It costs $10 a month to get “Professional Monitoring” from Ring for their alarm system. However, the $37-$53 monthly premium charged by ADT is much more. Does Ring’s offering sacrifice any important features? What if it’s a truly excellent service that’s offered at a genuinely good price?
Ring alarm’s expert monitoring provides an average callback time of 30 seconds, which is a true 24/7 monitoring system. Some folks have noticed that the first callback is dependable, but subsequent calls aren’t nearly as good.
What is Ring’s “Professional Monitoring”?
House alarm systems are designed to alert you while you’re away or otherwise unavailable so that if someone attempts to break into your home. At the same time, you’re away or otherwise unavailable; you won’t be told until you’re back home.
Instead, you hire a third party to keep an eye on your network. Paying an alarm monitoring firm $40+ a month used to be the norm in the previous days. A call is made to the alarm provider, which in turn alerts the local police to your home if the alarm detects anything (if needed).
Ring’s “Professional Monitoring” is the same thing, except it costs $10 a month and includes monitoring for smoke/carbon monoxide, panic alarms, and floods/freezing alerts as well – essentially, Ring will contact local law enforcement on your behalf (if you buy separate sensors for these final three, that is).
As a result, you pay less each month for additional home security monitoring. Awesome!
As part of their Ring Protect Plus service (which costs $3/month per camera/doorbell), they provide 60 days of video footage from an unlimited number of Are around and doorbells stored to the Ring cloud. Professional monitoring service for only $1 a month is a bargain for anybody with three Ring cameras (costing $9 a month).
In the event of an attempted break-in or burglary, your Ring alarm system will activate all of your See around and doorbells, allowing you to capture video of the incident.
Ring’s professional monitoring can provide more features than conventional alarm companies since it is coupled with Ring’s other smart devices. But at a reduced cost.
How does it work?
The Ring alarm system comes with a base station and keypad and 1-3 window/door sensors and 1-3 motion sensors as basic features (depending on what Ring package you initially buy).
In the same way, as magnetic switches have two sides, so do the window/door sensors. The alarm company will sound if a window or door is opened while everyone is out of the house. If no one presses the alarm button on the keypad (or the Ring app), the keypad’s internal siren will ring, alerting Ring (if you have the Ring Protect Plus subscription).
Similarly, if movement is detected accidentally, the alarm must be silenced, the buzzer will ring, and the Ring will indeed be contacted.
Upon receiving an alarm notice from your home, a Ring crew located in a safe location (who operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year) will initially attempt to contact you to verify the danger. What if you (or a visitor) have forgotten the passcode code, and the alarm is blaring because you couldn’t disable it? Using a vocal password that you previously specified, you may silence the alert.
But if you claim you’re out, nobody should be around, or if Ring can’t get a touch of you, they’ll call the police to your residence.
Also included in Ring’s professional monitoring are additional sensors and buttons that may be purchased separately.
- CO/smoke sensor: Ring’s carbon monoxide and smoke sensor For $34.99 per monitor (which detects both CO and smoke), the emergency contact is called first when the sensor detects smoke. Either emergency responders will be called, or Ring will keep attempting to contact other people on the list. There is a way to cancel the emergency service call-out via any of those other contacts if necessary.
- If the detector detects carbon monoxide, emergency services will be notified. It can be canceled (usually because of the risk of CO and because a separate local team can often handle this). To alert the designated emergency contacts, Ring will call them.
- Floor/freeze sensor: Ring’s flood and freeze sensor Additionally, each sensor costs $34.99, and it’s especially beneficial in basements, beneath sinks, and in refrigerators. Ring’s experienced monitoring teams will guarantee that individuals (or your emergency contacts) are contacted if there is a probable water leak or small temperature problem. Plumbers and tradespeople in the area will not be informed. Considering call-out charges may be quite unreasonable, this is a good thing, and the storm surge may be a precautionary measure. Nonetheless, this is wonderful news.
- Panic button: Ring’s $34.99 panic button will transmit the signal to your Ring base station if held down for three seconds or longer. This signal is received by Ring’s monitoring staff, who will try to contact you to verify that it is not a case of mistaken identity (and you can give a verbal password to cancel it, if so). Police will be called if you do not comply.
This is all helpful, and it’s wonderful that you can also defend against carbon monoxide, the floor, and other things in your home with home security. Additionally, you receive all the regular alerts and notifications from your Ring app and your existing devices.
Extra fees (over and above professional monitoring)
Depending on your local government, you may have to pay additional costs, such as being responsible for risk management permits and Verified Response. All alarm systems have this problem (if your local authority charges additional costs). However, Ring’s smart alarm system does not guarantee that you can avoid these additional payments. Additional costs that you may encounter include:
- A permit for professional monitoring: Ring will send you an email with information on how to notify local municipalities that you are responsible for a risk management subscription placed in your home when everything is set up. In most cases, this is a one-time price of between $30 and $50; however certain municipalities may charge a reduced yearly fee instead.
- A false alarm fine: while Ring gives lots of helpful information about preventing false alarms, you continue to have local police enforcement sent to your home by mistake, you might be charged with a misdemeanor offense. That Ring may cover the very first false alarm, but after that, you’ll have to pay.
- The LAPD charge $216 for the first false alarm, which then increases $50 for each false call-out after that – so it can become very expensive, very quickly! As another example, Seattle charges $115 for automated alarms and $230 for manually triggered alarm call-outs.
