Home Alarm Question

[odysseus]

Home alarm systems have cell phone systems to use for alerts.

[BitterOldMan]

I have Bay Alarm with monitoring. Bay Alarm regularly gives drug tests to their employees and does not hire outside contractors to install alarms. Bay Alarm also gives the option of battery back-up and radio frequency monitoring.

Do not get the remote control switch. Mine kept going off because something would brush against my pocket. My local PD did tell me that almost all alarms going off are false alarms due to owner errors.

Additionally, check with your local town to determine whether you need an alarm permit.

[gotime]

I did sales for Monitronics (pretty big national monitoring company) and here are my two tips.

Buy a "Monitored By" sign at a garage sale or ebay
Get a dog.

It's math really. If there are 20 homes on a cul de sac, a burglar is not going to break into the few with alarms or dogs. There will always be easier targets.

[Rob454]

I have had one false alarm, when one of my friends came into my house using the garage, which he knew the pass word.

Thats not a false alarm. A false alarm is when the system goes off without any reason for the alarm. The alarm did its job. your buddy tripped it. System worked.

A friend of mine runs an alarm monitoring company. He tells me that most alarm owners never or rarely set their alarms.



Also, and I am not an expert on this, I have heard that a change in how telephone service is being delivered to home, maybe a change from analog to digital, is causing a shift in monitoring capabilities and equipment requirements. You may want to ask about that. It may be BS, but worth checking out.

its true about the alarm being not used. I personally set mine every day. Both my wife and i do it.

As for the phone line thats not true. Most systems use touch tone for attempts and if that doesnt work it switches to pulse. You as the installer can set it as needed.

i used to install residential alarms. if you can afford it have the whole house hardwired. do EVERY opening door or window. Make sure you have motion detectors and they have pet detectors which ignore big dogs cats etc.
DSC actually has a great wireless system out now and Im thinking of changing to that system.
While a security system is not a end all and in no way does it mean you wont get broken into its a BIG deterrent.
I guess it helps with the cost since im in the industry and can do 100% of any of my electrical needs for basically parts cost

[bcDeL]

Are you in an unincorporated area?

My neighborhood is unincorporated; half of the area lies in the sheriff's patrol zone ( the half in which I live), while the other half is patrolled by the police department of an adjacent town.

[Turbinator]

I've had two false alarms already to my house when I had a faulty window sensor going off when I wasn't home. Twice the police came by and left a card at the front door, with details that I would be charged for future false alarms. I'm a-ok with that!! I'll pay as many times as needed to ensure that they keep coming out when the alarm goes off. I got the sensor fixed both times, and if it junks out again, I'll fix it, but I'm just glad the police actually respond to the alarms around here!

Turby