How much data does a Ring Alarm use per month?

Products General Questions
#1

I want to install a Ring Alarm in an off-grid cabin that has no wifi. The Ring support team said wifi is needed for set up, but also that wifi is used frequently for pings, updates, etc.

I am thinking of having a data hotspot in the cabin, plugged in and continually running, with a data plan (say, 10 GB/month). This way I can set it up, and also be able to access the camera feed periodically.

Can anyone out there tell me how much data their Ring Alarm typically uses per month? You may be able to look at your internet service provider dashboard to see your devices, and how much data they use. This will tell me if the hotspot plan is feasable.

Thank you for helping with this unusual situation!

#2

I haven’t tried this so don’t take my word on this as matter of fact. But I would think that since the alarm has cellular backup for communication that you could set it up with your wifi hotspot and then disconnect the WiFi and it still work. I know when my internet goes down the alarm continues working on the cell backup connection though I have no idea how long it will stay up using the cell connection.

I also wouldn’t think that the alarm would use anywhere near 10 gig of data in a month unless their were updates to firmware pushed out, even then I’d doubt more than10 gigs but who knows since they give us no data on firmware outside of “its up to date” so as a result I have no idea the size of the firmware. Plus that would also depend on the number of zones you have as the firmware will update even a door/window sensors once in a while. I really think you should be under 10 gigs most months but if not though leaving the alarm on cellular after initial setup may solve that problem.

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#3

That is very insightful - thank you. From what I have pieced together from the website and a call with the rep, the built-in cell back up is only in the event of an alarm. It doesn’t sound like the camera access will function through the back up cell connection and for that I’d need constant wifi (meaning, I can’t access the camera feed through my phone, and footage would not upload to the cloud for storage).

We’ll see how it goes! I just ordered a 4G LTE router, and an 8GB/month data plan. I should have it all set up by next weekend. For the sake of others who may be trying to do this off-grid security set up, I will update the post after testing for a week or so.

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#4

I have this same situation. I want to install this in a remote location in Alaska, which gets cellular service but not landline or internet.

I’m hoping the cellular backup will at least allow me to cycle the hotspot’s power via a Ring-compatible switched outlet.

#5

OK - so far it’s working GREAT.

I have 2 ring cameras with their solar panels, plus a ring alarm base station with some sensors. I have a Netgear 4g LTE modem LB1120 connected to a wifi router. The LTE modem is running a T-mobile data-only plan and sim card, 6gb/month for $25/month.

After setting it up and running it for about 4 days, I’ve used around .7 gb of data. I had to tweak the motion notifications from the cameras, they were sending notifications like crazy (wind was blowing trees and stuff around); each time it sensed motion it would record, which meant more data usage. I think I now have a good balance of sensitivity.

Works like it should - I get motion notifications from the cameras, can watch live view, plus have the base station all feeding the app on my phone or on the Ring website. If data usage is not high, I will start watching live view more often, and can access the internet with my laptop when I am out there!

Forgot to mention - there’s solar and batteries with an inverter in the house, so the power is on all of the time to feed the modem/router/ring base station.

I will report back after a full month to describe data usage.

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#6

FYI, T-Mobile just announced a $50 per month internet using 5G with no caps and starting speeds of 50Mbps. They say they will increase the speeds later as well. You might want to Google it. Just came out today the announcement.

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#7

That would be highly dependent on what activity occurs in your scenario, I’d think.

Here’s my Ring Doorbell Pro usage: https://community.ring.com/t5/Video-Doorbells/Sharing-my-Ring-Pro-Bandwidth-Usage-numbers/m-p/2108/highlight/true#M674

#8

I have the floodlight cam and a dedicated wifi hotspot with 50 gig a month. Today is the 15th day and I Just checked my data usage and Ring has used 21 Gigabytes of data. Wtf, this thing is a gas hog.

#9

Hi!

Data use will be reflected in how often the camera is recording something to the cloud.

