Every time Leo talks about any video cam for your home like the Ring Doorbell he never mentions that you must have the phone app and your home Data Modem on all the time for it to work. I have bought several of these cameras and I have all of them turned off or unplugged. I’m not leaving my modem on all day. It’s wasteful of my electricity and expensive. These cams would be useful if they recorded to a memory card and I could look at it later. There is not one that does this. Having to have the app loaded on your phone and having to have the modem on all day to use these cams is a deal breaker. I would like to hear this when Leo talks about these. And is there a cam out there that will record by it self without a connection.
I never turn off my modem. Do they use enough electricity that you should be concerned about it?
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I’d say that an always on internet connection was a prerequisite for this type of technology. Not sure why it would be ok to leave your camera’s on all day but not your modem.
Also there are camera’s out there with SD cards if that’s important to you.
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My router is always on, as it is for most people I assume. I think its assumed that an always on data connection is a requirement.
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Unless you are rural with satellite internet - there is no reason to turn the modem/router off. I have 4 Arlo cameras now, but even when I lived at other places and had no cameras - I never turned off the internet.
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Hmmm… I’ve never used one, but I believe those low cost Wyze cameras can record to a mini SD card or something.
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They do, I have a couple of them.
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No intent to say what is expensive to each of us, just to present some info.
A few years ago I went through an exercise of measuring actual power usage in our house. Used a meter that plugs into power point, and you plug item into it. It can provide instantaneous readings, or integrated over time.
My modem at the time used 20 watts. Over a day that equates to 0.48kwh, and at $0.26/kWh average per day, it costs me $0.12 per day, $45.00/ year, to run the modem all day.
The lesson from the exercise was do not simply use the stated power draw on the device label. This is the max power the device is designed to operate safely at.
Another lesson was devices like TVs, DVRs, and others, that use standby mode, do not even register on the meter, so using very little power. I estimate cost per year for 4-5 devices is about $5/year.
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none of these cams will record unless they can be connected to the app they are associated with and wifi must be on. These cams do not operate on their own. I wish they did.
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Maybe it’s just me but I don’t leave things on when I’m not home. If these cams operated on their own I might consider leaving them plugged in, but from what I can tell they do not. I would never leave my modem on even if it’s cheap. They generate plenty of heat and I don’t consider it safe when I’m gone all day.
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Yes the Wyze cams do this. Was a major selling point for me. I don’t have to have a cloud subscription to store things.
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I run internet and computers 24/7 what century is the original poster in it, doesn’t use much power
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I agree. My desktop is always on. 
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If he is worrying about the small draw his modem uses, how can he afford several different camera solutions that each cost a lot more than a year’s worth of modem usage, only to put them in a cupboard?
Something doesn’t ring true there…
As to running the modem 24/7, I’ve been doing that since the turn of the century, once I got a flat rate DSL plan. As it is now the telephone connection as well (Telekom in Germany dropped ISDN 2 years ago, so everything is VOIP these days), it isn’t really practical to turn the router off every time I’m not using something in the house.
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I’m sorry, but do you switch your fridge off too? That generates a lot more heat and has a greater risk of shorting and causing a fire than a modem. Unless you have really cheaper out on a modem, I would say that any modem that is sold in your country would be in compliance with strict electrical standards.
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I don’t mean to pile onto the OP just to make a joke… but well, here goes: Maybe he’s out hunting for the food, so there is nothing left in the fridge to keep cool 
Hey folks. FrIendly, helpfully community. That’s why I joined.
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Electricity usage calculator of a Wi-Fi Router
About $5/yr
I didn’t mean to be snarky with my comment. Just trying to say that there are other things in the house that can cause fires much more readily than a modem that has no moving parts - the compressor on a fridge or air conditioner switching on/off are much more likely to cause a spark. But of course, anything that is electrical and faulty can be dangerous, but a low current, low voltage modem is one of the less likely items to cause a fire.
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