Does Chime require internet connection?

If my internet service goes down, will the Ring Doorbell still be able to communicate with the Ring Chime (over the LAN/Wifi)? Or does operation between Doorbell & Chime require a connection through Ring servers?

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Glad you asked @geo1963! Our Chime devices are wifi enabled and require wifi connection to communicate between your Doorbell and router. Without signal or the required power, the devices will not operate as intended. I hope this helps! :slight_smile:

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So to be clear it doesn’t require internet connectivity just local network connectivity. Is that correct? @Marley_Ring

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Hey @stukes. Our devices are wifi enabled devices and therefore require a solid wifi internet connection from a modem or router. They will connect wireless over your wifi network and the Ring app. You will need to ensure you have a 2.4 Ghz connection (or 5.0 Ghz connection if you have the 2nd Generation of the Chime or Chime Pro). Hope this helps clear it up for you! :slight_smile:

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Hi Chelsea, I understand they are connected via wifi.

Question is if there is no internet connectivity but there is still a wifi connection will the chime still work?

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So, I double on the initial question: will the chime work if the Ring Doorbell and the chime are connected to the same WiFi network, but there is no outside connection to the Internet? Let’s say the ISP is down or there is a malfunction on the street network devices, but the WiFi inside my house is working fine, will the chime work when the doorbell buton is pressed or not? As a test, unplug from your router the wire that comes from your ISP(Internet Service Provider) and press the doorbell’s button to see if the chime works. Thank you!

Hey neighbors! Sorry for any confusion there may have been before, but since our Ring devices are wifi enabled, they need a constant connection via wifi and through a stable Internet connection. The devices will talk and communicate via the cloud for video storage and reporting events to your mobile device when the events happen, so therefore not having a stable wifi and internet connection will result in the devices not being operational and will fall offline. Hope this helps clear this up!

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To be clear - the Ring Chime requires an internet connection to work (just being both on the same LAN is not enough)

Even if both the Ring Doorbell and Chime are both connected to the same wifi network, the chime will NOT ring if the connection from the local network to the internet is not working.

Last year not long after it was installed we had some guests round for dinner, and didnt realise the internet connection was down, so had one standing outside for a while wondering why I wasnt answering the doorbell. NB - Its a Ring Pro, and a v1 Chime, but I dont think the v2 is any different in this regard. The Ring Pro is connected to the 5Ghz wifi network, and the chime to the 2.4Ghz - but again I dont believe that makes any difference. (It does all work fine when the internet is up - which is most of the time!)

This does seem like something they could fix with a firmware update - Im sure the doorbell could learn the local IP address of the chime and communicate directly instead of via Ring’s servers. So how about it Ring???

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I had the same problem 3 days ago and missed an important delivery !
Please fix this, it is unacceptable and so easy to fix on a local network (mdns).

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So how exactly are we expected to know when the engineer from our internet service provider has come to fix our internet service?

This is ridiculous.

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This should be investigated to be added to the firmware. It seems like it should be simple enough to add the ability, to communicate directly to the chime if connected to the same local network. Many other devices have such abilities. And this is definitely a device that should have this ability. Internet connections can be unreliable at times.

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there should be really a fallback solution for this. yesterday with the amazon network failures my chime did not work for a whole day. it would be very easy - if there is no internet service, the doorbell should communicate directly with the chime via wifi. at least the gong / chime should work when there is no cloud service available. i am really disappointed and thinking about replacing the ring products.

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Upvoting this. Basic backup. Even if you don’t get uploaded video etc, not having the chime ring is daft.

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I want to start by saying I am a big fan of the Ring ecosystem. I like the ease at which I can set up the device, the customer service is good and the product generally does what it should.

With that background I have some SERIOUS ISSUES with it which they could easily fix.

1. Backup RF channel for the chimes so they work when internet is down/weak.

  • The primary purpose of a doorbell is to let you know when someone is there. The number of times people have called me from the front door to say they are there (after pressing the bell a few times) is numerous.

  • All it would take is a backup RF channel to the chimes (I have 3 chimes just to be safe). Even $15 doorbells have RF to their chimes, it would not cost much to add.
    Just for comparison, here is a Chinese doorbell which does it (deliberately putting this here to put pressure on RING not to promote this product). Xiaomi Smart Doorbell 3

  • Sadly my solution is to probably have to stick one of these (again not plugging this product Amazon.com: linbell) next to the Ring doorbell and put a sticker which says “please try other doorbell if no response”.

2. Offline Alert

  • As mentioned by another users, even if Ring cannot get its act together to provide a backup RF to the chimes (which it SHOULD), they should at least let you know your system is offline. Ping it every 10 mins (or user defined period) and send an alert to the app. Especially since it is SOOOOOO sensitive to RF signals

3. Tell visitor to press again

  • Since the Ring system is so sensitive to errors with wifi etc, give feedback to the visitor. When they press the bell, if it does not successfully send a signal through wifi to the user or to the chimes, just alert the visitor “please try pressing again”.

  • I have had a bunch of delivery men just leave without trying a few times (even when I am sitting 5m away from the gate).

Hi @BrotherBob. As we value our neighbors’ feedback, we’ve created a Feature Request board. Feel free to add this and any future feature requests there. This will help us to organize and share your requests with our teams here, as well as allow other neighbors to comment and add interest, all in one place.

Any update on getting chime ring without an internet connection (still connected to the WiFi)?

Hi @user34077. If a Chime is connected to WiFi, that means it has an active internet connection. Without a internet connection, there is no way for the Chime to wirelessly communicate with Ring devices on your network.

Not necessarily.

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