Ring Doorbell For the Win

Looking at my last post regarding my Ring doorbell, I believe I have a love-hate relationship with the device. Today it came to my aid and kept from interrupting me while doing important work. Of course in order for that to happen, I had to have my smartphone connected to it so I could use the camera.

Lately my neighborhood has had a string of door-to-door salespeople ringing doorbells and interrupting my work. Normally it is too much of a hassle to open the Ring app on my phone and see who is at the door so I walk from my basement office up to the door only to get upset about being interrupted. Due to large bombs being exploded out in the Utah desert this week, I have been logged into my Ring app to see what others in my neighborhood are saying about the loud noises we are all hearing.

Today when I got the doorbell notification while working on something very important, I just pulled up my phone and quickly spied my front porch. When I saw 2 people I didn't recognize nor expected, I continued working. About 10 minutes later I finished my task and checked the door to see if they left something. Sure enough they left a brochure about something I am not interested in learning more about.

My Ring doorbell doesn't always work the way I want it to. Sometimes I have to go through and extensive login process just to get access to the camera and that can be frustrating. Fortunately today the stars aligned and it kept me working when I didn't need to get up. Today I like the device. 

I Hate my Ring Doorbell

I've had a Ring doorbell for a couple of years now and I have decided that I don't like it. I hate it so much that I don't have it connected to my home network any more and don't feel the need to fix it. Perhaps you feel different about your Ring doorbell.

Part of the problem is that the device just can't seem to stay connected to my home WiFi, hence why it is not connected now. If it was as simple as pushing a button, that would make it easy to fix. Unfortunately it would also make it easy for bad actors to disconnect it from your home network. When it falls off the network, I have to physically remove the device from the front of my house using a special wrench to get to the reset button. Then there are a number of steps to get it reconnected. If it was a bit more reliable, I wouldn't have to reconnect it all the time.

Another contributor to why I hate my Ring doorbell is that people refuse to use it. The thing is large enough you can't not see it yet strangers prefer to knock on my front door. Perhaps they don't want to leave a record of their visit, which happens when the doorbell is used. I don't know people's logic but I got a lot more doorbell rings before I replaced my old button with the Ring device.

Finally I hate all of the notifications that Ring sends me. We are expecting really hot weather Sunday and Monday this week, Ring seems to send me a notice about it every couple of hours. Today is Friday but this has been going on for the past 3 days. It is like the boy who cried wolf. My phone sends me a notification that sounds like a text message so I pull my phone out only to discover the same message sent two hours earlier. I've tried to go into settings and turn things down so I only get important messages like someone being at my front door. Unfortunately no matter what settings I use, it seems to be an all-or-nothing proposition.

I think the original concept behind the Ring doorbell is brilliant. Who wouldn't want to have a camera to see who is at the front door before you open it? The problem is that the service has been overloaded with features to the point nobody rings the doorbell any more and the add-on notifications are overly abundant. Perhaps it is time to hack the device so it does exactly what I want it to and doesn't link into Ring's stupid notifications.

Delivery Drivers Contributing to Porch Pirates

I don't know about you but it seems that the delivery drivers in my area are helping contribute to Porch Pirates. This morning I ordered something from Amazon and it arrived this evening. I didn't think anything about it until I decided to check my e-mail before heading off to bed. I saw that my package had arrived thanks to an e-mail. I have a doorbell but it never rang. I was in the next room and never heard a knock. Someone looking for a chance to steal a nice large package of mostly air could have plenty of opportunity while I am at home watching a movie.

The Amazon driver is not alone. It is rare that a delivery driver from FedEx, UPS, or DHL ever rings my doorbell. I have sort of gotten into the habit of opening the front door and looking on the porch every time I walk by. It is actually starting to annoy me. Fortunately I have never had a delivery stolen but I hear about them on the news all the time.

I guess one way to ensure I am notified about deliveries is to turn on the motion detector for my Ring doorbell. Right now it is off because I was getting too many false alarms. I have a bird that likes to nest near my front door and when he flies in or out I get a notification. Ring already sends me too many messages no matter how I change my settings on my phone and so I have motion detection turned off.

Ultimately I will keep things as they are simply because I have not had any deliveries taken. The moment that changes, I may have to turn on my doorbell's motion detector and live with all of the false alarms. On the plus side, I can go out and shoot the nesting bird with a Nerf dart and help keep him from pooping all over my front steps. That usually discourages him from sticking around.