is home alarm monitoring really worth it?

[Toros]

Originally Posted by Lubener
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by alarmguy
All the thief has to do is pick up the Simply Safe "cone" while the system is counting down its entry delay and stick the cone in the refrigerator


Doubt a thief has the time to go searching around a house he's never been in for it, and then find the refrigerator too.

Exactly, only a dumb thief is going to spend time looking around to find your base station counting down. They will grab your pillow cases, fill them up and they will be gone in a few minutes.


Don't underestimate the drive or need of an opiate addict.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Toros
Originally Posted by Lubener
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by alarmguy
All the thief has to do is pick up the Simply Safe "cone" while the system is counting down its entry delay and stick the cone in the refrigerator


Doubt a thief has the time to go searching around a house he's never been in for it, and then find the refrigerator too.

Exactly, only a dumb thief is going to spend time looking around to find your base station counting down. They will grab your pillow cases, fill them up and they will be gone in a few minutes.


Don't underestimate the drive or need of an opiate addict.


And how does the thief know you don't have a secondary one or another one wired somewhere else? You could also combine it with some remote video monitoring.

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted by alarmguy
SIMPLY SAFE, HA! Its ... SIMPLE for ANYONE to DISARM WITHOUT using a code.
It doesnt take the place of a professionally installed alarm system. I stress professionally. (notice my screen name?)

So here you go, this is why your Simply Safe system is not that safe, maybe not all thieves know it but a good many do, just like all up and coming young kid thieves may not know it YET.

Ok, you are away from home and you have your Simply Safe alarm system set.
A thief enters your home, the entry delay count down timer starts, which normally reminds you to disarm the system.

But the thief has no code to disarm the system right? Big deal.

All the thief has to do is pick up the Simply Safe "cone" while the system is counting down its entry delay and stick the cone in the refrigerator AND the System is disarmed, as it can not send out a signal to its central station because the refrigerator blocks the cell signal.

You can test it out yourself, try it on your Simply Safe, as the count down timer starts, throw it in the refrigerator and let it go off, no one will call you.
For others, you can test it out, stick your cell phone in your refrigerator, same deal, your cell phone loses coverage. Zero bars.


1. the crook has to find the base station.He is not going to spend the time looking for it and likely will even pass on the house once he sees the alarm sign outside.
2. the base station is not the piece making the beep sounds as it counts down to alarm time so he can't use that to track it down., it's the keypad. He can smash that and accomplish nothing..
3.you can set the time delay for entry very short with little time for him to find the base and the fridge.

Sure you can spend way more, get locked into a contract on a more complex system but for the money, try and find a better system.
A good dog is better than them all!

 

[willbur]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
my mom has been with brinks now ADT for 25 years. she pays about $40 a month for monitoring . this is with the old system installed 25 years ago. in all the years she has had it she has been fortunate there have been no break ins. But she has had a 4 false alarms. each time it took the police hours to show up.

when i got my home i did a self install alarm DSC system . its always been monitored by me via telephone in the begining and now upgraded with cameras and internet monitoring . this was 20 years ago and its still running strong. 20 years ago it probably cost me about $500 in materials to do the install. so in these 20 years i have saved monitoring fees

Seeing how slow the response is of the police , i always question if its worth it to have a monitored alarm for mom. i can upgrade her old one and reuse some of the stuff for less than a years monitoring. the new ones are even easier than in the past to program. back then it was hex this and hex that

So what has your experience with monitoring been? has is ever saved your home from break in?


Years ago, law enforcement friends said criminals told them an ADT sign on the front lawn was enough to keep them from choosing that house to break in. Don't know if this is true anymore... AlarmGuy on this forum is able to tell you what's best anymore

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by willbur
Years ago, law enforcement friends said criminals told them an ADT sign on the front lawn was enough to keep them from choosing that house to break in.


Said that way back in post 4.

 

[willbur]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by willbur
Years ago, law enforcement friends said criminals told them an ADT sign on the front lawn was enough to keep them from choosing that house to break in.


Said that way back in post 4.


Half right! I said it was an ADT sign, not any ol security sign. ADT had the reputation( and criminals knew it worked and to avoid). MA&PA Security did not. LOL

 

[DaleRider]

Originally Posted by willbur

Years ago, law enforcement friends said criminals told them an ADT sign on the front lawn was enough to keep them from choosing that house to break in. Don't know if this is true anymore... AlarmGuy on this forum is able to tell you what's best anymore


Sign outside and a dog inside. Opportunist thieves will bypass a house/apt with a dog quicker than you can blink.

