Home Security (alarms), thoughts - Page 3

K9Torro · 08-16-2009, 10:07 AM

I have had one in the last two houses, mainly for peace of mind more than anything else. My homeowners insurance also gives me a 20% discount for having it. It covers all entry points with glass break and motion as well. It has a primary communication thru the telephone wires but if they are disabled it also has a celluar modem/phone thingy in the attic which sends the signal, it is silent so the burglar is unaware it is tripped, it also has a speaker/mic thingy in the hall way where the monitor service can listen/speak with us (a light on the panels lights up when it is active) and lastly it has fire monitoring which I know works since the toaster set it off. lol

Todd

Evans, Marv · 08-16-2009, 09:51 PM

I have one in the house I'm finishing up now for my wife & I. The house is away from urban areas, so I'm not going to rely on the phone contact to get the police there in a hurry. All lines which include power & phone among others are buried. The system has more features than I would ever use and gives my wife a decent sense of security. All perimeter doors & windows are monitored as well as the side garage door and there are interior motion sensors. One feature I like is the "at home" setting which leaves the perimeter sensors operating but turns off the motion sensors so we can move around inside. There are two interior sirens and two exterior sirens, and the neighbors we have in the area do a pretty decent job of looking out for each other. Then there are the two nine milimeters I have stashed in selected locations. I know nothing makes anyone absolutely secure, but I feel decent about it.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

I live in the sticks. All the neighbors keep a loaded gun by the door. Not any problems out here.

aigel · aigel's Garage

An alarm system and the daily setting of it is only a reminder that you are living in fear. It will not make you feel safer at all, just more paranoid. Get a large dog - no need to set it, no false alarms and it will deter all the usual junkie / teen / opportunity rip-offs you can expect to show up in a middle class household.

George

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

Had a wireless alarm system several years ago after a mid-day break-in. Too many false alarms, the momitoring company outsourced the monitoring to a Mexican company and the dispatchers didn't speak English. I would not do it again...

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

I have a monotored system. So far no issues. It is a nice feeling to know the house is monitored for fire when we are away.

dewolf · 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aigel

Get a large dog - no need to set it, no false alarms and it will deter all the usual junkie / teen / opportunity rip-offs you can expect to show up in a middle class household.

George

Yes, then watch it get baited or bashed to death just so someone can steal your TV. Unfknblvble...
The OP I'm sure is aware of guns and dogs, but has asked about alarms. I've been doing this for over 20 years and have seen dogs beaten, baited, stabbed and strangled. They are just another link in the security chain.
The fact of the matter is, like most things, you get what pay for.

onewhippedpuppy · 08-17-2009, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dewolf

Yes, then watch it get baited or bashed to death just so someone can steal your TV. Unfknblvble...
The OP I'm sure is aware of guns and dogs, but has asked about alarms. I've been doing this for over 20 years and have seen dogs beaten, baited, stabbed and strangled. They are just another link in the security chain.
The fact of the matter is, like most things, you get what pay for.

I believe that burglars list a dog as the #1 theft deterrent.

An honest question, does a basic alarm system really detect most typical break ins? To give further detail, our home has a system installed by a previous owner that has motion sensors and door/window open sensors. My doors have deadbolts, my windows are locked, and I wouldn't arm the motion sensors while I was in the house. So how does it help? I'm assuming that most burglars will simply break a window or kick in a door, which will wake me up just as fast. Am I wrong in my assumptions?

masraum · 08-17-2009, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I believe that burglars list a dog as the #1 theft deterrent.

An honest question, does a basic alarm system really detect most typical break ins? To give further detail, our home has a system installed by a previous owner that has motion sensors and door/window open sensors. My doors have deadbolts, my windows are locked, and I wouldn't arm the motion sensors while I was in the house. So how does it help? I'm assuming that most burglars will simply break a window or kick in a door, which will wake me up just as fast. Am I wrong in my assumptions?

Assuming that you're home....

Probably. My house is a 2-story. It's possible that someone could break a window downstairs without waking us up (unlikely but possible) except that we have 2 dogs that would raise hell if a window was broken.

If a door was opened, you'd probably hear. My house was robbed when I was about 12 or 13. They didn't kick in the door, they used a pry bar to pry the door open. That's probably not as loud as kicking the door in, but still, probably not exactly quiet.

stomachmonkey · 08-17-2009, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I believe that burglars list a dog as the #1 theft deterrent.

An honest question, does a basic alarm system really detect most typical break ins? To give further detail, our home has a system installed by a previous owner that has motion sensors and door/window open sensors. My doors have deadbolts, my windows are locked, and I wouldn't arm the motion sensors while I was in the house. So how does it help? I'm assuming that most burglars will simply break a window or kick in a door, which will wake me up just as fast. Am I wrong in my assumptions?

Specifically basic systems, hard to say. Depends on the house. I think these days a basic system covers entry doors and will include a couple of motion sensors.

My last house in NY we did a basic system. The front and back door were opposite each other at the ends of a common hallway. We had one motion sensor set up by the back door that covered the hallway. If someone were to break in through a window in one of the rooms off the hallway they'd trip motion sensor as soon as they left that room. The 1st floor of the house sat on an 18 inch high foundation so the windows were high off the ground making them an unlikely point of entry anyway.