- Verified Response policies: There have been many false alarms in the past. Thus police forces generally seek further proof before they respond to an alarm call. The Ring may need proof of a break-in, such as video or audio recordings from your house, or the deployment of a professional security guard, to notify you of a break-in.
- Initially, Ring charges $75 for a 20-minute call outside (of a guard) and then charges $1.25 for each minute beyond that. Because of this, if you’ve got a Ring camera installed in a response area, the costs might quickly escalate.
Which countries don’t get professional monitoring?
American Samoa • Guam • the Northern Mariana Islands • Puerto Rico • The U.S. Virgin Islands • Ring’s professional monitoring is presently accessible in all 50 American states and across Canada but excludes:
Quebec is not included in Canada.
Sadly the rest of the world doesn’t have the option of professional monitoring. Instead, features such as ‘assisted monitoring ‘are offered – however, this is just automated calls to listed emergency contacts.
Even though you may list persons who aren’t signed up for the Ring app, it’s still a far cry from professional monitoring. There are two options: either sign up for Ring and accept that you won’t receive as excellent programming as Americans do, or choose another alarm system (which provides local expert monitoring).
People’s experiences with professional monitoring from Ring
People who may have had a good experience with Ring’s expert monitoring are featured on their website, and these videos are worth watching:
Real individuals who Ring’s alarm system has assisted are featured in these polished films for marketing reasons. Additionally, the fact that Ring’s monitoring service contacts individuals so fast (typically in under 30 seconds) means that meaningful action can be done to protect people’s properties, as they’ve experienced.
Generally speaking, Ring’s professional monitoring service seems to be well-received by the public, although there are a few folks who have a few gripes with the service:
- Rose on Twitter: “It was only after five years of testing alarms that the cops showed up.” Ring contacted me two minutes after I set the alarm, in case you’re curious. They contact the cops first if you set off a panic alert.”
- register on Reddit: Since I already pay $10 a month for my Ring cameras, the $10/month maintenance is a great deal. “It’s a breeze to use and set up,” he says.
- Philly139 on Reddit: “It was my aunt’s fault that my alarm went off today since I had forgotten she was heading over to visit. They phoned me and asked for my passcode, and I had no idea what it was! It was simply like, oh well, is everything okay? When I told them, I forgot it, and they just acknowledged what I said. Thank goodness the police didn’t show there, but what’s the purpose of a spoken password anyway?
- iworkforaschool on Reddit: “Their headquarters are in New York City. Even though my alarm went off accidentally the other day, they called me seconds after it did. From everything I’ve seen thus far, they’re responsive.
- Joecascio2000 on Reddit: “After accidentally triggering my alarm (the first time it has ever gone off), I had my first encounter with professional monitoring, and boy is I unhappy. “(However, others who respond point out that Joe may be misusing the system.)
- Borskaegel on Reddit: “In addition, we have a FirstAlert smoke/Co2 detector that promptly alerts the Fire Department if it detects smoke or CO2 in the air. If you decide to light up in the kitchen, keep that in mind!
- jimbuie211 and marcanthonynoz on Reddit: “It’s as good as any “major” company’s monitoring service.” & “It’s well worth it! “And it’s cheaper than the other, more well-known firms in the country.”
Even though Ring’s expert monitoring crew made initial phone contact, there are still a few folks who aren’t satisfied. However, this second callback might also be due to the sheriff’s department taking their time to offer an update, which has been mentioned by several individuals who have requested a second callback with nothing but an update after law enforcement agencies had visited their residence.
In short, Ring’s experienced monitoring is a high-quality service supplied by a well-respected and licensed organization. For only $10/month (which includes your Ring security systems and cameras), their service is a wonderful bargain, and it makes financial sense than Ring’s conventional alarm system competitors.
How Ring’s $10/month monitoring compares to ADT (and other rivals)
Ring’s expert monitoring promises that you can “Save big with Ring,” claiming that their $10/month (or $100/year) membership is substantially lower than a $599/year subscription from a competition, which means that you will save money.
- $499 in year 1
- $999 by year 2
- $1,499 by year 3
Is this a fair assessment? That’s not the case. However, the comparison of Ring’s monitoring to ADT’s is fair, but the fact that ADT’s membership includes a free alarm system while Ring requires you to pay for it is overlooked.
Including the cost of an alarm system in a cost comparison is the best method. ADT’s “Total Protection” plan since this doesn’t just rely on a landline connection for your alarm system.
Ring ADT
3 Piece Alarm System $180 $0
Install Charge $0 $99
1st Year Subscription Cost $100 $572
2nd Year Subscription Cost $100 $572
3rd Year Subscription Cost $100 $572
Total Cost After 3 Years $480 $1,815
Price of Ring’s alarm company (with monitoring) in comparison to a similar ADT package.
As a result, after three years of ADT service, you’ll have spent $1,335 extra. Only a little amount less than Ring had claimed.
Comparatively, CPI’s Essentials Plus program costs $39.99 a month, which is marginally less expensive than ADT’s Essentials package, but the first authentication method must be bought, which may cost $499 or more.
Ring CPI Security
3 Piece Alarm System $180 $499
Install Charge $0 $0 (included in above)
1st Year Subscription Cost $100 $479.88
2nd Year Subscription Cost $100 $479.88
3rd Year Subscription Cost $100 $479.88
Total Cost After 3 Years $480 $1,938.97
Even though it costs $1,458.97 more (than Ring), this is more in line with what Ring says.
Ring’s alarm system and expert monitoring are some of the most cost-effective solutions on the market, with Vivint at $39.99 per month and SimpliSafe at $14.99-$24.90 per month.
