Anyone Have Home Security Like ADT?
 

Thinking about getting it, any feedback..peace of mind, good, bad, lower your home insurance (for example)?
Yasin

I've had it at the pawn shop for 16 years, I think it's gone off twice.
It doesn't lower my insurance (I'm renting) but I consider it cheap insurance.
Jim

similar to ADT
 

We have it in our house and we never arm it when I am home.
When I leave for a couple days and the wife stays home she does arm it at night.

Peace of mind is if smoke alarm goes off the police/fire are called.

Also we turn it on so that everytime a door opens it chimes and lets us know. Much harder for our 3 year old to escape the house undetected.

$230 for the year of coverage. The up front cost of alarming all the doors and installing motion detectors may be the issue.

I have it at home & at work. In OKC you have to pay a whopping 5 bucks a year for a alarm permit to the police. That permit allows two false alarms per year with no fine. Without the permit thay charge you for the police call if it is a false alarm.

I like the feature that beeps every time a door or window is opened. I only pay $170 per year and I did get a $80 discount on my insurance so my bottom line cost is $7.50 per month. That monitors all entry points and the smoke detector in the hall by the bedrooms.

The system was a builder installed item so there was no installation cost.

Good deal, who are you with? ADT is ~$35/mo around here.

I am with a company called Metro Alarm. They sent a letter saying it was going to go up next year. I pay for a year at a time and they give me one month free to pre pay for the year.

I had ADT but their price kept getting higher and higher. When it got over $30 a month I went with a local company that charges $19 a month. It costs $23 a month for the land line from the phone company, which isn't of much use to me for anything else. Getting a cell system would cost $29 a month and it would not work during a power outage. It saves me about $100 a year on home insurance. I almost never set the intrusion alarm, but the fire detection and call-in is on all the time, which gives me peace of mind when I'm traveling.

If you're talking about Houston, Comcast/Xfinity will do the monitoring for about 1/2 to 1/3rd the cost of ADT. If you don't have the equipment, they will install the newer wireless units on the windows and doors. Buddy down the street just had his house fixed up after a lightning strike took out his system. And the XFINITY system has Android/Iphone apps to allow control of the system. And the system can be expanded to control lighting, heating, etc.

I don't know about Colorado.

Interesting James...did not know about Comcast having this functionality. I will look into it. Thanks for that info. This is for my home in Houston.

Not needed in the much safer Colorado.
Yasin

Do you really need monitoring? A really loud siren and strobe lights outside should be enough.

I installed my own. There are lost of wireless kits out there. Install can be easy, if you plan it out.

We have ADT - very satisfied.

Do a search, and there are also several forums like Pelican for home security. Most folks don't recommend the big providers like adt, comcast, whatever brinks is now, etc.... I've read lots of reports of them being unreliable. Most folks will recommend getting a smaller more local company. There are monitoring companies out there that will monitor for $10-15/month that get good reviews. UL rated companies are also supposed to be something to look for.

Do a search, there are actually several threads on this in the archives.

I want monitoring because I'm on the road a lot. What does everybody do when a loud siren goes off? Wait a while, maybe get curious but do nothing about it, then get annoyed and call the police to get the &$%#*% owner to turn it off.
I especially want monitoring for fire.

Depends on what you want it for/expect out of it.

I have always had a system. Arm it whenever I leave and at night before bed.

Don't really care what they steal, that's what homeowners ins is for, just leave my family and pets alone.

Fire is a big deal for me.

From an intruder standpoint, if someone tries to enter while we are home I'd rather have a Mastiff.

http://www.abouttimecanecorso.com/images/Chaos.jpghttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images7/Mastiff_Tigger.JPG

You need to check your local regs.

Where i live now exterior sirens are not allowed.

Just recently we were out front having drinks and chatting with the neighbors.

Local Sheriff pulls up two doors down in front of Mike and Carla's place.

We know they are not home, we saw them leave earlier.

I go over to ask what's up.

The alarm is going off and standing on their front lawn you could barely hear it.

Do doubt the best alarm system on the planet is a barking dog. Any bad guy can neutralize a pet dog in no time. A big reason we have the alarm monitored is for the fire alarm. Minutes count BIG when it comes to fire.

A Mastiff is not a dog. Given the choice of getting between Angela and one of her kids or a Mastiff and its owner I'll take Angela any day.;)

I had ADT, I moved and forgot that I had a contract with them.