We had a second motion sensor covering the stairway leading to the 2nd floor where all the bedrooms were. So at night we would bypass the upstairs and leave downstairs active.

We also had the Mastiff and 3 cats. A competent alarm installer can set up motion detectors to eliminate a false from pets but still pick up people.

If I or my family are not home I could care less what they steal. Leave my pets alone and you can have the rest. They are only possessions and are not what are most important to me.

If I am home with my family my last resort is confrontation. If the alarm does not scare them off and they get past the dog then I have a pretty good idea of the type of criminal I'm dealing with and it's shoot first.

Here's another reason why I like alarms. My daughter will occasionally wake up in the middle of the night and stand next to my bed. When you wake up cause you sense something and there is a shadowy figure hovering over you it's startling to say the least. If the alarm is going off I know it's most likely not one of the kids.

legion · 08-17-2009, 08:26 AM

A couple of years ago, an employee at a local cell phone store hacked my account and ordered himself two of the most expensive phone with two of the most expensive plans on my account. They would be delivered to my doorstep, but he planned on intercepting the packages.

Since then I always think about the risk to me if an employee at a company I used games the system for their own personal benefit. I think there is a tremendous risk with a home monitoring service. Mark my words, it will happen some day, and it will be ugly. Think about it, the service knows when you're home or away, and deactivating your monitoring gives them free reign to unload your house at leisure.

Now I realize there are some problems with that scenario, like the monitoring center has to be close to where you live, but that doesn't mean that some industrious criminals couldn't bribe an employee....

stomachmonkey · 08-17-2009, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by legion

...Since then I always think about the risk to me if an employee at a company I used games the system for their own personal benefit. I think there is a tremendous risk with a home monitoring service. Mark my words, it will happen some day, and it will be ugly. Think about it, the service knows when you're home or away, and deactivating your monitoring gives them free reign to unload your house at leisure.

Actually that's not an issue.

Central monitoring is a bit of a misnomer.

The system in the home is the "brains" of the whole thing.

It only communicates with central monitoring when it has something of note to report.

It's not a "live" feed.

And most systems can only be disabled by the keypad in the home, unless specifically customized to allow remote control of the unit. I once had a unit with phone integration, I could call the house and remotely enable/disable the system from any telephone. Was a useless feature for me but came as part of the package. Disabled it anyway since I had no use for it, it interfered with the answering machine and call waiting.

legion · 08-17-2009, 08:54 AM

Thanks for the clarification.

Seems that your "subscription" could still get cancelled intentionally thus causing any calls to be ignored. Not saying it's likely, just looking for the holes.

I'd think only big-name people or someone looking for a specific high-end item would be succeptible to such a problem.

dewolf · 08-17-2009, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I believe that burglars list a dog as the #1 theft deterrent.

An honest question, does a basic alarm system really detect most typical break ins? To give further detail, our home has a system installed by a previous owner that has motion sensors and door/window open sensors. My doors have deadbolts, my windows are locked, and I wouldn't arm the motion sensors while I was in the house. So how does it help? I'm assuming that most burglars will simply break a window or kick in a door, which will wake me up just as fast. Am I wrong in my assumptions?

Take a look at how many homes are burgled whilst the home owner sleeps. They know nothing of it 'till they get up in the morning. Again, not being a crim, do you know how they get into homes silently? They may break a small pane of glass to open the window/door, they may jimmy the window, but as soon as the contact is broken the siren will start sounding.
You can also put photo-electric beams around the outside so no-one will even get near the house before the alarm starts.
There is a myriad of options available depending on your budget.

masraum · 04:12 PM

I was thinking, switches on the front and back doors as well as the door to garage and the outside garage door, also switches on all 4 downstairs windows. We have dogs, so I wasn't thinking we'd get a motion sensor. Two panels, one downstairs and one in the bedroom. Really simple, nothing elaborate. I figure with the dogs and guns, what we really need is a noise maker.

12own911 · 08-17-2009, 04:13 PM

That is what I have except for the garage and the motion sencor... I do not have pets. I pay $36 a month to ADT... I have not tested it yet to see if it actually works... will hope for the best if I need it...

masraum · 08-17-2009, 04:21 PM

Anyone have any advice on how to find a good company?

dewolf · 08-17-2009, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

Anyone have any advice on how to find a good company?

You should have a Security Members Board or similar. Here in South Oz it's S.I.S.A, Security Institute of South Australia. It's members have to meet certain criteria to be a member. All licensed with zero complaints against them.

wcc · 08-17-2009, 04:48 PM

Yup, we have one with a motion sensor. Recently there was 7 break-ins in a two week period. 3 of our neighbors were hit. The closest was two doors down. We were passed up. Plus I have plenty of fire power for such occasions. I wouldn't go downstairs to confront an intruder but I'd certainly stop them from coming upstairs to my sleeping family.

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

We have every door and window monitored. If any door or window is opened there is a beep even if the alarm is off. The dogs know that sound. I can't go in my backyard without a dog entourage. The dogs are just yappers but they will alert us.

There was a TV show on a few years ago where two guys would get permission from the home owner. One of them would break while it was filmed. Then they would show the home owner how to better protect their house. They always pushed the home alarm systems. It would be interesting to find out from a real burglar if alarms were any real deterrent to the random burglary. I test my system about six times a year. I set it off on purpose just to see how long it takes the monitoring company to call me.