A word about data usage and your Internet connection. Independent of your Internet connection bandwidth and relative speed, your data usage (aka, volume of information that flows over the connection) depends on a number of variables, including streaming services, quality of those streams, number of devices communicating with cloud services, and time spent online. Many broadband plans are unlimited and don't have monthly data caps (aka data limits) or have caps nearing 1.2 terabytes (TB), others offer tiered caps range from 250GB on the bottom end, up to several terabytes/unlimited.
Ting is designed on the premise that unlimited data plans don't exist in reality, although more and more providers continue to move in that direction as their infrastructure and systems are upgraded.
Normal Ting data usage. On a given day, Ting uses the same amount of data as 1 minute of an HD movie, about 50 MB, on average. (importantly, this is upload only - please refer to the bandwidth discussion in the above FAQ). This equates to about 1.5GB of data per month, less than 0.6% of a monthly data plan with a 250GB limit, and 0.15% of a 1TB limit plan.
In contrast, about 1GB of data is used per hour for streaming a TV show or movie in standard definition, and up to 3GB of data per hour when streaming high definition (HD) video.
Ting data usage if and when a suspect condition is detected. The sensor will adjust in real-time by design, momentarily sending more data when a suspect condition arises. This additional data streamed to our servers is subjected to further machine-learning algorithms to determine if hazardous arcing signals are present. But, of course, not all suspect conditions are hazards.
How Ting is optimized to minimize data usage. Detecting the tiny signals caused by precursors to electrical fires requires the sensor to 'sample' nearly 30 million times each second. This process involves an incredible amount of data; however, a large majority of the algorithmic processing to detect these signals is performed locally on the sensor itself, meaning most of the data analyzed by the sensor remains local to the sensor instead of being uploaded to Ting servers.
Ting's single purpose is to detect these tiny signals that indicate an electrical fire risk and not produce false alarms. We're continuously improving our detection algorithms and optimizing Ting's overall data design to minimize the need to send data to our servers - while protecting your family and home.