Live View w/o Internet on local connection

With a cloud-based system, it’s understandable that Ring functionality isn’t available when internet connection is lost, but it is puzzling why a Live View isn’t still available on devices connected to the local area network.

I’d like the Ring Team to consider developing a security feature that allows this Live View.

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I’d like to add to this request the ability to access the camera directly from a web browser.

Sometimes live view is problematic in my home with gig speed internet. But in my mountain house with the slowest DSL you can imagine, live view is absolutely impossible and tends to hang the ring app on my iphone.

My previoius cameras up on the mountain managed extremely well. My logitech camera let me access the live view from “alert.logitech.com”. I could even hear the voices of people. two-way talking was not an option.

I had two older Panasonic cameras that had a web address tied to each camera through ip_ddns (dynamic DNS assignments) such as myperscam1.viewnetcam.com. The setup at the router in the house included a port assignment (80 for one and 81 for the other) that was used in conjunction with other parameters to enable the fairly simple web address. I was using this from 2012 - 2020. Never any problem getting to the cameras over that very slow DSL line. www.viewnetcam.com was the website used to register those cameras.

Thanks for listening. I just wanted to give examples of other products that are able to access live view from a web browser.

I to would also like to have he ability to view the cameras via ip address on the local network instead of having to rely on an internet connection for the cameras to operate. If the internet goes out the cameras should still be available locally, has ring considered something along the lines of a local dvr device that can record the feeds from cameras when the internet is down and then upload the data once connection is restored?

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It makes sense that if you’re on the same network as the camera the app should view the feed over the LAN rather than the internet. This saves bandwidth and increases performance by decreasing latency.

This relates to another thread I’ve posted on regarding live view on multiple cameras. One of the arguments against live view multi cam I saw on that thread is related to bandwidth. This solves both problems.

Thanks

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I really hope they do
This is very important to me, I often have disconnections on the network,
If it will be possible to use through the local network it would be great,

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As someone who has suffered with a number of internet outages this year - it is annoying that the chimes disconnect every time. Why can’t my whole ring system stay connected on a local basis? Then when internet is restored it just starts working over internet. Currently, after my internet is restored by my provider, I have to spend 20 minutes or more reconnecting the chimes and then the devices connected through them. I know it isn’t your fault for internet outages but I’m getting fed up continuously having to reset my network of ring products.

My doorbell didn’t work during a 12 hour long Comcast outage and as a result I missed visitors who repeatedly pushed the doorbell and I didn’t hear it.
Why can’t the doorbell talk directly to the chimes during such an outage? They are all on the same LAN? Alternatively, why can’t the doorbell flash red when it can’t communicate with the chimes?

While I love what is happening with the Ring products, the biggest achilles heel of this system is the internet connectivity. In a situation where internet is lost, but not power I would still want to be able to view locally on the LAN just like any other IP based camera system. I get that the cloud recording would not work, but at least the cameras could be viewed locally. This system is completely crippled without internet, and there’s no failover plan. Is there a roadmap to allow local discovery, and viewing of devices via the app on the local lan that is not connected to the internet?

Today Ring experienced multiple system failures. As a result all my ring devices were unable to monitor motion or stream live view on Ring devices and my Iphone, iPad and Echo Show . A feature should be added to allow the user to choose local monitoring on their local network without having to rely on the Ring system which is external to the user on the wide area network. As far as I can tell the only reason to be connected to the Ring system network is for recording events and history. If this feature is not necessary then the option for local only would allow monitoring and live view without being dependent on the Ring network. At my home I have a Netgear Orbi Local Wifi network connected to my wifi router which gives me excellent coverage throughout my house and my router speed is 500/500 Mbps. One specific case in my application is an indoor camera that monitors my wife, who has Alzheimer’s, and is in bed most of the day. The camera in my bedroom monitors her activity such that if she tries to get up, I get a motion detection alert so I can go check on her so she doesn’t try get up without my help, even at night. BTW I have a bedrail on her side of the bed that prevents her from getting off the bed. This would be most helpful to have this feature so I wouldn’t be dependent on the Ring System network.

The Ring Smart home and Security products should have a local api which can be used to communicate with the app or other smart home integrations even when there is no internet.

Anyone who has invested in the Ring eco system has or will at some point find themselves cut off from access to their cameras, alarm system, or smart home features because Ring’s products are heavily reliant on access to their servers to function.

From a security prospective this is a nightmare because it means anyone who has invested in Ring cameras can no longer use those cameras if the internet is out. This also means anyone using the ring security system will lose access to their security system settings even if they have local network access. No changing settings, no notifications about which sensor set off the alarm if they don’t have the protect plan, and no access to see the state of the sensors from the app.

From the smart home side of things I don’t imagine its any better, without internet access it is unlikely you can control your outdoor lights, get notifications from your motion sensors or even your mailbox sensor. Perhaps someone else can answer this question because I’ve avoided the smart home side of Ring, but do linked devices work together if there is no internet? I know I’ve read that the chime won’t ring for the doorbell if the internet is out, so I doubt it would for the motion sensor or that any lights could come if setup to, etc.

And that’s all before you get into third party integrations which are heavily reliant on those servers to monitor sensors for home automation in their favorite local smart home server (Hubitat, Home Assistant, etc). Integrations that fail without an internet connection because there is no way to get that information directly from the Ring Security Hub.

If its about the money then just create a product that takes over the functions of the ring server locally that can access, control, and provide information to those on the local network. You could also have some limited storage so that cameras could still upload footage to later be uploaded to the cloud. There’s no reason that the entire Ring ecosystem should just fall apart because someone somewhere cuts a line and so I’m without internet for a day.

Being able to connect to the app and cameras even if the external Internet connection is failing:

  • It’s pretty annoying to be blind when we lose internet (Comcast/ATT crash)

  • even being at home with the local wifi working

  • I’m using APC UPS everywhere, then even if the electricity is off, I should be able to use my cellphone + ring cameras + wifi router on UPS

Seems like communication between Doorbell and Chime is not possible without Internet Connection.
As a fail safe of the system it is not admissible that a loss of internet connectivity does not make the Chime Ring.
The doorbell could simply access the Chime through its local Ip address if WiFi is still up making the Chime sound even with no Internet. Local WiFi connectivity should be enough to do this. It sure would make system more robust.