Baby monitor...neighbors listening in???

[ilovepcot]

Not relevant. Post deleted.

 

[Nancy]

Yes and I don't know what equipment. I know that my baby monitor picks up all sorts of stuff. So they have to run on the same frequencies. I think, but don't know, that they work on radio frequencies.

When DS was little, every time our neighbor had a phone conversation, we heard it through our monitor.

yep, I found out my neighbors cancer had spread because he was talking on a cordless phone. As soon as he started talking about it I turned off my monitor..I didn't want to hear all the details.

I also used to hear another baby over my monitor...never found out who that was though. None of my close neighbors had babies so I figured it was next street over. Knowing I could hear others sure made me watch what I was saying.

 

[miss.potatohead]

Yeah, a great idea turning that monitor off...until you forget to turn it back on. This is an 86 year old aunt who had hip surgery and I'm in and out of the room round the clock. She frequently calls for me around 4 a.m. and it's hard to always remember when you're soooo tired. I did turn it off a few days ago and failed to turn it back on. She hasn't let me forget it! I've already phoned for a night nurse to end some of this madness.

Turn it off only when you go in during the day then? I doubt many neighbours would be awake at 4am tuning in.

I don't know the situation with the neighbours, but if your Aunt says anything about them that you might not want them to hear, maybe just say 'don't say that, they might hear you'. Older people tend to revert to child like behaviour as they age (have seen in in my grandparents) and sometimes they need to be reminded about what is, and what isn't acceptable behaviour not much else you can do about it.

 

[FireDancer]

If you are really worried you could get a WiFi baby monitor and set up an encryption key. They make ones you can monitor from iPhones or Android phones or through any standard web browser. I've set up a few for my friends. I think just about all my friends with babies have some sort of video monitor they use through WiFi as opposed to a standard 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz model.

 

[aprilgail2]

I picked up a neighbors baby monitor on my baby monitor and I picked up another neighbors cordless phone on my baby monitor- I learned WAY more than I wanted to know about her youngest teenage daughters sex life!! One day I casually mentioned to the older sister that just so you guys know your cordless phone comes through our baby monitor"- She must have told her sister because I never heard any more "details" coming over the monitor LOL-

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Yes, if they are near the same frequency and have a baby monitor on they can hear you.

We heard our neighbors baby and they heard ours.

I talked to the wife the first time it happened to let her know just in case changing my frequency didn't help and then I changed our frequency and it stopped.

 

[tvguy]

Most commercial baby monitors transmit at 900MHz. It would be pretty easy to eavesdrop on anything being transmitted at that frequency because there is so much equipment out there that listens for it. I doubt anyone would care to listen in though. The random call for help probably isn't all the exciting to anyone.

A lot of them are 49 MHZ still too. Doesn't matter, either frequencey can be picked up by another baby monitor or a $49 radio shack scanner.

 

[emer95]

When my girls were babies, I flipped the wrong channel on the baby monitor, and it picked up the house next door. It was as crystal clear as if they were right next to me. The teenage daughter had a baby boy, and I overheard her speaking so gently and lovingly to her baby. I know it's terribly voyeuristic, but I couldn't help but listen for a minute. It gave me a feeling of happiness, knowing that she was doing ok and being a good mom.

Looking back now, it cracks me up that I even had a baby monitor. Our first house was so tiny, I never even had to unplug the vacuum when I went from one side of the house to the other. I could hear anyone at anytime anywhere in that house, yet I carried that baby monitor around with me as if my life depended on it, LOL!

 

[luvmy3]

Yeah, a great idea turning that monitor off...until you forget to turn it back on. This is an 86 year old aunt who had hip surgery and I'm in and out of the room round the clock. She frequently calls for me around 4 a.m. and it's hard to always remember when you're soooo tired. I did turn it off a few days ago and failed to turn it back on. She hasn't let me forget it! I've already phoned for a night nurse to end some of this madness.

Get her an airhorn

 

[tvguy]

Looking at our old baby monitors in the closet, you couldn't eavesdrop on them, they didn't broadcast their signal over the air, they were the ones that sent their signal over the wiring in your house sort of like how some computer routers work now..

 

[Disney Doll]

No, the call for help is not the worry. It's when I get to the person's room where the *baby unit* is and she wants to "chat". It's the "chat" that I'm afraid is being heard from the baby unit in her room that could hurt the feelings of the neighbors.

Turn it off when you go in the room and turn it on when you leave again.
You just have to remeber to do it.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

When I helped my mother after her back surgery we used our cell phones.

 

[no capes darling]

How about getting a dinner gong like Carson bangs on Downton Abbey, if installing the pulley bell system is too complicated in a short time?

 

[ilovepcot]

Well, sadly my aunt, due to confusion, can't use a cell phone...she can't even use the remotes for her T.V. or the hospital bed. Most times when they're needed, I find them up under her bed...*even when I've tied them with yarn to the bed*. Can't merely turn the monitor off when I come and go from the room (suggested more than once) because I'd have to move furniture to reach it each time. So...the gong just may be the answer...or something similar.

 

[npmommie]

There's nothing I can say concerning my neighbors as I don't know them yet. I inherited this house and have recently moved in and am busy renovating. My aunt has lived in this town all her life. It's apparently fun to her to "fill me in" on the intimate details of these people's lives. And yes, the things she says are shocking and embarrassing, and more so if it's overheard by others. When "some" people reach an advanced age, they feel they've earned the right to say what they want. Their moral filter seems to dissolve. It just happened to hit me earlier today that the things being said could possibly be overheard and I would be crushed if the feelings of these people were hurt.

you said prior that you trashed all the neighbors, how if you don't know them?
didn't your aunt go to rehab after her surgery?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

How about, at least during the day, when you go into her room, turn the monitor off and put it somewhere so it would block the door so you'd have to move it to get out. Or try something else that would trigger you to turn it back on before leaving.

You could always test to see if the neighbors are getting the messages.....go into detail about some crime you're planning on committing against them....then when the police show up on your doorstep, you'll know the neighbors were listing.

Many years ago we were able to hear the phone conversation of a neighbor on our monitor....we heard a drug deal.

 

[ilovepcot]

you said prior that you trashed all the neighbors, how if you don't know them?
didn't your aunt go to rehab after her surgery?

Yes, certainly my aunt went to rehab after surgery and is still benefiting from occupational and physical therapy here at my home. She won't be able to return to her home without care takers round the clock due to several medical issues, one being dementia. We're in the process of checking out some very nice facilities where she might be happy as well as looking into the possibility of allowing her to stay in her own home. Haven't made the final decision yet...other family members are involved in the decision.

And yes, I said "we" trashed the neighbors. No, I don't know them yet...have said "hi" to a couple of them when out with my dog. My aunt knows all these people and finds it great fun to tell me everything she remembers about them and some things she merely "thinks" about them. So, being I was the other person in the room when my aunt was speaking, I consider myself part of the conversation, though there was nothing I could really contribute.

 

[Keli]

My husband had a police scanner and used to leave it on 24/7. We would hear neighbors phone conversations as well as those with baby monitors. When it would happen we'd just push a button and it would pass that frequency. Once we heard the very prim and proper neighbor have an absolute meltdown over her 18mo old's refusal to nap. Went to turn it off but felt nervous about what was going on, this mother sounded as if she was coming unhinged. It was really bad.