They wanted$500 to break the contract.

Right now I'm paying to alarma empty warehouse in Hawaiian Gardens!

I will not recomend ADT. Bay Alarm has treated me with respect.

House came prewired with a system that I added additional sensors to. I use the local alarm functions only (even though it has the capability to dial a monitoring service). I added a plug-in box that auto-dials my cell phone if the alarm ever goes off (essentially it allows me to act as my own monitoring service). I can remote log-in to my cameras to look around and decide whether or not I need to call anyone.

Monitoring services are a rip-off IMHO.

2 Channel Automatic Telephone / Pager Voice Dialer, USP AD-2001

You will NEVER break even on cost savings on your homeowners insurance either. I shopped probably two dozen and the best deal was a 20% discount. It didn't matter what if any monitoring service you had either. YMMV

ADT - is that a new maker of 1911s? Hadn't heard of them.

I have an alarm system in the house, don't use it.

I also have a first-floor to second-floor stairwell with a narrow 180 deg landing midway, and a solid door above that landing. I'm going to install a reinforced deadbolt, striker and hinges on that door. The wife can lock it when I'm gone. And a 12 ga under the bed w/ a easy-to-remove combo cable lock through the action (have kids).

I think if you research them, you'll find ADT has a lot of horror stories from people trying to terminate contracts.

We have Guardian and could not be happier. Also about $35/mo but excellent service.

I thought about home security without monitoring...but I am single, travel alot and if it goes off while I am away..then what? I like the idea of a local security firm (hoping they have longevity) and have heard nightmare stories on ADT ripping off people (there is a website dedicated to it!).

Comcast/Xfinity is about $10-15/month.

Same here. :cool:

We had ADT about 16 years ago after our house was broken into. They outsourced the support staff to Mexico and it was very difficult to communicate when the alarm went off. We had the wireless system and it was reliable but we had too many false alarms and got rid of it when the contract (2 years, I think) was up.

Not ADT, but Protection One. Pay about $20/month for monitoring. We get a homeowner's policy discount, but it does require monitoring - and we had to provide proof of the service.

Same here, Protection One monitoring with a GE system. Very happy thus far. There is some trivial savings on insurance.

PM if you need a contact at ADT. I worked there for a number of years. They go to market thru 2 primary channels. Dealer network and Corporate. You receive the same service/monitoring but your upfront fees vary. Your hardware choices will also be different.

Its worth spending some time with an expert in their service. Smoke, fire, carbon monoxide, and burglar are all areas that you want to understand. its also important to understand the pro's and cons of wireless systems. There are also numerous keypad manufacturers with endless bells and whistles.

The monitoring is truly second to none. I have been in a number of different monitoring facilities, it makes a difference if something goes sideways.

Personally a system is worth its weight in gold simply for the fire/smoke protection.

As for the " Ive got a big dog " theory. A motivated burgler is more than happy to kill that big dog. I dont have the heart to sacrifice my dog. Course i just spent a small fortune at the vet so some would say i am a sucker.

Years ago, my cousin's house was burglarized. His pitbull was killed and lots of stuff, including a number of firearms stolen...no trace of the perps

These days an alarm system should be about protecting you whilst you are at home. I couldn't give a rats what they do when I'm not there...it's insured. Perimeter protection is a must with a bit of space protection. Set it up so you can sleep with it on.

Putting the alarm on when you leave is about knowing that the house is empty when you return.

Been in the biz for 20 odd years now. Know what your saying, but still better when you're there. At least if you're in a deep sleep and woken by the alarm it gives you time to grab for the gun instead of having some mofo at the end of the bed pointing one at you..

We put the alarm on when gone and when sleeping. When the alarm isn't active, the system still chimes every zone as something opens.

Xactly. I hate it when my wife forgets to set it. I can't get comfortable till I've walked the house.

Maybe I'm slightly paranoid but we've been robbed before so I have an excuse.

ADT yes for many years. No complaints. I wonder though if just having the signs and window decals in place would deter most would be vandals? Folks with more evil intent not so much.

Same here. I used ADT for years and never had any issues but when their prices went up TWICE I dropped it and just depend on the alarm and siren. Theres a house 10 foot away from the siren and they will come out if the noise stays on too long...

Its armed anytime I am not at home and all night long.

No service here. We employ the Stomachmonkey program. One mastiff (a, mutt and a retriever).

Our system:

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