Ring vs Google Nest doorbells.

[tcufrog]

My house has an intercom doorbell that doesn’t work anymore. Our contractor says we have to replace it with a wireless doorbell because the wiring there is wrong for a wired doorbell. Which do y’all recommend? The camera doesn’t matter for us. Our main concerns are:

1. The Wi-Fi signal isn’t great in our house and the router isn’t close to the front door.

2. We have 2 doors that guests enter. I want to have a wireless door bell at each one and have each one make a different sound. Do y’all know if either one allows thst?

 

[EACarlson]

I've had both and prefer the Google Nest. I also have multiple Google Nest Hubs that show the camera if someone rings the doorbell and an Android phone that gives me alerts if I'm not at home. If I were invested in the Alexa ecosystem then that might make more sense. Google will allow you set a different chime for each connected doorbell. It might be worth adding an extender, moving the router, upgrading the router or going to a mesh system. Weak wi-fi is a battery killer.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, if you have other smart devices, it's best to go witht he same family. If you use a Google Nest Hub or other Google stuff, stick with that. If you're more of an Alexa person, Ring is fine. They aren't that different functionally. That said, I hate changing the batteries on these things, so if it's possible to wire it, I recommend it.

 

[thinkerbell]

We use Ring doorbells and they work pretty good. The only one that we have issues with is our front door because our router is also not close to the front door. It seems to alert us consistently but it shows as a weak signal. Looking at a booster for it. I swear that they listen to us. We have been talking about it showing the weak signal and just recently got an email from Ring for a booster.

 

[DLgal]

Do you have a peephole? We have a Ring peephole cam/doorbell that I love. We are in a rental house and didn't want to mess with the wired doorbell. The peephole cam is easy to install and remove. It has a removable rechargeable battery that lasts about a month between charges.

You can get a wifi extender for cheap and just plug it into any outlet near the door, then connect the smart doorbell to that network. We have a TP Link brand one that works amazingly well to provide a strong wifi signal downstairs in what would otherwise be a dead zone.

And yes, Ring doorbells let you choose different chimes for each device.

 

[EACarlson]

That said, I hate changing the batteries on these things, so if it's possible to wire it, I recommend it.

The Nest I have up on my front door has an internal battery. Once every few months I take it off the mount, bring it in and charge for a few hours.

 

[tcufrog]

It will be extremely expensive to wire a regular doorbell like wanted to because the intercom wiring won’t work. We’d have to run new wiring.

We have iPhones and don’t use Alexa or anything like that. I don’t even use Siri on my phone.

 

[Imzadi]

It comes down to: Which company do you want to have all the info of all the comings & goings at your house.

 

[RoseGold]

You can also get a very cheap, <$20 wireless doorbell that doesn't rely on wifi as a less high-tech solution. You can even get one that has a different ring for a back door. This was my solution to my parents wanting a different tone for the side door.

These have a receiver than plugs in, so that takes a little power (maybe there are battery ones too?), but they have a ton of range and don't care if your internet is down.

The part at the door is just battery powered.

 

[kcool]

We just decided to buy the google wireless doorbell. You have to charge it about 1x a month. We really like it.