Home Security Systems

[Deebs]

Now that I'm up most of the night, I have plenty of time to hear odd noises, and make myself completely paranoid. I've been saying since we moved here that we are getting a home security system. This morning, I pulled into my subdivision after dropping DD off at preschool, to half the police department sitting in front of my neighbor's house. Turns out, it was for a domestic dispute, but it still brought back my sense of urgency to get a system installed. For those of you that have them...

What company are you with?
Are you happy with them?
Do you think it's worth the cost?
What features do you like/what could you live without?
Anything else I should check into?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[fluffhead]

Re: Home Security Systems

I was with a local company that was awful. Just got out of the contract last week.
They will try to get you to sign a 5 year contract. See if you can talk them down - there's lots of competition, and you might be able to bargain. But if you're stuck with a bad monitoring company for 5 years, it can be a nightmare.
Also note that anytime you change your phone service (LD carrier, local service provider, etc) you will need them to come out and make a service call (~$75) to reset your stuff. Ask ahead of time about this.
And run tests every few months to make sure you're still being monitored. Chances are they won't let you know if you're not.
My house came with a system installed, so I don't know much about having them install your system.

Re: Home Security Systems

What company are you with? Brinks

Are you happy with them? Yes. We've only ever had them (for about 2.5 years), but haven't had any issues. When the alarm has gone off (always our fault - thankfully) we get a prompt & polite call. I wasn't thrilled with the hoops I had to jump through when we switched to digital phone, but we're back to normal phone and all works fine. FWIW, if you have digital phone at the time of installation, I don't think it requires any additional $$ or steps.

Do you think it's worth the cost? Yes. Mine is $28/mo. My husband is out of town - A LOT. I live in a very, very safe area *but* I like knowing that I've got the alarm.

What features do you like/what could you live without?I've got the door chime thing that Lily mentioned, which helps to keep track of the kids. I think that's pretty standard, and you have the option to turn it off. We also had the motion detector, which is useless b/c of the dogs, and b/c we didn't get a 2nd pad upstairs, so even IF the dogs wouldn't set it off, we would as soon as we walked down the stairs. I wish that had been more clearly explained to me. I do wish we'd gotten the 2nd pad installed, but to install it now is around $150 or $200, and I have other things to spend my $$ on.

Anything else I should check into? Your city may require you to have a permit for an alarm system. Ours is only $15/year, but you want to keep it current. If we don't have a permit & the police get called for a false alarm, we get charged a hefty fee. Also be sure to let your homeowners insurance know you've gotten a system - you'll get a discount from them. My insurance also states that if I have a break in but my alarm was on, I don't have to pay my deductible.

[Cumberland]

Re: Home Security Systems

We had ADT, it was $35 a month with a 3 year contract. The system was free up to a certain number of doors and windows. We were happy with them. We had the door chimes on bc of the pool/kids- ours would say which door opened like,"master bedroom open" or "front door open' instead of a chime. It drove guests crazy but it was comforting to me to know i knew which door was opening. We also had smoke alarms wired to the fire dept which was nice, and helped with our insurance as well.

[MDPhDWife]

Re: Home Security Systems

We've had Pinnacle Security for about 2 years now and we pay $40 a month. They installed and gave us all the equipment for free since we signed a 3 year contract. The system includes the door chime and the glass break sensors on the windows. We've been happy with them so far.

Our city does charge a permit fee which I've been able to get waived since we're usually broke, but the other thing is they charge you a hefty fee for false alarms after you have so many in a permit year. We learned that one the hard way because my mother would always set the damn thing off and forget the code. The best way we've found to avoid this is the alarm monitoring company has our home and cell phone numbers and they'll call us before calling the police.

We live in a very safe neighborhood, but I wanted to get it because I knew with clinicals coming up there would be a good chance of DH being gone at odd hours and it made me feel more secure.

[DCJenn]

Re: Home Security Systems

We have ADT because we get a significant discount through our bank (USAA)

We have glass break sensors, and the door alarms. We didn't bother with the motion sensors because of the dogs/cats/people.

I don't have the doors chime because it makes me nuts.

I got the alarm reactivated (it was installed by the previous owners) when my husband deployed and it was great peace of mind.

Jenn

[MDPhDWife]

Re: Home Security Systems

Forgot to add - with ADT I got the second pad installed in the master bedroom. I like that the best.

Oh yeah, we got this too and it saves me from having to run downstairs if we need to set or deactivate the alarm.