Ring Video Doorbell: New Security For Your Front Door

While we continue to move closer to having ‘smart homes’ the Ring Video Doorbell is one way technology is helping us with security.

Ring means you can answer the door from anywhere – whether you’re up the road shopping, or overseas. It’s the latest in technology for home security and aims to help reduce crime as well as give people a great sense of feeling safe.

Style-wise it looks great; it almost looks like an iPhone as a doorbell although it’s nowhere near as sleek; it measures around 6.2cm wide and 2.2cm thick.

The good news is it’s pretty simple to put together. First, you can download the Ring app (ring.com/app) if you want to be walked through the process. Otherwise, there’s a pocket-sized manual inside the box to help you, as well as an online guide.

The box comes with a set of tools; screws, wall plugs, screwdriver handle and a masonry drill bit. You’ll need to fully charge your Ring doorbell before you install it and also run an internet speed test before you start. Simply connect your phone to your home wifi and place your phone in the place you want to install your Ring, then run a speed test on Bandwidthplace – you’re looking for a minimum of 1.5 mpbs upload speed for it to work best.

Then you’ll need to mount it to a wall (follow the simple instructions) and get the doorbell connected to your wifi. This part is also simple as you tap on your phone’s settings menu which will connect you to the doorbell’s wifi signal.

Next, it’s time to set up your motion sensor using the Ring app so that your doorbell can pick up any movement – you can customise it by setting the distance you’d like movement picked up from. For example, if your front door is close to the street, you can set up the motion sensor so that it doesn’t pick up movement for every man and his dog walking past your fence! The app has a motion zones page and it allows you to choose which sensors should be ignored and which ones need to be acted upon.

Put simply: your smartphone will ring when somebody presses your doorbell or it’ll jingle whenever movement is picked up by the motion sensor.

All you need to do is open the app and you’ll see a video of whatever your doorbell can see. If it’s a delivery person you need to talk to, you can press the ‘talk’ button. If it’s a friend/relative or a stranger, obviously, you can use your video to decide whether you want to open the door or not!

Women Love Tech’s Verdict

It’s super easy to install but if, like me, you’re a renter, there might be issues with screwing it onto the wooden panels or brickwork of the house or apartment.

It’s a nice-looking gadget that doesn’t quite look like a doorbell and doesn’t quite look like a smartphone; something in between.

It’s also a way to make sure unexpected deliveries are actually delivered, as opposed to the delivery person assuming nobody is at home and leaving a notice to pick up a package from the post office.

Most importantly, it’s great to have added security, no matter where you live. I’d feel more comfortable having to leave children briefly at home while I ducked up to the shops, knowing that they had a ‘secret video’ of anybody that came to the front door.