Home Security Monitoring?

[HLAuburn]

We had an alarm system already installed when we purchased our house. We signed a contract for monitoring with ADT, but it should be expiring soon, and I'm starting to think we pay too much.

So how much do you pay per month for monitoring? Nothing fancy - just a regular control panel, windows and doors, smokes and a CO monitor. Is it a big deal to switch companies or do they just "take over" the monitoring?

Thanks!

 

[bonzarella]

we pay around 90/95 every three months for same coverage

 

[hlg22]

About $35/month, for basically the service you described. I also have ADT but have not been totally happy with them and my contract was up a few months ago, so I'm thinking about switching too. I'll be interested to see if anyone responds to your question about how the transition occurs...I don't want my walls torn up again, so if the system has to be ripped out and a new one put in that will be a no starter for me.

 

[MaryKLady]

$35 per month with Broadview but we don't have smoke or CO alarms with our service. My contract is probably up by now, I should look around too

 

[doxdogy]

The new company will be able takeover the monitoring. They will just have to do the reprogramming. In addition, they may or may not have to replace the control panel and keypad. Broadview was taken over by ADT.

 

[teCh0010]

Alarm Relay is 8.95 a month and is a UL listed central station. I think they provide the central station for a lot of local alarm companies.

 

[coastiewifern]

After shopping around and on the recommendation of friends we are going with smith monitoring when we move into our new home next week. This was a huge savings over ADT

 

[HM]

We have a more local company for our monitoring, not one of the heavily advertised groups. We pay $60 a quarter.

 

[ceecee]

We had Brinks and they changed to Broadview and they changed to ADT! All in 4 yrs time. We pay $25 a month with no fire or co2, we have 2 panels and one crash sensor at the patio door. We went w/ Broadview because they said ADT outsourced all of their calls and then we get ADT anyway!

 

[ten6mom]

I dispatch for a police department and I would suggest that anyone paying for or thinking of paying for alarm monitoring check with their local law enforcement agency to see what their dispatch protocol is for burglary alarms. At my agency those calls are low priority and can hold up to an hour. It may not be worth it for you depending on your situation.

 

[clm10308]

I dispatch for a police department and I would suggest that anyone paying for or thinking of paying for alarm monitoring check with their local law enforcement agency to see what their dispatch protocol is for burglary alarms. At my agency those calls are low priority and can hold up to an hour. It may not be worth it for you depending on your situation.

I agree with this statement. My DH was a police officer in a big city for many years. When we moved onto a newer house that came with a built in alarm system we lived there five years and never paid for monitoring.
He felt that it was paying for a false sense of security. Alarm calls where he worked were low priority and might take several hours for police to respond. Plus there were some heavy fines imposed for repeated false alarms. He says that the best security system is a big, noisy dog.

 

[angwill]

we pay around 90/95 every three months for same coverage

Bonz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HM]

I agree with this statement. My DH was a police officer in a big city for many years. When we moved onto a newer house that came with a built in alarm system we lived there five years and never paid for monitoring.
He felt that it was paying for a false sense of security. Alarm calls where he worked were low priority and might take several hours for police to respond. Plus there were some heavy fines imposed for repeated false alarms. He says that the best security system is a big, noisy dog.

No dog for us.
One thing we added was an outside speaker for the alarm system. That way our neighbors were aware if the alarm were to go off. One of our other neighbors that has one too, will ccasionally have theirs set off to check it with their monitoring system and let us know that they are doing that. That way, if we hear it and we know that they aren't testing to be on the lookout for a problem and we can call about it as well as their monitoring system. We hope our neighbors will do the same for us.

 

[Anjelica]

I'm actually looking at switching myself (caveat I am an AT&T Employee) - AT&T now offers full home automation and security. It is new and I am always nervous to try anything new with ANY company but for what I pay now and receive vs. what I would pay with AT&T and so much more covered I'm tempted. It's call "My Digital Life".

I actually came to the board to search for any customers experiences with the product and happen to catch this thread (coincidence).

Something to consider as more and more communication companies branch out into whole home/life automation and connectivity.