Ring added a feature that takes a snapshot every few seconds…turn that off, otherwise you’ll eat TONS of data. I have 3 cameras, and have been using about 4 gb each month. I hope that helps!

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#10

Hi Mike,

Do you mind telling me your set up? I am looking to do something similar with an off grid cabin for security? How much data have you used in average per month? How many cameras? How far have you been able to place cameras from your hotspot?

Thank you

#11

This is super helpful, Mike. How many minutes of video would you say your cameras are recording monthly to arrive at 4gb data used per month? I am using the same setup as you (AT&T 4g Netgear hotspot) in a garage that is a few blocks from home. One camera will be inside the garage – so it will (I assume) only be recording when I am getting or dropping off my car – or if there happens to be a security issue. I have not picked a SIM/plan yet as I am researching what the data need will be. Looking for your insight here.

#12

Our camera recording increases or decreases depending on weather or animal activity. These cams are all outdoors, and in a rural area where it’s not uncommon to have rabbits, birds, trees blowing in the strong wind, and even large bugs triggering the cameras. At least 2 or 3 a day, plus my wife watches the live feed for a few minutes each day. There was just an update from Ring that only sends notifications if it senses humans, but it seems the cameras still record the “non-human” stuff - I just don’t get a notification. Your camera indoors will likely record almost never. If you have one outdoors, be mindful of blowing tree branches, other cars, sidewalks etc. that might be in the field of sensing, and trigger the camera. Fortunately you can tweak the camera settings to reduce false triggers. I hope this helps!

#13

Hi Mike,

What is your average usage of data a month?

#14

Hi! It tends to be 4 gb or less. Since setting this up we have never bumped into the 6gb cap of the prepaid service. (Since fall of 2019.)

#15

Hello. I set up a system at my rural property with 4 contact sensors, 1 motion detector, 2 outside stick up cameras, and 1 indoor camera. It chewed through my 3GB AT&T prepaid plan in 24 hours!

I’ve disabled motion alerts and will be interested how much data I need.

#16

I’m trying Consumer Cellular, since it allows much better pricing and awareness of data usage.

But it would be nice to be able to better control the usage, via video quality and other ways.

#17

Even with motion alerts disabled, it is still going to record motion events - you just won’t receive a notification on your phone.

The key is to tweak your settings to reduce the amount of recordings. Example: there’s a tree near one of my cameras, and the wind blows a lot! The tree was triggering recordings…so I changed the “range” or area that the camera could see so it wouldn’t see the tree anymore. I also reduced the frequency of recordings.

A big data eater is the feature that creates a time lapse recording, called snapshot capture. It’s in Device Settings. Basically it is taking a pic and uploading it every minute, all day long. Turn that off, too.

Less recordings = less data use.

#18

I have a similar installation. I’ve tried turning OFF all the motion sensing, periodic picture taking, etc. - and still using .2 GB per day. I can’t understand why it uses so much data with all the features turned off.

#19

I have 3 Cameras. Two outside and 1 inside. In the last 4 days they use 1.6gb. Most of that was the 2 outside but the inside was maybe 50% of the usage of the outside ones. I understand if you are getting motion alerts it will record those alerts but it should create a motion entry in the history. In my case I have NO Motion Alerts in the history. I contacted support and escalated to second level and they had no anwser to explain what is going on. The final answer was if you connect them to WiFi they will use data.

Does anyone here know for sure that you can get motion alerts and it will record and send the data to the Ring Servers but NOT show it in the History so you can look at the video to see what the alert was. I do not believe I have the new SNAP feature on because not sure where it is.

I do know that if you go in to the Dashboard you will see a live feed of the cameras (a new feature from some time ago) and that does not show in the history. Maybe that is the problem?

#20

seems like this all is a serious issue. If the alarm system is eating data like crazy, you can’t really run it cheaply. Just want bare bones system with a few sensors. Would like to keep it below $30 monthly, but seems with even a cheap plan, and no video its going to eat data like crazy.