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filoleg

> Neither Ring nor Nest has a hardwired network option

Nest has one now[0].

EDIT: my bad, it doesn't have a hardwired network, it just has more local memory for recordings.

0. https://www.engadget.com/googles-2nd-gen-wired-nest-doorbell...

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That's hardwired for power (from the doorbell transformer) not for networking, though at least it does store "up to an hour" of video offline locally. I have a cheap but totally unreliable Wyze doorbell, which also is wired in for power, but has no local storage (unlike the Wyze cams, which record to sdhc along with the cloud).

How does that locally stored 1 hour of video help if the doorbell camera is removed by the miscreant?

Well if they drive past a McDonald's or other open WiFi, presumably it'll get uploaded then right...?

How fast is the McDonald's wifi or how slowly does one have to drive past to get a 1 hour video uploaded? Sure, it's MP4 compressed, but still 1 hour at 1Mbps is still a 3GB file.

I haven't been to MickD's in a really long time, but do they have free/open wifi with no captive portals? Seems like a big liability risk for a corp their size (or any fast food chain) to have it wide open.

An hour of video will take a long time.

I know some Arby's are semi open wifi. They do have a web client after connecting that I think authenticates you somehow. But I have no idea what it's actually doing.

There's no way these devices are connecting automatically to any open WiFi though.

That would be a way larger security risk.

LOL! Yes, and they also automatically accept the terms & conditions on the McDonalds captive portal with Jeff Bezos’s email address.

Where does it say that it has a wired network connection?

"for those who don't want to monitor their device's battery levels or to worry about spotty WiFi"

Though that's the only mention.

Edit: ah, it's still Wifi, just has more memory.

From: https://blog.google/products/google-nest/nest-doorbell-wired...

"And if your Wi-Fi is spotty one day, you still won’t miss any important moments. The new Nest Doorbell will automatically record an hour’s worth of important events to its local memory."

Local memory on video doorbells is an equally hilarious problem as the one in OP.

As my dad pointed out when I was trying to show off my shiny new video doorbell.

"What's to stop them just ripping it off the wall and taking it with them?"

I hope to be half skilled at tempering my children's enthusiasm as he is.

To be fair, I feel like these things aren't real security devices. They're better rhan nothing, but highly vulnerable to any number of attacks, privacy issues, etc. These are convience devices sold to make people feel safer.

Absolutely; they are not. I didn't get one to use as a security device, in fact my requirement was probably not very typical, but; I can't hear my doorbell from my home office, and I wanted a "connected" doorbell which doesn't have to have a cloud connection so went for the AD410.

I have Home Assistant set up to flash my desk lamp and play a little tune on an ESP32 speaker under my desk when someone rings it; the video part is just an added bonus.

Nice!

Besides ripping them off, a spray can might do "wonders" to the video quality. Yes, you might have a video clip of the spraying, but if a cloaked perpetrator does it …

Indeed. A doorbell camera is really not a security device, I don't have one for that purpose, nor should anyone else; I real security device needs to be out of reach and hard wired.

True. A decent secure implementation, beside ditching wireless which is step 0, would imply more cameras facing each other and their surroundings, plus other areas in which the thieves don't expect to be watched and could either travel in their own cars or with the hood off.

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