Some home insurance companies offer discounts on the policy if you have a
system like ADT. I had one for awhile, but haven't in years now. Too many
issues with false motion alarms (cats) and the threat of penalty by our
township nixed it pretty much. I tried to see if a local alarm monitoring
company could work with our existing hardware so we could just alert on the
fire detector going off for some minimal fee, but it didn't work out.
We are much better at locking our doors and windows nowadays since the uptick
in local petty thefts and some breakins (I see copper is still a BIG target
around here), I work from home alot, as does the wife, and we're hardly away,
so it doens't seem as beneficial now for us. I have a few night cameras
installed around the house for cheap for when we're away on trips, etc.
ADT was OK, though I would typify their service as what you would expect to
get from any other large corporation offering rock bottom deals. They called
the house every time there was a false alarm and their response time was good
with local police, etc., but I guess the hardware was too sensitive or
couldn't be tuned to our house w/out incurring hourly charges and more
hardware to do so. However I did keep the street signs and window stickers
for every side of the house and garage ;-)
If I could just pay $10/month for fire or flood monitoring of some kind, I
would.
-PJ
> Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:53:49 -0500
> From: wmc_st@xxiii.com
> To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
> Subject: [Shop-talk] Alarm Systems
>
> Hey Guys --
>
> I am investigating an alarm system for my garage/shop and attached
> house. I haven't done as much homework as I should yet. But was
> wondering if any of you had suggestions on equipment and monitoring
> services? The builder installed bay windows and a french door on the
> front of my garage/shop which makes for nicely blended aesthetics w the
> house but way too much visibility of contents. And it's secluded enough
> to be WAY too easy to break into unnoticed.
>
> I'd like to self-install, and I see Lowes has G.E. security system
> components available. But I really hate G.E. ADT has very cheap
> hardware & installation, provided you sign a multi-year monitoring
> contract; but I'm told their monitoring sucks. Heard good stuff about
> Vivent. Others????
>
> -Wayne
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