the phone.
I never do that.
Tells you when a package arrived and when the neighbor stole it off your porch. Tells you someone rang the bell when not home and lets you remotely yell ant the door to door sales people.
I mean they’re useful, but I sure wouldn’t ever trust one connected to any sort of cloud.
I do have a UniFi door cam that records to a local hard drive. I like it. Ties in with my other cameras to watch my vehicle in my driveway.
If you get deliveries and they’re mishandled, you have a recording of it.
If someone comes to your door when you’re not home, you can talk to them.
You can also set up local AI alerts (AI here is mostly used for facial recognition) e.g. to alert you if your MIL comes around uninvited, or if your kids sneak out at 2am, and so on.
Once you begin appreciating a home CCTV camera setup (fully local mind you), you’ll see the benefit of having your doorbell video-ed up as well.
You can also set up local AI alerts (AI here is mostly used for facial recognition) e.g. to alert you if your MIL comes around uninvited, or if your kids sneak out at 2am, and so on.
That sounds awful. I’d rather just not, and avoid that mindset altogether.
In the context of parenting there are certainly better things you can do to prevent “shennanigans” other than subjecting them to surveillance. Like you know… raising them?
Terrifying with a generation of peole grown up under total control and expected to be perfectly obedient. They will be shitty adults. But hey, at least they won’t have memories of that time they snuck out at night to watch the stars.
The idea of going back to a blind simple lock protecting my house, pets, and stuff is crazy to me - smart CCTV and an internet connected alarm system are so much better, plus there’s no “monitoring” cost like some folks pay. $40 so you can call the cops for me? No.
If you can see it’s a salesperson you can ignore them but answer if it’s the mailman/UPS. Get notified that a package was dropped off… or that shortly thereafter some rando walks up to said package.
Not getting off the sofa. Video doorbell pops up on my watch, no matter where I happen to be, so I can immediately decide whether it can interrupt what I’m doing.
Shut the hell up. Sometimes I turn off the chimes so I’m not bothered by yet another door to door sales drone. But I still have my watch in case whoever is at the door is legitimate
Intercom. My kid sometimes want to tell me something without coming inside
History. Yes, sometimes I want to scroll back through all motion trigger s in front of my door
Wildlife. Minor feature but it is occasionally fascinating to see what animals amble in front of my door. I’m urban so it’s limited but we have turkeys and coyotes
Have considered a plain old doorbel and a peep hole on the door?
Low tech, cheap, cheap to install, lasts a lifetime.
Heck, if safety is the concern, install a periscope. Yes, mirrora inside a tube, to get to see, from a distance, who is at the door.
You want footage? Photos?
Install a local camera. Like one of those that are setup by biologists to film animals in the wild. Triggered by motion sensing. Or talk with someone technically inclined and install a local system.
If it doesn’t use a BNC connector I don’t trust it
I’ve disconnected the doorbell at every place I’ve lived in the last 10 years. If I’m expecting you I’ll be waiting and opening the door for you, everyone else can leave a message or find a different way to contact me
Fed ex and UPS with sign for packages.
These would generally fall under the “expected” category.
Yes, in the
threeninefourteen hour window they might show up in.I’m at work for most of that window. And when I miss it, they’ll try again the next day at the same time…believe it or not, I’ll be at work then too.
What’s fun is now UPS wants a second shipping fee to schedule a time or hold your package for you. You can no longer presign their little paper to leave the package. The only option is to pay, or they’ll return your package.
It’s extortion.
Worse, I was home both days and they never knocked or rang the bell. I let them return the package, on them, took my full refund, then reordered. We cycled through this game until someone rang the bell.
So nothing relevant to you at all, in these circumstances.
Not everything is about me. My comment was more tongue-in-cheek than anything.
More seriously, the tracking numbers usually narrow it down to an hour or 2 if you actually follow it. Given the once every few years that I have a package requiring a signature, I think I can handle it.
Absolutely this. Not many people understand this, especially not my gen (x) or older. Here they’re all pavlov’ed to open the door when it rings or answer the phone. I never do that.
I don’t answer the phone unless you are in my contacts list or I am specifically expecting a call.
If someone calls and doesn’t leave a voicemail or text, then it isnt important.
Filters out the junk (and often outright scam) calls.
Or just use one of the hundreds of other brands that provide smart doorbells.
Honest question: what is the reason to have a doorbell of this kind?
Tells you when a package arrived and when the neighbor stole it off your porch. Tells you someone rang the bell when not home and lets you remotely yell ant the door to door sales people.
I mean they’re useful, but I sure wouldn’t ever trust one connected to any sort of cloud.
I do have a UniFi door cam that records to a local hard drive. I like it. Ties in with my other cameras to watch my vehicle in my driveway.
Many.
If you get deliveries and they’re mishandled, you have a recording of it.
If someone comes to your door when you’re not home, you can talk to them.
You can also set up local AI alerts (AI here is mostly used for facial recognition) e.g. to alert you if your MIL comes around uninvited, or if your kids sneak out at 2am, and so on.
Once you begin appreciating a home CCTV camera setup (fully local mind you), you’ll see the benefit of having your doorbell video-ed up as well.
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That sounds awful. I’d rather just not, and avoid that mindset altogether.
Avoid the mindset that your kid might sneak out, or an unwanted guest might have shown up?
Ignorance may be bliss, but it certainly doesn’t stop shenanigans from happening.
In the context of parenting there are certainly better things you can do to prevent “shennanigans” other than subjecting them to surveillance. Like you know… raising them?
Terrifying with a generation of peole grown up under total control and expected to be perfectly obedient. They will be shitty adults. But hey, at least they won’t have memories of that time they snuck out at night to watch the stars.
Do tell, which part of that sounds awful?
The idea of going back to a blind simple lock protecting my house, pets, and stuff is crazy to me - smart CCTV and an internet connected alarm system are so much better, plus there’s no “monitoring” cost like some folks pay. $40 so you can call the cops for me? No.
If you can see it’s a salesperson you can ignore them but answer if it’s the mailman/UPS. Get notified that a package was dropped off… or that shortly thereafter some rando walks up to said package.
Think of it as a door-peephole-at-range.