Shopping For An Alarm System? Buyer Beware.

While a basic alarm system is better than none, it in no way offers you the protection that is necessary today. A basic alarm system usually consists of contacting two doors and sometimes one motion detector. Keep in mind that the motion detector only protects the house or business when you are away. When at home, it is usually automatically disabled to allow you to walk freely around your house or business. So many times I have witnessed a burglary that occurred through an unarmed window and the motion detector was never tripped because the burglar did not enter that particular room. Many companies try to sell these basic systems in order to get their monitored account “numbers” up as high as possible.

Fully Protected: To be fully protected we suggest contacting all of the windows and doors. This is called “perimeter” protection. If for some reason your perimeter protection would be compromised, then the interior protection would take over. The interior protection would consist of motion detectors, and/ or glass- break audio sensors.

Smoke Detectors: It is very important to have one or more smoke detectors installed with your system. Many people tell us they already have smoke detectors, but the ones they have only make noise, they do not call the fire department in the event of a fire. Besides the extra peace of mind, you will probably get an extra insurance reduction by having a monitored smoke detector which would probably pay for itself.

Communications: Communication backup systems have come down in price drastically the last couple of years. The way the systems work is in the event your phone line would fail, the alarm would then be transmitted over the “back end” of a cellular network. These systems were once only affordable for banks and other high security risk applications, but now they are more affordable for businesses and residences.

24-hour Test: Many systems ,old and new, are capable of sending a test signal every 24 hours. It is a self test that we feel is very important to assure the communication module is in good working order. Some companies charge extra for these test.

Contracts: Read the fine print. Many companies lead you to believe that you will own the system at the time of installation. In many cases on the low priced systems, you are only leasing the system. Therefore you wind up paying exorbitant monthly fees for years. Many contracts are also auto renewable unless you notify the company within a specified number of days before the contract is over.

Proprietary Systems: Some companies use “proprietary systems”. If you really are truly purchasing the system, unfortunately, they are the only ones that can monitor it. If at some point you want to change alarm companies, you will probably have to pay for a replacement system.

Monthly Fees: You will notice the monthly monitoring fees will fluctuate drastically from one company to another. I have seen fees from $7.50 to $39.00 per month. I have seen contracts from one year to ten years. Some are auto renewable and some are not. This will usually depend on whether you pay upfront for the system, lease the system or pay a low down payment for the system. Hopefully, this information will help you compare systems equally from one company to the other. If you have any questions feel free to give us a call.