Posted on: 16-11-07 10:29:33
Hi group
I am plannig to install a home security system at my home and was just wondering which company is good from a response time perspective. I am looking at ADT & Alarmforce. Pls let me know your suggestions.
Thanks for any help.
rsk
Try to check with Bell Monitoring (Bell Canada). I believe they charge one time fee of $199 and monthly monitoring fee of 19.99. You need to install the system but it seems that is very easy and it is wireless system
Quote:
Originally posted by Desi # 1
Try to check with Bell Monitoring (Bell Canada). I believe they charge one time fee of $199 and monthly monitoring fee of 19.99. You need to install the system but it seems that is very easy and it is wireless system
Bell's product is not really comparable to that offered by ADT / Voxcom / Alarmforce.
Bell offers 'self monitoring'; YOU will get a phone message in the event of a break in or a fire rather than the police / fire department.
In addition, the $199 'starter kit' is inadequate and it would cost at least $1,000 up front to be able to get a typical set up (including door / window sensors, motion detectors and smoke detectors / alarms for each level, sirens, remote key fobs, etc).
Also you'd have to check with your insurance company as the typical 'remote monitoring discounts' may not be applicable to the Bell system.
I differ here with you when you said that Police Deptt or Fire Deptt is informed for ADT and other providers. Their monitoring centre is notified and then they call police or fire deptt after confirming with you in most of the cases. Why? if there is false alarm.you would be charged $300+ as fine.
A few years ago I had invited the community Police to our Neighbourhood Watch nite, and here's what we were told:
Stand in front of the main door of your house, now time yourself - run to the master bedroom or any the furtherest point in the house and come back - how long did that take you ?? 45 sec, a minute may be 2 worst case 3.
When the alarm in your house is tripped, what does the monitoring centre do, 1st try to reach you, 2nd try to reach your alternative contact, 3rd send their security guard to your house and if they find something fishy (4th) dispatch the Police. How long does steps 1, 2, and 3 take - around 8 to 10 minutes.
How does that compare to the time it took you to run inside your house and return back ??? By the time the security guard arrives at your place the intruder is almost 3 minutes away from your place.
We were also told (by the Police) that the average response time for the Police is around 6-8 minutes. Don't quote me, but this is what we were told. Even if you try to be optimistic and say it's 3-4 minutes, that's almost 11 to 14 minutes after the alarm has tripped.
Other things to keep in mind is what is # of lines being monitored per call centre staff.
For DiY type of guys, these monitoring systems are available in the market. All you do is hook it up yourself and program it to call your cell, work # etc. Another thing what can also be done is set-up a video monitoring system. These are motion sensored and start recording only if motion is sensed. Although this may not deter the intruder, but now you have their picture as proof (hopefully you are able to capture their face). Some of these camera's are wireless and can be hooked up to your wireless router at home, and can be monitored remotely over the internet. I've see someone at my workplace who was monitoring his cottage remotely.
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SS
Reiki Grand Master
Quote:
Originally posted by Desi # 1
I differ here with you when you said that Police Deptt or Fire Deptt is informed for ADT and other providers. Their monitoring centre is notified and then they call police or fire deptt after confirming with you in most of the cases. Why? if there is false alarm.you would be charged $300+ as fine.
Not sure where you live, but I've never heard of a $300 fine.
If you have more than 2 false alarms within a period of 12 months, the police then decline service to the address, IF the request for service came from the monitoring service. A false alarm for these purposes exists only when a homeowner is not at home.
There is no fine whatsoever.
Quote:
Originally posted by sudesingh
Stand in front of the main door of your house, now time yourself - run to the master bedroom or any the furtherest point in the house and come back - how long did that take you ?? 45 sec, a minute may be 2 worst case 3.
Presumably if someone is trying to break-in to your house, it is being done with the intent of burglary (which wouldn't take 45 seconds unless you left wads of cash in each room).
The first deterrent for that is the siren that goes off (which is very audible) and WILL attract the attention of your neighbours. Depending on how you set up the service (for example a certain combination of sensors), it may not be necessary for a verification phone call, the monitoring center could call the police or fire department directly. With AlarmForce's product, as I understand it, trained operators at the monitoring center get onto a 2 way communication system.
With my previous post, what I was trying to bring out was the fact that Bell's product will end up costing the same or more as ADT / Alarm force; although it does not have the 'remote monitoring' service. In addition, Bell's product may not qualify for a discount on insurance.
With Bell: Cost of equipment up front = $1,000 (to get the same number of sensors and motion detectors that would be needed in a typical set up) + monitoring over 3 years per month = $720.
With ADT / Alarmforce: no up front cost; + monitoring over 3 years at $35 per month = $1,260; the equipment is owned by the homeowner at the end of the 3 year contract.
How do I calculate $1,000 for up front costs with Bell?
Start up $200
Installation $100
2 motion detectors $150
Siren $125
Door / window sensors $180
Smoke detectors $160
Key fobs $80
Glass break sensors ?? (not offered?)
I compared ADT & Alarmforce and it looks like Alarmforce is pretty good in price & features as compared to ADT. Alarmforce has wireless sensors, 2-way communication and costs $25/month.
But as one poster mentioned, I am definitely going to look into a DIY monitoring system with a camera that feeds into internet coz I read a lot of reviews abt security companies bad customer service and how they refuse to cancel the service even after the contract period in case one decides not to continue with the service.
Cheers
rsk
