RF jamming

What is Ring doing to protect against RF jamming?

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Good question @kk1! We are passionate about our neighbor’s security and are always working to put you at an advantage against crime. As many of our devices are wifi-enabled, it does require a wifi signal to operate. If you’re concerned about specialized burglars using wifi jammers, we recommend checking out our Stick Up Cam Elite with POE capabilities. :slight_smile:

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Jamming is not hard to do, but doing a wholesale " Jam Job" on a home takes more technical capability than you think. Most of us will never be visited by a robber with a jammer in thier pocket. Wifi Jammers are not hard to get, but the portable hand sized devices have very small power profiles. If you have a multi-tiered approach to your cameras, you sould see your visitor before they cause a given camera to go blind. Yes, powerful jammers do exist, but they are not as readily available and require more power then the as the ones a kid in the neighborhood or hobbyist jammer can afford. Go with hardwired PoE connectivity wherever possible.

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The basic selling point behind Ring, SimpliSafe, etc is the fact that it is "wireless ".

Most people will not be interested in hardwiring POE.

Hardwiring is what we are trying to get away from.

So, instead of suggesting POE, make the Ring components jam proof - or, at least make it more difficult for someone to jam them.

Just my 2 cents.

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I’m a journalist looking into this issue. Can you please send me an email or message me here on ring. Thank you.

We are passionate about our neighbor’s security and are always working in pursuit of our mission of helping make neighborhoods safer. As many of our devices are wifi-enabled, they do require a wifi signal to operate. If you’re concerned about your wifi signal, we recommend checking out our devices with Power Over Ethernet (POE) capabilities.

Please keep in mind, the Ring Community is a public neighbor to neighbor forum. We care greatly about our neighbors’ security and privacy, and advise neighbors to not post personal information, such as email addresses, in the Community. Please check out our Community Guidelines at your earliest convenience. These guidelines are to ensure our Community is great for all neighbors. For any further media related requests, you may reach out to our team by email at media@ring.com. Thank you!

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Here’s the thing. Unless you have bricks of gold sitting in your house or are known to keep stacks of cash, it is unlikely that someone will spend enough time trying to defeat your security system when they can simply go next door to the house that doesn’t have the security system. And if you do have that kind of loot in your home, realize that no security system can prevent someone from pointing a gun at you until you give them what they want.

But beyond that, it isn’t just the wifi. The system has to report back over hard line that can be cut or over cellular that can also be jammed. Then again, the FCC is likely to take a keen interest if jamming appears to be involved. So, again, unless the stakes are high enough, most burglars aren’t going to want to attract federal attention to what is normally a crime that doesn’t get much investigation.

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Hi, I keep getting messages that videos aren’t downloaded and also that wifi isn’t connected which made me thinking maybe someone is using jammer around it. Specially I think one of my neighbors has potential to do it since they are super load after midnight and that’s usually when my device is offline.

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Hi, you may be experiencing intermittent Wifi coverage because your neighbour is “walking all over” your wifi channel. changing wifi channel can help.

When you find that this happening, try using wifi just on your phone (switch off mobile data) and see if you can still reach the web. Even testing it next to or beyond your Ring cam should help prove if it’s a wifi signal strength/quality issue or actually blocking issue .

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Can a jerk neighbor use jamming on one camera alone?

I have a Ring security camera that consistently drops its connection and motion sensing notification each day between the hours of 12pm and 5pm. Steps taken to resolve issue:

  1. Camera has been replaced multiple times
  2. WIFI Router has been replaced and relocated multiple times to improve signal.
  3. Wifi range extender has been used to ensure that db loss and RSSI levels are within operational ranges.
    As I write this RSSI strength is -51, -56dB at the location of the camera.
  4. Internet speed tests 23.72 Mbps down, 12.13 Mbps up, Ping 41 ms at the location of the camera.
  5. Wifi channel has been changed to best available channel, however there seems to be a very high number of wifi networks and about 13 hidden networks. Not sure if this is an issue
  6. When connection drops between 12pm and 5pm I have tried resetting connection to camera with no success during this time.
  7. All devices have been given static IP addresses.

The thing that I just do not get is that outside of these hours the camera works perfectly and no other cameras on my network are effected at any time. And they have weaker signal and RSSI levels.

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I have suspect neighbors as well and only one camera near their house goes like clockwork the same time everyday between 12pm and 5pm.