Personally, have never seen the point of a monitoring system....guess some people want to find out they've been broken into quicker than others. Monitoring system won't stop a window getting broken or door forced....a barking dog on the other side, though......

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by alarmguy
All the thief has to do is pick up the Simply Safe "cone" while the system is counting down its entry delay and stick the cone in the refrigerator


Doubt a thief has the time to go searching around a house he's never been in for it, and then find the refrigerator too.


You think?
No

... there is a professional way of doing things and $400 of Simply Safe Equipment is not professional. Though effective enough for many situations but foolish to think you are well protected. Before anyone get their feathers ruffled, I said "effective enough for many situations".

People think of a thief as strangers, they forget about their teenagers friends who maybe strangers to the adults but not their kids, drug addicted family members and neighbors, people who they thought were friends and never mind the halfway intelligent thief who can pick up that Simply Safe Cone and throw in in the refrigerator in 15 seconds and still have another 15 seconds of spare time, doesnt take much time to find a refrigerator in a home. *L* Time yourself right now, 30 seconds is a long time.

Again, there is a right and wrong way to do anything, if your handy, you can buy install yourself a much better system, granted at a higher price and get the monitoring for the same price $15.
Many people will balk at spending an extra $500 to protect their home, yet, spend an extra $700 for a cell phone when they can have a REALLY good one for less then $250.

 

[nthach]

I see ADT as a rip-off, and you're paying an outsourced call center too. I'd stick to a local company, which can be cheaper or about equal but they have working relationships with the local cops and a few patrollers as well. In the SF Bay Area, we have Bay Alarm. Their call center/monitoring center is in town and they have a relationship with a few of the local sheriffs and police departments. They install mostly DMP panels.

My parents have Xfinity Home. It works, but it's vulnerable like any wireless system like Ring/SimpliSafe/Nest. Only the Honeywell Lynx systems have a "phone home" feature - if the wireless panel loses power or isn't communicating with the monitoring station, it will alert the station to take action. Maybe DSC and DMP too as well.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by Toros
Originally Posted by Lubener

All the thief has to do is pick up the Simply Safe "cone" while the system is counting down its entry delay and stick the cone in the refrigerator


..


And how does the thief know you don't have a secondary one or another one wired somewhere else? ..


Because the thief knows that doesnt happen.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by Burt
I You need sensors that can tell if window is broken and motion detectors inside the house.


I imagine you can't have motion sensors if you have pets?


Of course you can have motions with pets, you just need the right ones and the right placement, or the wrong ones with the right placement, it doesnt matter, motions can always be used. Not to mention inferred beams for those who really want to get extreme).

 

[atikovi]

So your cat or dog that jumps up on the couch by the window won't set off the motion sensor the same as someone that crawled through the window?

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by Burt
I You need sensors that can tell if window is broken and motion detectors inside the house.


I imagine you can't have motion sensors if you have pets?

I know with my system, you invert the motion sensor if you have pets, thus changing the pickup cone. If you have a cat that likes to jump 8ft. that's not likely to work.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted by atikovi
So your cat or dog that jumps up on the couch by the window won't set off the motion sensor the same as someone that crawled through the window?


The motion sensor is an interior device. Its most useful purpose is a back up device if someone gets into the home by bypassing the perimeter door and window sensors. It does this very well and is one of my favorite/if not my favorite protection devices. It is not meant to get someone as they enter through a window, it is meant for IF someone gets through a window without triggering an alarm (or gets through anyplace) and make their way into the home or business.
You really have to know what you are doing to get around a motion without activating it. For the average thief its almost impossible. (almost)

Motion sensors come in different qualities. Many have built in pet immunity for pets up to around 80 lbs. I would stress not to rely on that 80LB rating though. I would hesitate to push it past 55 lbs (total weight or all animals)

Furthermore is why I stress a professional can properly set it up; (and like any industry not everyone is professional)

1. If you do have pets you do not place the motion in a room with furniture that they may jump up on and trigger the motion.
You would place it in a central hallway or someplace where a pet would not be jumping up and possibly triggering it.

2. As someone else mentioned, its also possible to flip it upside down to ignore anything below it, you would measure the height of your pets and place the motion some distance from the tallest one in a confined area where someone would likely walk through.

3. This is a brief summary, for those that know, there are MANY ways to set up a motion, including a room with pets and furniture, masking the lens to avoid a certain area that the motion would normally "see" is one other way and the method I use in my own home.

