Ting electrical fire prevention device

[dennis thompson]

My homeowners insurance company is offering me a free “ Ting electrical fire prevention device” which you plug into the wall.
Does anyone have one of these? If so, what do you think of it?
Thanks

[Frederick Skelly]

https://www.tingfire.com/. Looks like if I had to buy one they cost around $100.

Haven’t seen one of those. Interesting idea. I wonder if having one reduces my rates?
Alas, probably not.

[Alan Rutherford]

$100 plus $49/year for the monitoring service. That business model sounds a little like "Give them the camera and sell them the film". $100 isn't free but over time the yearly fee will add up. And probably go up. Not that you're paying it, apparently. So in that case I guess I'd take it since the cost is probably already rolled into your premium. Or maybe not, but it will get rolled into next year's premium. You'll never find out.

Call me cynical but no matter how well this thing works, if it works, something about the business model bothers me.

[Brian Elfert]

Unfortunately, the way of the world is moving towards subscriptions for many things. I hate it. Even new cars are going to have comfort features that will only work if a monthly or annual fee is paid. You're paying the fee for anything that is cloud based either in higher upfront costs, advertising, or subscription fees. Honeywell/Resideo connected thermostats connect to Resideo servers to be Internet controlled. Resideo doesn't charge a fee for running the servers, but you likely paid extra up front to cover the costs to run the service. A number of companies have rolled out Internet connected stuff with no monthly fees and ended up out of business due to not charging enough to keep the service running. Now the owners of the equipment have a doorstop with the service gone.

It is unlikely premiums are going up to pay for the Ting device and monitoring. The insurance company figures claims will go down enough to cover the cost of the devices. They may also drop clients where a lot of electrical issues are detected and not fixed. The insurance company is almost certainly getting a bulk discount on the devices and the service.

[Bill Howatt]

Unfortunately, the way of the world is moving towards subscriptions for many things. I hate it. Even new cars are going to have comfort features that will only work if a monthly or annual fee is paid. You're paying the fee for anything that is cloud based either in higher upfront costs, advertising, or subscription fees. ...

Just found out from my step-son that since his car is now a few years old he has to pay a subscription for some Subaru service that allows the car to be remotely started. I thought the remote start was a regular one but, no, it requires their service to link the start request to the car.

[Jim Becker]

Just found out from my step-son that since his car is now a few years old he has to pay a subscription for some Subaru service that allows the car to be remotely started. I thought the remote start was a regular one but, no, it requires their service to link the start request to the car.
Bill, the Subaru StarLink subscription service is not free even from the beginning, other than a short trial period. If he had the remote start service via the app from when he bought the vehicle, they he paid for the subscription at the time he got it, probably the three year plan because many times, the dealer doesn't mention it's available discounted for 3, 4 or 5 years and is reasonable cost...less than the hardware based remote start accessory that has to be physically installed by the dealer at a $400 cost for the part plus labor. The app provides more features, too. But yes, renewal time sucks. That said, subscriptions for things like this are becoming the norm, not just with Subaru. Folks need to pay attention when they are buying so they understand what their options are.

[Bill Howatt]

Interesting, Jim, I wasn't involved in the purchase and TBH, at the time, I probably would have done the same as he did. If I go car shopping again, I'll be wiser now.

[Jim Becker]

Interesting, Jim, I wasn't involved in the purchase and TBH, at the time, I probably would have done the same as he did. If I go car shopping again, I'll be wiser now.
Yea, there are so many changes in "all the industries", including vehicles, so a whole bunch of pre-education is a good idea, especially with decent forums like this one because, well...dealers. ;)

[Bill Dufour]

Then puff piece linked has no information about what it does. All I see is a monitor for under or over voltage. I would hope it does more then that.
Bill D

[Bill Howatt]

It appears to be an arc-fault detector. Obviously, fairly sensitive if it is detecting problems throughout all the circuits.

[Alan Rutherford]

https://restechtoday.com/how-whisker-lab-gen-2-ting-sensors-help-prevent-electrical-fires/

Unlike most of what you find on the web, this article includes real data including the claim that approximately 1 home in 2400 will have a fire in a given year. Average damages, based on their figures, are $26,000. There are also some figures on how many problems Ting devices detected. How many fires could have been prevented with this device - I don't know.

I'm still bothered by the need for the annual subscription. It's perhaps partly justified by the claim that their system learns with the experience of all their users. My Ecobee thermostat happily works with a web browser (and therefore with my phone if I want) and can give me a bunch of accumulated usage data for free.

[Tom M King]

Amazon will have them next year for $12 with free shipping that texts your phone.