Home Alarm Systems

[Mad Macs]

Mad Macs I agree with cellular being the most secure, but the cost of adding a GSM unit to my existing system and then paying a $20 monthly fee to a cellular carrier for it to be able to call me is not cost effective for me right now. On top of that if you wanted it monitored by a Central Station they charge more monthly for cellular service.

Just my perspective.

Randy

I agree completely. I'm not sure which way I'm going now.

I'm too busy playing with insteon stuff and automating lights in my house. Each switch is expensive, but my kids can't seem to ever turn lights off in the morning and leave them on all day long when we're at school.

 

[DialTone301]

Also consider strobes and sirens. We have both and our neighbors down the road can hear and see them....they will arrive long before the cops do....and be better armed.

 

[dnurk]

Bumping this up to see if some of the folks who posted earlier in this thread made decisions and are willing to share their experiences.

I'm researching now and looking for a good system.

 

[jwh20]

My apologies if this subject has been breached before.
I need to procure a Home Alarm Service and looking to see what others may have.
ADT is automatically out! I had them in Colorado, but when getting divorced, the house was foreclosed on. However, ADT didn't give a s*it and I still had to pay coverage premiums to them for another 13 months after foreclosure. Then ADT sic'd a collection agency on me for another 12 months payments although my contract had expired. I beat that but ADT basically said, "Too bad, so sad".
I'm not bitter....<cough>
Anyway, who can recommend a good service?

I'll just 2nd that ADT comment. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH ADT!

I'll be happy to go into detail if needed but after being a long-time customer (20+ years) my system had an issue. They wanted an obscene amount of money to fix it, so I decided to just cancel the service. They ignored my cancellation request, continued to bill me for services NOT rendered, and finally sent my account to collections.

The only good news is that the collection agency had no appetite for confrontation. They said "pay now or go to court." I said, "I'm looking forward to it." I got a letter a few days later saying they were returning the contract to ADT since it was clear there was no debt to be collected.

 

[Brandon]

I'm happy with ADT.

 

[Westside]

I just switched from ADT to Circle city security. I use them at work and at home. you buy the equipment and they do the install. Couldn't be more happy with them.

 

[bdwhitaker]

I've used ADT for years and couldn't be happier.

 

[JollyMon]

DIY. I have a dvr with multiple cameras. All have Motion detection and send me both email and text alerts with a snapshot of the Motion triggering object. No monthly fee and I trust myself rather than a stranger.

This I did the same thing for my house. Foscam 8910W were the majority of cameras I got and use them with Blue Iris software. With the Iphone you can monitor real time, move the PTZ the cameras (if camera has those features). With the alerts, email, text, and even push notification on the phone with the app, I will know within a few seconds of someone being in my house. Plus I have them on video.

 

[dnurk]

I just switched from ADT to Circle city security. I use them at work and at home. you buy the equipment and they do the install. Couldn't be more happy with them.

Rough estimate on what they charged for install and also for their monthly monitoring? It looks like on their website that they do their own monitoring...?