4. For the average person and some "professionals' if you only have one small dog or cat and want to be sure you avoid false alarms, an area such as a central hallway is a perfect place, no furniture = no problem.

In a perfect world, depending on the size of the home, more then one motion is called for but most people do not bother and that is ok. I personally always liked one in the hallway and master BR plus if a large foyer there too.
Properly done to me, a max of 3 motions in a 3000 sq foot home is ideal but everything depends on the layout of the home and 1 is vastly better then none.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted by Lubener
Originally Posted by alarmguy
...

All the thief has to do is pick up the Simply Safe "cone" while the system is counting down its entry delay and stick the cone in the refrigerator AND the System is disarmed, as it can not send out a signal to its central station because the refrigerator blocks the cell signal.

You can test it out yourself, try it on your Simply Safe, as the count down timer starts, throw it in the refrigerator and let it go off, no one will call you.
For others, you can test it out, stick your cell phone in your refrigerator, same deal, your cell phone loses coverage. Zero bars.


1. the crook has to find the base station.He is not going to spend the time looking for it and likely will even pass on the house once he sees the alarm sign outside.
2. the base station is not the piece making the beep sounds as it counts down to alarm time so he can't use that to track it down., it's the keypad. He can smash that and accomplish nothing..
3.you can set the time delay for entry very short with little time for him to find the base and the fridge.

Sure you can spend way more, get locked into a contract on a more complex system but for the money, try and find a better system.
A good dog is better than them all!


This is where the misinformation lies in this thread.
ANYONE can purchase a quality system, learn how to install it themselves and get quality monitoring with no contract.
Far superior then Simplycr@p which is cheap stuff with HIGH markups.
You can pay a little more for a real system, install it yourself and get monitoring for as little as you want.
With the said, yes, even Simplycr@p is better then nothing. It does work, but it is cheap stuff, for a couple hundred more (if even that) you can buy something far better.

For the self installer I prefer the wireless equipment from 2gig which I know inside and out, qolsys is another system many professionals love.
There are many retailers for this equipment and better low cost monitoring such as below;
https://www.alarmgrid.com

https://www.geoarm.com/home-alarm-monitoring.html

 

[NissanMaxima]

Anyone have experience with the Ring cameras or the monitoring service they are also marketing for their complete security systems?

 

[alarmguy]

One more comment about monitoring. If you have a monitored alarm system, MAKE SURE YOU TEST IT once in a while.

By that, I mean literally and intentionally set off your alarm system and time how long it takes your monitoring company to call you.
That goes for ANY system with monitoring, you would be surprised how many people never get a call and how many people do not get a call in less then 60 seconds.
This is the ONLY way to know if you are getting what you are paying for, set off your alarm and see how long it takes for the monitoring station to call you.

^^ that is the part that drives me nuts, people promote alarm monitoring companies without even using the monitoring by that I mean, they dont "test" the monitoring station to see if they will even respond!

You should test it at LEAST every 30 days, after all you are paying for it. We actually set up automatic tests on professional systems, depending on the home or business it is tested for communications automatically every day to every 30 days and if central station doesnt "hear" form the alarm system on those days it will call the customer for a service call.

Most homeowners never test their self installed systems which makes no sense since they are paying for a service that they most likely will never need, most dont even know if they do need it, that it will work.

 

[Wolf359]

I used to get calls at work from the alarm company of the previous employee. She had left a few years earlier. Each time I'd tell them she didn't work there anymore but they kept calling a few more times. I guess she had her work number as the alert number and never updated it.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
I used to get calls at work from the alarm company of the previous employee. She had left a few years earlier. Each time I'd tell them she didn't work there anymore but they kept calling a few more times. I guess she had her work number as the alert number and never updated it.


YES, its amazing how many people forget to update their phone numbers.

 

[NissanMaxima]

Originally Posted by alarmguy

With the said, yes, even Simplycr@p is better then nothing. It does work, but it is cheap stuff, for a couple hundred more (if even that) you can buy something far better.

For the self installer I prefer the wireless equipment from 2gig which I know inside and out, qolsys is another system many professionals love.
There are many retailers for this equipment and better low cost monitoring such as below;
https://www.alarmgrid.com

https://www.geoarm.com/home-alarm-monitoring.html


What do you think of Ring? It seems they differ a bit from other companies and emphasize notification of malicious activity before there is an intrusion. Their multitude of cameras seem to be of high quality and reputation. I understand they also offer a monitored service if you get the home package with sensors, etc.