My mother needs some security cameras. Again. It has to be super simple. Preferably cell network based, as I'm not there to set up the wifi. Simple enough that I can configure it here, ship it to her and all she has to do is plug it in the wall and set it on a bookshelf. A small monthly charge is fine. Ideas?
Wyzecam is absolutely simple setup. No monthly charge.
Blink is pretty simple. Like simple enough my business partner could manage it and he frequently can't find his contact list on his phone.
I would think they would all need to be connected to the WiFi they will be using. That would make remote setup impossible.
Edit: Looks like the Wyze setup is similar to Blink.
Problem is trying to get it connected to a WiFi. Mom can't even get her own computer hooked up to WiFi.
I'm not sure how you would get around that and have web storage. The camera is going to have to connect to the internet through the WiFi.
Does she have a smart phone? Is it connected to her WiFi? If so the the Blink cameras are pretty simple. Looks like the Wyze cameras should be as well. There is still going to be some fiddly bits to do with either system.
I assume she isn't local to you. Maybe someone on the GRM Road Assist list would be willing to set it up for her. If she was near Charleston, SC I'd be happy to help.
Wyze cams walk you through it like butter. You open the app, scan the QR code on the camera with the app, and it's connected. I understand if the older generation couldn't figure it out (like my mom), but it's so simple you could walk her through it over the phone.
The camera even talks to you while you're going through the setup to confirm what you're seeing on your phone app.
They have a slot for a USB drive. You can pay for their cloud storage, or insert a USB drive to record stuff. I don't use the USB drive. Mine alerts me to motion detected (or sound detected) and stores that event for free. I get a buzz in my pocket, click the notification, and it shows me the 20 seconds of the UPS guy walking up to my door and dropping a package. So far, I haven't had a second notification showing me someone stealing it.
Cheap cameras, easy to configure, free incident recording, and free continuous recording if you add your own USB drive.
Here is a wonderful guy bringing home a 12 pack of Labatt Blue for me. (I'm the wonderful guy). This was an event that just happened on my Wyze cam about an hour ago and I can view, download, save, share, etc. There is a limit to how long they save the free event. I think it is storage based, not time based. So if she gets 50 squirrels a day setting off the recording, she might only be able to access the last 5 hours of events, but if she aims it properly and only gets three events a day, she might get a week of free recordings.
Oh, and live view lets you talk and listen like a Ring doorbell. If you get a notification, you just hit the microphone button and you can talk to whoever is there. I use that to scare the piss out of my dog with the living room camera.
Get mom's wifi settings and configure a wifi router at your place to match exactly. Configure everything there.
If you can get them, Amazon Cloud Cam has been dead reliable. Unfortunately, Amazon seems to be trying to get out of the business and pivot to their Ring camera acquisition.
I have a RIng doorbell, but Ring has had some ethical issues over the last year or so, and I'm considerably less impressed with the quality of the service.
I don't see how you get around WiFi either.. unless she simply doesn't have it.
Curtis is right though. I forgot that I preloaded my Wyze Cam with a micro SD card. The cloud stuff is just a motion activated short burst that needs a minute or three to reset for the next one. The SD card is what allows continuous recording until it overwrites itself. Really good $20-25 spend regardless.
My mother-in-law was convinced someone was coming into her apartment and stealing things...and then putting them back somewhere else. lol So she wanted a camera to catch the thieves. I wanted no part of this, after installing a doorbell for her, which she was so happy at first, then it is in the wrong place, it stopped working, etc.
My brother-in-law setup the camera system, it was a standalone thing with a screen you can playback the videos, but she can't operate it, and then she says he is in cohoots with the thieves!!
And get this, she was convinced they stole her checkbook, and so called the bank and cancelled the account,
and now all her bills and direct deposits stop working! My wife had to fix this, but mom gave her the old account number, so all the time spent didn't do anything and had to be done all over again. Oh Vey
Sorry i cant be more helpful, but be aware it probably wont be easy.
Mom is very seriously technically challenged. She has a smart phone. I don't think she is capable of using it to make a phone call. Having her add an ap and walk through any setup is out of the question. Having her pull a micro SD card, put it in her laptop and look at it is also out. Tried that once. Too complicated. The next time I remote to her laptop, I'll try to get the WiFi info. Setting up a router here to mimic it is a good idea.
