Heads up!

Last night, at around 10:30 pm, someone knocked on my outer door to the street. I quietly locked my house door and cracked open the dining room window to listen and observe. They knocked again and I yelled "Who is it? Quien es?" Some guy said his name and I said "No te conozco. (I don't know you)". He said "Gracias" and left. This morning, my neighbour asked me if I enjoyed my pizza because they had tried his place first. It was our morning exchange to acknowledge that we're both still kicking. I told him that I didn't order a pizza and that I didn't open my door to anyone that I wasn't expecting (not even the chat port). It could have been an address error but I thought it prudent to give you a heads up. Take care.

We have a camera set to view our outer door/gate. This allows me to 'screen' everyone. I usually don't even hit the talk button, but can if I want or need to. Even if it's an expected repair guy or delivery person, at least I can tell them I am on way to the gate which is a bit of a hike.

Our camera is old school with wired intercom and a dedicated screen in my kitchen. New ones are easier to set up and can snap photos and record, etc. You can view camera from wherever you are on your phone. Very cheap these days too.

When we moved to this house we only had 5mg (!!) speed from TelMex and that speed would not support a wireless set-up.

Totalplay which we have now would certainly support a few cheap wireless cameras, as would probably our new speedier fiber TelMex.

If our wired system every craps out, I would go with wireless. You can get battery-operated or plug-in models.

Same as you, I never open my door if not expecting anyone and sure wouldn’t expect anyone at 10:30 PM. I let the dogs bark their lungs out when the doorbell rings.

I have never lived where I felt the need to have cameras and in fact do not have any lock on my front gate and sleep with my bedroom door, which opens onto the upstairs balcony, open.
But I do understand that not everyone lives where they would feel comfortable doing that.

I stayed with a friend of mine in Canada this summer who does have security cameras. The area she lives in used to be quite safe (I lived a block from there for 20 years and never locked my doors), but there are now a lot of homeless people and drug addicts around, and she also had a roommate who had an anxiety disorder, so my friend got a surveillance system.

It came in handy this summer while I was there in a way one might never think of. We had been out shopping, came home, and then some time later, she couldn't find her car keys. We searched high and low and couldn't find them, so I asked if maybe she had locked them in the car? She said that was impossible with her car, a Hyundai Kona EV- the doors won't automatically lock if the keys are inside. So then we thought back to what had happened when we came home- she had plugged her car into the charger before we went in the house. And her adult son, who had been sitting on the porch verified that we had gone straight into the house, not into the garden or the outside workshop.

I said maybe she had put the keys on the car hood when she plugged in the charger, left them there, and someone had walked by and grabbed them. It was the only thing we could think of at that point.

Then suddenly she said, "Wait- my camera shows that area, duh." So she looked through the camera footage until we saw her plugging in the car, while we stood there talking. The keys were indeed on the hood, but then we saw her picking them up before we walked in the house.

So we did another search of her house and finally found them.

@mudgirl  I have a camera to see who has rung my bell as usually it is someone asking for work (one guy alternates carrying a broom and a rake) and I do not need any freelance work at my home.  

Other times it is Jehovah's Witnesses.  

Sometimes it is a neighbor.  

Sometimes it's a worker who has forgotten his keys.  

Other times it's my Maestro who left a tool behind.  

Sometimes it is a repair person or a contractor to give me an estimate I asked for the previous week with no set appointment time for him to arrive.

I resent your implication that I have a gate camera because I am uncomfortable living where I do.  A camera at the gate saves me a lot of unneeded interruptions/steps once I ascertain it isn't anyone I know. When it is someone I know I can tell them thru the microphone that I am going to find a pair of shoes and get down to the gate shortly!

I really wasn't implying that you have a gate camera because you don't feel comfortable living where you do. People have surveillance cameras for various reasons. But I think most people have them for security concerns, rather than to keep from being unnecessarily interrupted.

And I don't quite understand not going to the door and ignoring the person simply because a camera shows that it's someone you don't know. While I agree it's annoying to have people come around soliciting work or money, there are also cases where someone is in trouble and needs help or safety.

There have been many cases of women experiencing domestic violence, or being scarily followed, or a person of either sex having just been assaulted, who had to knock on many doors before someone opened the door to them and offered them help.

I have a doorbell camera as well. Not for security but for the same reason as BisbeeGal. I have beggars, car wash guys, fruit guys, etc ringing my bell all day long. I see who it is and tell them to piss off from the comfort of my lazy boy.....lol.

Well, I can see where if you have people ringing your doorbell all day every day, it would be a hassle to go have to go to the door every time. I've just never lived anywhere that was an issue.

The JoHos used to come around every Saturday when I lived in Canada. Until the morning my 16 year old daughter, her boyfriend, and I were rushing around getting packed up to go on a kayaking trip. I saw the JoHos coming up the walkway and said to my daughter's boyfriend, "Hey, Nick, the Jehovah's Witnesses are about to knock on the door- can you deal with them, please?"
He went to the door, dropped his pants around his ankles, opened the door and screamed as if in terror.
They never came back.

I settled the JoHo visits in another fashion!  I invited them in, sat them down at the kitchen table, offered them a coffee and finally asked them what they wanted to talk about.  They nearly broke down in tears and said, "we don't know what to say, we have never gotten this far before!". (joke)

My ex, a complete atheist, enjoyed arguing with religious fanatics, calling out their selective readings of the Bible, which he had read cover to cover and was quite knowledgeable about, having had to take theology classes in his British private school.

Before I knew him, he was once laid up with a broken ankle, living on his own, so when the Jehovah's Witnesses came knocking on his door one Sat. morning, he invited them in, got them to make him tea, and entertained himself by refuting all of the tenets they believe and follow simply pointing out the discrepancies using examples straight out of the parts of the Bible they choose to ignore..