Anyone have experience using one of the lower cost security monitoring services that charge $10 to $15 a month for alarm monitoring, versus $35 from ADT? There are a bunch of them available that either can step you through how to' change the dial # on the existing system or else give you a small adapter that sits between the existing alarm panel and the phone line. It intercepts the alarm call to the old monitoring company and in turn dials the new one. Wondering about experiences with reliability, conversion, hidden charges, contracts, etc.
Don't most recently installed systems use an internal cell phone as the alarm channel now? (Now that TV has educated all the young'uns about cutting the phone line before you jimmy the window, and then waiting awhile to see if there is a cell backup...)
And unless the alarm company has their own cars to send out for first response, expect bill from local PD after about the 3rd false alarm. Many PDs don't really have the staff to respond to non-human reports any more. They MAY tell the car in the area to drive by. But unless alarm company has talked to a human in the house to confirm distress, they won't send an emergency response.
All in all, it may be better to have the alarm system call YOUR cell phone, unless you are out of town a lot.
You don't have a demarc box on your house? Are you sure it's 2' down? I cut through mine up last summer installing grass edging around the perennial beds.
I don't know about that. Unless you cancel ADT, they're going to keep charging you, whether your alarm calls them or not. Don't they also remove their equipment, which they install free?
Wondering about experiences with
I have a friend who owns a burglar alarm company with about 700 customers, many that he bought from companies where the owner was retiring, and others that just swtiched from someone eles. . He contracts with a monitoring company, and last I heard he was charing
15 or 20 a month, certainly less than ADT.
He likes to put his own alarm panel in very location, but doesn't charge. Now they have panels where he can make most changes without going to the customer.
I'm not sure if he removes his equipment or not when somoene cancels.
When my brother bought a house in Dallss 20 years ago, he didn't sign up for monitoring, and I can see that. Wasn't much crime in his n'hood, but I thought he shoudl still use the alarm and siren when he went out of town. So my first day vistiing, I turned it on and tested it, and it rang, and then I went to go bike-riding. I didn't realize the old monitoring company's phone number was still in the alarm, if they called the house on the phone, the number was changed when my brother bought the house a year or two earlier.
So the police showed up. It was pitiful. Even though I was taking his bicycle out of the garage, via the alley, when they came, they seemed not at all suspicious. I had a key to the house but they didn't ask if I did. And I know my brother's last name, but they asked for no evidence I have the same last name (if they even knew his name). I guess because I'm white, and maybe because I was 45 and looked at least 35.
What most recently installed systems use or don't use makes no difference. The system in question is 5 years old and uses a phone line. Just for the record, I think if you look at a variety of alarm companies, you'll find that they offer new systems that can use phone land line, VOIP, or cellular. It all depends on what level of security you want and how much you are willing to pay for the eqpt and monthly. The cellular capability can be added to most any panel, new or old.
So now in addition to being an expert on alarms, you know about the policies and procedures of my local PD too.
Here's a clue. With a monitored alarm system, it's a human that makes the call to the local PD after first trying the numbers listed by the alarm owner.
Total BS and actually backwards. The alarm monitoring company first calls the house. Only if someone answers and gives the correct password do they disregard the alarm. In all other cases, including no one answering they call the police. I've had the alarm go off here accidently when I wasn't home and the police have responded.
Uh huh. On the one hand you propose cellular because it's more reliable than a phone line. Then you suggest that cell call go to my cell phone... Go figure.
Anything else I can help you with? BTW, I take it you have no answer to the actual question, which was experience with any of the lower cost monitoring companies.
Didn't mean to set you off, there. I was mainly commenting based on newspaper articles I have read in several different cities about how local PDs found home alarms to be an expensive PITA. More than one of the articles stated that if the alarm company DIDN'T talk to a human (or get a duress alarm from a portable sender), PD would NOT do an emergency response. Rate of false alarms was just way too high.
But yeah, my direct personal experience is limited. I don't have enough toys, or live in a bad enough area, to need an alarm system. I have helped rip a few out over the years, and found the technology slightly interesting.
Well of course you'd cancel ADT. Actually, I was using ADT as an example of the higher price monitoring companies. ADT and the other companies do not necessarily install eqpt for free. It depends on how you engage with them, what you need or already have. They will monitor any system for a monthly fee. If you want a new system, then if you pay a higher monthly rate for a guaranteed term of X years, then the install for at least some level of system is free. Who owns the eqpt after that I don't know, but somehow I think it's going to cost ADT a lot more money to send someone out and start ripping out an old panel which costs them $100. IF they take out the keypad, do they fix the holes in the wall?
Yes, exactly what I was talking about and looking for experiences with.
He should re-route the phone line around the panel to prevent that from happening again.
Then why do you need an addtional adapter between the panel and the phone line? Oh, is it because the original panel, if it was provided by ADT, will call only ADT?
Well, the non-ADT panels will definitely call any phone number you want, so why the addtional adapater?
My brother doesn't know how to do anything like that, and he really didn't want me touching the alarm after that. But I would think that after they sent the police once and he still wouldn't subscribe, that the company would stop providing that service for him even if the alarm called them again.
BTW, I forgot (oh, I didn't forget. Oops.) to say that I wasn't going to try too talk him into the montoring, only into using the alarm and the siren, which was plenty loud and free (and may have had a timer, though I didn't get that far in my thinking.)
Yeah, I got carried away and put in an outdoor siren and an indoor siren, even though no one here is ever going to cut the wire to the outdoor siren, even if my house were only one story high!. Certainly not two stories.
I've never had monitoring (but maybe soon, since my friend gave me my new panel after lightning probably ruined the old one)
So the police never got called and afaiknew, I'd never had a false alarm. Until finally someone said sometimes the alarm went off (until the timer stopped it)
I figured out to talk to the mailman, who said when I got a certified letter and he rang the doorbell, it would go off. I used a resistor box to find the lowest value resistor that would but the volume of the bell below that level.
This didn't happen at first because i didnt' have glass/wood breakage detectors, and it still didn't happen for years after that until I got a doorbell for the basement. Then I had to change doorbell transformers to a bigger one, and that made the ground floor bell louder.
I don't realy need this much security, but I like gadgets.
That certainly is true of alarm systems you purchase from say ADT with monitoring but then there are the folks who installed cheepo do it yourself alarm systems that call the PD directly. Every jurisdiction I know of has either banned that completely or created a fine that applies after so many calls.
The panel will call the number that is programmed into it. To change any of the system parameters, ie add zones, change delays, etc, you need the installer code. Typically any alarm company that installs the panel does not and usually will not give that to the consumer. It's kind of like Honeywell with their VisionPro thermostats. You can't even find the installation manual on their website and they expect you to call a guy with his butt crack showing for $100 if you want to change one parameter.
That's why the lower cost monitoring companies all offer an adapter that goes between the phone line coming out of the panel and either the phone line, or internet, or cellular. It's just easier and it works.
For the reason cited above. Regardless of who installs it, they almost never give you the installer code. That keeps you coming back to them for service on the hardware, ie if you want to add a zone you can't DIY and for monitoring service. If you get them to give you the code, they most likely aren't going to just give you the code. At best, they will probably charge for a service call to change the code before giving it to you, if they will even do that. The low cost alarm companies generally give you the little adapter widget for free.
Boy that homeowners website just gets more and more annoying. I didn't have much of an issue with them before, but I have to say, after this post, I'm with those of you here that think the website is scum. I mean making a post linking back to their website which in turn just has the same thread I started right here? That plus some other useless link that has no relevance. Sure looks like a spammer attempting to generate traffic.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.