Isn't there anything that will transmit small data to the cloud via the cell network? That would be ideal.
the closest to cellular you are going to ge would be to get a Verizon hotspot, set your cameras up to use it as their wifi, then send her the works and tell her to plug in the hotspot first. Then pay the bill.
The wyze camera sd cards never have to come out, you just use the app to access the data. In your case, you might need to get a cheap tablet that supports the ap, install it, and send it to her too.
Dr. Hess (Forum Supporter) said:Mom is very seriously technically challenged. She has a smart phone. I don't think she is capable of using it to make a phone call. Having her add an ap and walk through any setup is out of the question. Having her pull a micro SD card, put it in her laptop and look at it is also out. Tried that once. Too complicated. The next time I remote to her laptop, I'll try to get the WiFi info. Setting up a router here to mimic it is a good idea.
Isn't there anything that will transmit small data to the cloud via the cell network? That would be ideal.
My alarm system does that.
I set up my YI 1080p cameras today. 4 were i think 90-100$ on amazon. Real easy setup. I have weather proof outdoor enclosures on the way.
first day with them and already used it tonight to see a fat, probably drunk redneck banging on my door wanting me to pull his stuck vehicle out. Idiots get stuck at the end of my road and expect my to pull them out. Ignored that one obviously. Neighbor texted me and said he tried him too, was super aggressive, had to tell him to berk off.
I'm fairly certain Axis does cellular, but Axis is biased to commercial and doesn't have a consumer friendly price point.
On the super simple side, there are apps for smart phones that make them work like security cameras. Get a smartphone and service, and load the app, and get a phone tripod.
This may not be true for all the web accessible home cams - but my wife bought two differing brands of same from the Amazon. She asked me to fire them up - very straightforward - download an app and away you go. But - with 25 years in IT - decided to read the "license agreement" - don't remember if it was on their website or in the fine print of the install sheet. In brief - you agree that all data generated (video/audio maybe) goes to the "cloud" and you agree that they can access it all and use it anyway they want. And oh by the way - they also operate outside the US so that does not mean US laws apply - and you agree to that.
Sorry - perhaps paranoid or expectation of too much privacy. NO way am I going to agree to that - so they sit on the shelf - uninstalled.
Perhaps one can find another web cam brand that does not snoop. Just wanted to point out the above.
In reply to TasdevEngineer2of3 :
Things like that are why, in general, I don't like 'the cloud' and don't unlock my phone with my face or fingerprint.
Dr. Hess (Forum Supporter) said:
Isn't there anything that will transmit small data to the cloud via the cell network? That would be ideal.
Do you have an old smart phone laying around? Find an app called Alfred and put it on your phone, your mom's phone, and the old phone. You can configure the app on each phone as either a camera or a monitor, and you can access the camera phone to configure it from anywhere on the planet; turn the light on/off, talk through the speaker, record video, set motion detection, use night sight, the works.
It is ad-based, but free, and probably of very questionable privacy, but as long as the camera phone is on, you can completely control the configuration from your app on your phone even if you're vacationing in Japan.
I had two old cell phones that I had set up as cameras and my phone as the monitor. The only reason I switched to Wyze cameras is that they were on sale and I had no real means of "mounting" the cell phone anywhere and they constantly fell over.
This, of course, would require the old cell phone to either be connected to her wifi, or be an activated phone ($$$) to use a cell network. You should be able to see her wifi configuration info next time you link up. Then you could mimic her AP at your home, set up the smart phone, and send it to her with the instructions of "plug in, turn on, put on a shelf."
You MIGHT be able to do the same thing with Wyze. They could at least be tricked into connecting to her wifi, but the real pairing comes from scanning the QR code on the phone that is setting it up. It's possible you could mimic her wifi and connect them to your phone, then send her the cameras and share the feeds with her. I do that in the spring with my mother. She loves watching bird nests, so when the finches build a nest on my back patio, I turn the camera to see their nest and share the link with her. The only downside I see to that is that you'll have to find some way of getting the Wyze app on your mom's phone. She can view it in a browser, but it's not ideal.
