Looking to add one to my house, not sure if i should go with a national co like ADT or local Amherst Alarm.
Thoughts, experiences, recommendations??
Amherst does my shop and one of my customers just recently. Pricing was hard to beat and we both talked with ADT. So far, performance is OK.
buy and install the system yourself, then go with no-contract monitoring. We have CPI and got sucked into a 3 or 5 year contract or something. It’s retarded. Our house had CPI equipment already installed though so it made sense.
I had Eastern States Security do mine. 1 year contract and works fine (about $300 a year). I checked out ADT and Eastern States was comparable with price. I like to support local businesses if I can.
My home already has an existing Brinks system (ADT owned now). I would like to tie into the existing system to save on the install fees but ADT monitoring requires a 36 month commitment.
Amherst alarm is less expensive but since i have FIOS phone line (wont work with amherst) the monitoring is more expensive because they need a radio/cell signal? and it would require a new alarm equipment to be installed.
maybe i should just buy a gun and attack dog
we caved on the contract commitment for that exact reason. We do the cell option since we have no phone line. Also, it’s STUPID easy for thieves to simply clip the phone line on the side of the house before entering. Then your monitoring is useless. It takes time to find the cell device inside the house. Long enough for the alarm company to successfully receive the signal.
I know time warner now offers some home security setup no idea about pricing but might be worth looking at.
Ive used advanced alarm (local) on many jobs and everyone is always happy. They go above and beyond and are priced very reasonably.
If you have internet, it starts at $35/mo. TWC offers a decent product, but they rape you hard monthly and on the additional components.
Highlights are:
Mobile app
Remote thermostat
Cell backup with battery.
CO, Smoke, and flood detectors.
Digital touch panel.
Any alarm system without cell backup is PURE false sense of security, you would MAYBE defeat the weekend robber doing his first house, high on crack.
I would love to see actual stats on people in this area actually bypassing alarm systems.
12ga and a dog
buy a used sign from ebay and get a webcam. all these systems do is make people more paranoid.
Got a quote from Amherst Alarm that was pretty ridiculous
2 control panels
4 doors
10 windows
2 glass break sensors
3 basement windows
2 smoke detectors
1 carbon monoxide
1 sump pump detector
$1720 install… $350 monitoring… additonal $90 if you want the iPhone monitoring app.
DAMN!
That seems pretty damn high.
We have been using Advanced Alarm (Vander mentioned above) for 3 years now, awesome service and great prices.
Yearly monitoring is ~$170 and doesn’t go up no matter how many additional sensor/detectors you add.
We have 4 doors, all windows, 2 motion, 2 smoke/1 carbon, plus sump and full system battery backup.
Not sure what their install prices are like, we had it installed through the builder.
You might be better off using wireless motion detectors as opposed to window and glass break sensors.
---------- Post added at 02:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 PM ----------
you’re probably right, but it’s just SOOOO easy to clip the phone line. It’s so easy to clip that I think it would be a waste to pay for monitoring services when I know just how easy it is to bypass. That and I don’t have a phone line so i needed the cell backup anyway.
I understand that but tons of alarm systems off cell backup now I wonder how many people chance it.
Certainly a good question … I am sure that all of the sellers of alarm systems over-sell the stats too.