Any of the US residents have anything to say on the subject of alarm systems? I really need to get one, for ease of mind if nothing else. I'm actually worried more about fire than burglary.

A preliminary online search for recommendations came up with Front Point and Simplisafe. Any comments on either of those? Any others I should consider?

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Here in my condominium almost everybody has an alarm system, but they sound so frequently for various reasons that nobody cares even when there is a real alarm. So I don't have one.
Tullio

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I would be going with a monitoring service, of course. Not many residential alarms that I know of these days even have a local sounding device.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

http://www.totalsecuritynh.com/
I use this company. All the rooms have pet safe motion detectors, and the perimeter is fully protected. The communication to the rest of the world is through phone lines, with cell phone backup. There is an alarm that sounds at the house, and the monitoring company is instantly alerted.

For the installation I purchased, it was a lot more than what they advertise, but that is true of many companies. On a good note, I know the system very well, and I could not penetrate it without my security code.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

I almost got a job selling alarm systems once, glad I didn't do that. Selling things to people is an ungrateful job.

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rOZZ
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I would be going with a monitoring service, of course. Not many residential alarms that I know of these days even have a local sounding device.

Let me retract that. The Simplisafe system's alarm is not very loud, but they have an external siren that's very loud. If I go with them.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

http://www.totalsecuritynh.com/
I use this company. All the rooms have pet safe motion detectors, and the perimeter is fully protected. The communication to the rest of the world is through phone lines, with cell phone backup. There is an alarm that sounds at the house, and the monitoring company is instantly alerted.

For the installation I purchased, it was a lot more than what they advertise, but that is true of many companies. On a good note, I know the system very well, and I could not penetrate it without my security code.

Steve

Looks like they only serve New Hampshire...?

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

http://www.totalsecuritynh.com/
I use this company. All the rooms have pet safe motion detectors, and the perimeter is fully protected. The communication to the rest of the world is through phone lines, with cell phone backup. There is an alarm that sounds at the house, and the monitoring company is instantly alerted.

For the installation I purchased, it was a lot more than what they advertise, but that is true of many companies. On a good note, I know the system very well, and I could not penetrate it without my security code.

Steve

Looks like they only serve New Hampshire...?

That may be the case, but look for a system that uses motion sensing and perimeter breach. Also a cell phone backup is a great idea. A crook could come up, cut the phone lines, and think the alarm would just scream. With a cell phone backup, the police are called no matter what. My system also has a wet cell battery backup, so will work for a long time even when the power goes out.

A good tip if you have a garage door opener, is to remove the rope that can be pulled to unlatch the door. A crook could break a garage door window, then reach in an grab the rope. Of course my garage is motion protected also.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

http://www.totalsecuritynh.com/
I use this company. All the rooms have pet safe motion detectors, and the perimeter is fully protected. The communication to the rest of the world is through phone lines, with cell phone backup. There is an alarm that sounds at the house, and the monitoring company is instantly alerted.

For the installation I purchased, it was a lot more than what they advertise, but that is true of many companies. On a good note, I know the system very well, and I could not penetrate it without my security code.

Steve

Looks like they only serve New Hampshire...?

That may be the case, but look for a system that uses motion sensing and perimeter breach. Also a cell phone backup is a great idea. A crook could come up, cut the phone lines, and think the alarm would just scream. With a cell phone backup, the police are called no matter what. My system also has a wet cell battery backup, so will work for a long time even when the power goes out.

A good tip if you have a garage door opener, is to remove the rope that can be pulled to unlatch the door. A crook could break a garage door window, then reach in an grab the rope. Of course my garage is motion protected also.

Steve

The systems I'm looking at are cellular for no extra cost.

I don't have a garage, so that's not an issue. (Wish I did, it would probably save me on car insurance. Not to mention cleaning off snow.)

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I don't have an alarm system, I just remove the snow
shovel from the front walk way....

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I have ADT. They got bought out and I cant remember what the new name is. Ive had them for 15 years now. I have the old analog system so I do need to upgrade.
I had a window alarm that fell off and triggerd the alarm, I wasnt to far from home when ADT called me and said you have a window alrm that went off. I was only 5 minutes from home and when I got there the State Troopers were there allready. He went in frist and we found what had happend.
Another time I came home and for some reason didnt turn the alarm off. They called as soon as that annoying loud beeping went off. I told them I had forgot to turn it off and they asked for my abort code. I gave it to them and all was well. I applogized for being stupid. But if I hadnt gave the abort code or the right one, he would have called the State Troopers.

