Could Someone "Tune In" to the Frequency on Our Baby Monitor and Listen to Us?

Updated on May 24, 2010
C.G. asks from Billings, MT
26 answers

This is kind of a lame and seemingly paranoid question, I know. But just curious... does anyone know if someone from outside our home (neighbors, and beyond) are able to "tune in" to our baby monitor frequency and "spy" on us by listening to conversations and activities in our home, if they knew how to access it?

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J.C.

answers from Provo on

In short, yes. I think the family across the street and I had the same brand (maybe not) of monitors. I didn’t know them (still don’t and frequently I heard them over my monitor....not always good things.

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

We used to occasionally get camera images from another baby....somewhere.....close by I guess. Freaky!

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K.D.

answers from Denver on

Yes, it's possible. My husband's job used to have us travel -- a lot. There were many times that we heard other peoples conversations. I'm assuming the reverse would have been the same. Monitors work on the same frequencies as cordless phones, so the same can be said for them. Not paranoid, just practical, to ask.

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3.B.

answers from Cleveland on

Not sure if you can do it on purpose, but our neighbors have a child around the same age as ours and they have baby monitors. During warm weather we have been outside with our monitor listening for our little one, and picked up on their conversations obviously through their monitors. We only have two options on our monitors 1&2, so if the base is set to 1 our movable one must be set to one also. We can't change it without going into the baby's room and changing that setting too. Needless tosay, we've picked up on some conversations that weren't very pleasant. But I'm not sure how you avoid that!? I guess just watch what you do and say when you're monitor's on lol

1 mom found this helpful
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K.H.

answers from Washington DC on

Other people who also have monitors can hear you yes , we were able to hear our neighbours and had to tell them , really not sure how it picks up the other monitors and how to stop it though

L.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I really have no idea on the technical side, but on the logical side, I'd say YES. They aren't all that sophisticated, so I'd say that it could happen. I'm interested to see what experiences other people may have had with this...

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A.C.

answers from Cincinnati on

Yes, it is possible, if they have the same monitor or an electronic somethinorother that runs on the same frequency. However, think about the quality of your monitor - they would have to be close enough to be able to get signal (my monitor struggled to be clear across the house). My friend joked once that she had the fright of her life when home alone with her child, she heard a man's voice coming out of her baby monitor! It's because the next-door neighbor had purchased the same monitor! Just to be careful, make sure that you don't talk about sensitive information when in the room with the monitor - my husband and I were careful to never talk about when we would be out of the house or of course anything about banking, etc. Also, don't leave it on when it's not necessary.

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J.J.

answers from Pocatello on

Yes! We used to be able to hear our neighbor read her babies bed time stories. Kinda freaked me out knowing it could go both ways so we got a new one.

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R.M.

answers from Nashville on

A few months ago our next door neighbors had family come to stay with thier baby (and monitor), and they told us that when they turned the monitor on, they saw my son's room instead of theirs. So they switched the frequency on the monitor and saw fuzz but heard everything going on in the house. We have a small house and the bedroom door was open. (Thank HEAVENS it was only dinnertime!) Once they had switched both the monitor and the camera to B frequency it was fine, but they could have turned them back if they wanted to. We went home and checked ours and it did the same thing. We all had a good laugh about it because I love our neighbors to pieces and they have our extra housekey and are faily religious older ladies, so I didn't worry about the privacy thing, but if it was a different neighbor- talk about CREEPY!

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K.J.

answers from Chicago on

Another yep. A few months ago my neighbor told me that periodically their monitor was picking up images from the camera in my son's room. They discovered one day while their son was sleeping, and they heard talking. When their little girl went to look at the monitor she freaked out "Our baby's missing!" Thank God they're not creepy, and that they told me so we could make sure that we're always decently clothed while in that room ;)

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S.O.

answers from San Antonio on

I do not know about the current monitors, but 15 years ago, we heard our neighbors getting hot and heavy one night over the baby monitor.
Talk about a quick dash to the monitor to turn it off!!!

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J.F.

answers from Denver on

I can hear others on our monitor.... we could hear our neighbors, but only when they were in their kiddos room. We just changed the channel. I assume people can hear our kids if they are on the same frequency for sure. So I guess just don't talk around the monitor if you want to be certain....

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K.C.

answers from Salt Lake City on

Yes I used to be able to hear the neighbors when I used my cordless phone it would pick up their monitor it automatically searched for the best channel and it would pick up the monitor. I don't know how to fix it I just told my neighbors and they left the monitor on only while the baby slept and then turned it off.

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K.M.

answers from Kansas City on

Our monitor picked up phone conversations from the neighbors. Totally creeped me out, so we only used our during the night.

And I don't think this is a paranoid quesion! Privacy matters!

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C.B.

answers from Provo on

One more yes, AND it can also cross frequencies with cordless phones in your house. We used to have neighbors who picked up the baby monitor from next door when they turned on their phone!

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S.A.

answers from Chicago on

Yes they can....just saw a news report of a system that is available in which you can cruise up and down streets with this apparatus in your car and pick up every monitor in the neighborhood and listen.

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C.S.

answers from Denver on

I've picked up other people on ours. It kind of makes me uneasy.

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C.E.

answers from Provo on

I can hear an AM radio station on mine at times.

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J.G.

answers from Cleveland on

If they are close enough - yes they can. We had one once - we always heard a baby crying & our boy was sound asleep! Come to find out there was a baby a few doors down & they had the same monitor. So, we quite using ours.

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C.C.

answers from Dallas on

Yes. When our son was little we could always hear our neighbors conversations. Just be careful what you say :).

B.K.

answers from Chicago on

Yes! I used to be able to hear my neighbors. We were friends so I told them. But I'm not sure how you change frequencies or make sure nobody is listening.

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L.M.

answers from Salt Lake City on

Yep! Our baby monitor had an A and a B frequency and we had to change ours when the next door neighbors moved in, because we heard everything that was going on at their house...

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J.S.

answers from Salt Lake City on

I've picked up the neighbor's phone on mine.

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M.R.

answers from Columbus on

Yep! Be careful what you say and do on the monitor!

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K.T.

answers from Los Angeles on

We bought a Philips "zero interference" monitor for that reason and haven't had any problems.

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L.S.

answers from Grand Junction on

Hi Cori,
The answer is yes, scary as it might seem the monitors tend to receive and transmit waves that can be picked up by others. I am speaking by experience as we were able to hear someone else's conversation coming over our baby monitor one evening. I couldn't tell you who the "neighbors" were or how far away they lived but the conversation was pretty clear. Since we were able to receive I'm assuming the monitor had the capacity to transmit as well. Needless to say it was a rather freaky experience and we were careful to turn it off when not in use. I believe ours was the Fisher Price brand. Hope that helps. L.

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