I tried the Alfred ap before. Not real impressed, and it still has the same issues as anything else in getting onto the WiFi.
Yeah, the "license agreements" with all this stuff is very questionable. Comes down to "we can do whatever we want and you are screwed." Or, "You agree to be Bil Gates Towel Boy."
These Wyze things, if I configure it to her WiFi by setting up a router here with the same name/PW, add a memory chip, she plugs it in, can it be accessed by me on the internet? That is, will it go to a cloud and we can view it from there?
TasdevEngineer2of3 said:This may not be true for all the web accessible home cams - but my wife bought two differing brands of same from the Amazon. She asked me to fire them up - very straightforward - download an app and away you go. But - with 25 years in IT - decided to read the "license agreement" - don't remember if it was on their website or in the fine print of the install sheet. In brief - you agree that all data generated (video/audio maybe) goes to the "cloud" and you agree that they can access it all and use it anyway they want. And oh by the way - they also operate outside the US so that does not mean US laws apply - and you agree to that.
Sorry - perhaps paranoid or expectation of too much privacy. NO way am I going to agree to that - so they sit on the shelf - uninstalled.
Perhaps one can find another web cam brand that does not snoop. Just wanted to point out the above.
All of this. Bottom line, unless you're paying big money, your information isn't private. A Wyze cam probably costs $50 to manufacture, but you can buy them on sale 2 for $25. You can get an echo dot on sale for 99 cents. They aren't making the money on selling cameras or voice assistants, they're making money with data mining. If it's something that gathers data and it's cheap or free, they're selling your private data. If you can come to terms with that as I have, go for it. For the most part, it's marketing. Alexa listens to the conversation you had with your buddy about wanting a Miata and you'll start seeing ads for Miatas. I don't believe they are watching you poop, or distributing your private videos to porn sites. That doesn't make money. But whatever you do that suggests a marketing possibility, they mine it.
Next time you buy a cell phone, read the fine print on the two different contracts. If you buy one outright for $800, there is no contract, but there are a few data mining things in the fine print when you click the "agree to terms" box. Your service provider will have some fine print about what they mine, but the phone itself won't have much permission to mine data. If you accept a "free phone for switching to [insert carrier]" then the contract will undoubtedly contain some phrase that basically says they are allowed to activate your camera while you're in the shower. With electronics, you get the privacy you pay for.
Just last week, a lady I used to date stopped in for coffee and she told me she had downloaded a dating app and was going to start dating. Immediately after she left I was on facebook and every single ad in my feed was for a dating app. In that case, I don't think it was a microphone, I think it's because her phone (and the app) connected to my wifi. Free app, free facebook, free phone from her provider. Some AI mined that data and made advertising suggestions.
Dr. Hess (Forum Supporter) said:These Wyze things, if I configure it to her WiFi by setting up a router here with the same name/PW, add a memory chip, she plugs it in, can it be accessed by me on the internet? That is, will it go to a cloud and we can view it from there?
Yes. I could share my Wyze cam with you via a link I can email to you. I can also remove your permission at any time I want.
I should note... Wyze is working on an RSTP to let you view it on a computer, but it isn't out yet. There are extensions for browsers that allow a workaround, but it was developed as a mobile app. I have done the workaround before and it's no too difficult, just time consuming. You basically download a file from Wyze, put it on a thumb drive, and load the new firmware onto the camera itself. This lets it generate a URL for the video stream and requires you to assign a username/password for the camera so it isn't easily hacked.
Probably already been mentioned but SimpliSafe is SUUUUUUPER easy to setup, works with cellular and yes you can configure it at your house and then ship to her. Dunno about the offsite storage though, so maybe disqualified? I used Wyze and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be
In reply to P3PPY :
How much a month do they charge? Can you access the "hits" online or within a phone ap?
In reply to Dr. Hess (Forum Supporter) :
$15 a month for monitoring, no contract, and you can access everything from the app. As an aside I like that you can turn monitoring off/on as you wish and do self-monitoring. Remote self monitoring of course requires that you have your own internet.
FWIW I went with them because of their highly rated camera quality and low motion sensor false negatives, according to ConsumerReports. They're not the only DIY game in town though.
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