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[/quote]

Old James

I have ADT. They got bought out and I can't remember what the new name is. Ive had them for 15 years now. I have the old analog system so I do need to upgrade.
I had a window alarm that fell off and triggered the alarm, I wasn't to far from home when ADT called me and said you have a window alarm that went off. I was only 5 minutes from home and when I got there the State Troopers were there already. He went in first and we found what had happened.
Another time I came home and for some reason didn't turn the alarm off. They called as soon as that annoying loud beeping went off. I told them I had forgot to turn it off and they asked for my abort code. I gave it to them and all was well. I apologized for being stupid. But if I hadn't given the abort code or the right one, he would have called the State Troopers.

ADT actually did not get bought, they are just changing their name to Tyco for their commercial business. Their residential business is still ADT, I just searched and found this information.

When I was living in Southern California, I did have an ADT system with monitoring; however, because my home phone was on Vonage, they had to install the cellular backup unit for the monitoring. Their alarms are/were NOT equipped to function on a VOIP line over the internet.

At the time; however, Brinks was able to function on a VOIP line. Now that ADT has acquired Brinks, ADT may have upgraded their systems to function on VOIP; however, you would have to ask them.

While with ADT, the monitoring service was $40/Month; however, I think they're more expensive, now. Their service was good, I had no problems with them. The monitoring contract is a two year contract, and then goes month to month. Once on month to month, you may cancel the monitoring if you don't want that expense.

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

Most alarm systems in the UK connect to the telephone and any trigger is sent to a call centre that alerts the police, and the owner by mobile & text. There used to be cases where large houses and factories had a direct link to the local police station, but with modern telecoms and the internet, I don't think they do that now. What I do is use a cheap USB camera, and free remote login software, and I can login and monitor my house from any internet PC. A paid for software package can also have movement detection and an alert system, that also records a video of the movement. You can also buy cheap dummy outside alarm boxes as a deterrent.

A cheap dummy alarm box won't get me a discount on my insurance. I may also go with a web cam on my own, separate from the alarm system.

Thanks for the comments, everybody.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

If you buy an IP camera they're usually standalone so you don't need to leave a PC running. Also, there are IP camera's available with pan/tilt functions so you can steer them around and watch for ne'er-do-wells.
I have mine set up to record video when it detects motion, which it then saves via the network to the media centre pc (because that one is always on and has huge drive space), though it could be set to save it to online storage instead. It also emails a low-res still to my phone so i know something's happening.

Example, here's the still it sent me when i arrived home last night.


The video is 960*720 so looks much better.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

I use Brinks with my current house. I used Castle Security with my previous house (I installed that one myself - took a month of weekends).

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BOINC WIKI

I use Brinks with my current house. I used Castle Security with my previous house (I installed that one myself - took a month of weekends).

Brinks was bought by ADT and has been ADT for at least a year and a half. However; when Brinks was Brinks, it was a far better security system than ADT.

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

My Security: Two dogs who go ballistic if someone they don't know comes near the house :)

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I would say that dogs are more of a deterrent than security. Opportunists will easily be dealt with, sadly professionals with silenced guns will overcome that first line of defence. But if you have no particular reason to be targetted, then deterrents are fine.

If they're professional enough to carry silenced guns (though they're hardly silent like the films) then they're probably professional enough to overcome most alarm systems.
Now maybe if the dog was armored and weaponised in some manner...

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

What works best around here, is Neighborhood Watch. Doggies help, as they also keep an eye on the neighbors.
Around here, it is mostly friends letting friends know, hey I am in Santa Clara this weekend, so I am hanging out with Family. Catch up with you later Bro.

More than one "friend" is in Jail already, but the kids are learning. Watch what you share now a days.

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

I did get an alarm; I won't give the details.

Now I'm wondering whether to put up the window stickers and sign, or if they would just attract burglars who figure if there's an alarm, there must be something worth protecting (there isn't, really; a couple of small TVs and the best computer is coming up on 4 years old, I think) and who are experts in the weaknesses of that particular alarm.

The thing I haven't gotten used to is setting it to Home mode. I set it and then I forget and open the door for some reason, and then I have to enter my PIN on the keypad. <sigh>

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.