Alarm Systems....

[The 24th Letter]

Just wondering who here owns one, who you get yours through, and how good its working....

I keep getting these ADT flyers...thinking about looking into it...

[Husker_OS]

Re: Alarm Systems....

We've got a local company system at my parent's house. Monitors the doors and windows. Also has motion detectors in the living room. If the alarm is set off while its set to AWAY, then it automatically calls one of our cell phones and the cops or fire department(if the smoke alarm goes off it calls TFD). Also if we set it to CUSTOM(for when we're out of town), it calls my sister's cell phone first since she lives about 10 minutes away.

Also, recently we got a driveway alarm. If the alarm is set to HOME, and a car pulls up in our driveway, the system beeps once. Its pretty cool.


We had our house broken into twice before we got this. Haven't had any break-ins since. The "This House Is Protected By ____" sign at our mailbox is a good deterrent. And if they ignore that, they're screwed.

[Chaos81]

Re: Alarm Systems....

A security sign out front and two German Shepherds works great.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Alarm Systems....

We also have a local company. Just the doors and windows. With a cat in the house, I don't think a motion sensor would be a good idea. The alarm does add an extra feeling of safety for myself and my fami ly. The few times it has gone off for either a false alarm or a mistake by one of us, the monitoring company has been quick to respond.

Monitoring can be a little expensive for the little work they do. Expect to pay $25-35 a month, but you should get a discount on your homeowners because of it.

There are a few smaller, less popular national companies you can go through and get a better deal. They all basically do the same things, so no sense paying $35 for what you can get for $20.

[auburntigersfan]

Re: Alarm Systems....

My family has a local company. It works well, it monitors the doors, I'm not really sure about the windows. It does have a motion sensor that runs down our main hall, you can't get anywhere in my house without going through it so it works pretty well. I don't think we have the sensor on most of the time though because basically if anyone wakes up to even go and get some water the alarm would go off.

It works well and gives an added sense of assurance. I would definitely recommend it.

[Chaos81]

Re: Alarm Systems....

With a cat in the house, I don't think a motion sensor would be a good idea.

They make sensors that can "see" how big an object is and you can set it so it'll ignore a cat.

[p_rushing]

Re: Alarm Systems....

I have Brinks, it was already installed in the house I bought and I get a $5-10 discount through my work. Its about $30 a month, but the install/equipment can be expensive depending on what you want to protect.

[boomhauertjs]

Re: Alarm Systems....

They make sensors that can "see" how big an object is and you can set it so it'll ignore a cat.

Yep, our cats have never set off our motion sensors.

[Skyboxer]

Re: Alarm Systems....

They make sensors that can "see" how big an object is and you can set it so it'll ignore a cat.

Yep. I installed security and satellite TV's for 11 years before moving on 12 years ago to a different profession.
Right now they have motion sensors that will not go off when dealing with pets.
Anyways we have doors covered with a motion unit in main area of house. Also the monitoring part is wired and wireless. So if the phone line is cut it automatically uses wireless calling.