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ZDNET’s takeaways
- The Ting app lets you track power outages at a hyper-local level.
- Anyone can use the free map, even those without a Ting device.
- Ting says 95% of US homes have a Ting sensor within a mile.
If you want to know as soon as the power goes out in your city, there’s a new free tool that lets you keep an eye on things.
The Ting company, which makes a smart device that plugs into an outlet, monitors your home wiring, and alerts you of fire risks (you can read our take on it here), has announced a new feature for its app: a free, live, hyper-local power outage map. The app and map are available to anyone, and you don’t need a device to track outages.
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The map works by tracking when Ting-connected devices lose power. It promises instant notifications when the power goes out and when it comes back on, down to the neighborhood. It’s true that most power companies offer alerts, but at least for mine, alerts can be delayed. My outage notifications come within 10 minutes, but my restoration alerts sometimes come more than an hour after the lights are back on. When you combine that with the fact that not every provider offers alerts, you can see some value in Ting’s alerts.
How Ting’s power outage map works
Since the map is based on Ting devices, it might not be 100% accurate.
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When I downloaded the app for myself, Ting alerted me that the closest power outage was 162 miles away – two states and about a three-hour drive. When I checked my power provider’s outage map, there were several dozen outages in my state and four within 30 miles. A few hours later, Ting showed an outage 54 miles away.
Admittedly, the app doesn’t show sensors without an outage, so there’s a good chance there are plenty located closer to me. At least until the Ting network grows, there are going to be some gaps. In a conversation with The Verge–>, the Ting CEO said there’s a Ting device within one mile of 95% of US homes.
Also: This power station just kept my lights on during an outage
The company says there are more than a million people “already a part of the Ting community,” so there is a decent network in place. Insurance company State Farm announced last year that it had distributed 700,000 devices<!–> to its customers, with plans to reach 2 million homes total (it looks like the offer to claim a free one–> is still valid).
