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How much do you pay for an Alarm Company?

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alkemyst said:
Most alarms have an device that will set the alarm off if the phone line is cut.
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What if the phone line goes out? My Comcast voice goes out at least every other month and you do sign a waiver stating you won't hold Comcast responsible for 9-11 miss haps and shit.
 
John Connor said:
What if the phone line goes out? My Comcast voice goes out at least every other month and you do sign a waiver stating you won't hold Comcast responsible for 9-11 miss haps and shit.
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My comcast voice has been reliable.

I have GSM as a backup though.
 
Alarms are a weak defense. Standard method for thieves is to break a window setting off the alarm and then watch what happens from a distance. Repeat same or different day until the cops either don't show up, or time interval seems OK for a quick grab and run.

Two kinds of alarm rates, straight monitoring (two kind of that, phone and hard lines), and monitoring plus equipment, ie the free install with a monthly charge.

No reason why some alarm box couldn't do all three, call out via phone line, cell phone, and internet text message.
 
mikeford said:
Alarms are a weak defense. Standard method for thieves is to break a window setting off the alarm and then watch what happens from a distance. Repeat same or different day until the cops either don't show up, or time interval seems OK for a quick grab and run.

Two kinds of alarm rates, straight monitoring (two kind of that, phone and hard lines), and monitoring plus equipment, ie the free install with a monthly charge.

No reason why some alarm box couldn't do all three, call out via phone line, cell phone, and internet text message.
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I don't think you know what you are talking about.

If a window keeps getting broken, the police will keep responding at least here. It's not considered a false alarm.

The police were I live are usually there by the time the call is made to my cell phone (alternate number).

There are devices that can do phone, gsm and internet. However; police won't roll for a call like that. Works ok for a break in when you are not home, but if you had a home invasion or the like, the call just goes to you.
 
mikeford said:
Alarms are a weak defense. Standard method for thieves is to break a window setting off the alarm and then watch what happens from a distance. Repeat same or different day until the cops either don't show up, or time interval seems OK for a quick grab and run.
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If I traveled a lot, or were away for months at a time, I would find it very useful to have a device in my home that would automatically inform me of a break-in. It would also be quite useful to be informed if the temperature were to fall to dangerous levels, if my basement was flooding or if my home had caught on fire. The point is that there are a lot of uses for an alarm system.
 
I pay about $4200 per month, but that includes live monitoring of the 15 cameras on the grounds and an armed guard at my gate.
 
I lock my doors most of the time, how much does that cost? I never used to lock anything but I moved to a city with more poverty than where I'm used to so I lock up now
 
I just set up my own system I bought from a local tech shop.

If someone comes into my home I get an alert and I can view the camera on my phone and be able to come to a conclusion on what to do from there.
 
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John Connor said:
What if the phone line goes out? My Comcast voice goes out at least every other month and you do sign a waiver stating you won't hold Comcast responsible for 9-11 miss haps and shit.
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When a transport caught fire near my house taking out a couple 100 pair cables my neigbours mentioned to me they got calls from their alarm company. So I can imagine it does trigger it. Normally pots is very reliable though short of cable plant issues. I still trust gsm more though. No cable to cut. Ideally I would want both. not all systems offer that.
 
Get a dog.

A loud barking dog.

Oh, and get a gun.

Put signs outside your abode that you are armed and ready to shoot.

That has worked for me so far. 😎
 
alkemyst said:
I don't think you know what you are talking about.

If a window keeps getting broken, the police will keep responding at least here. It's not considered a false alarm.

The police were I live are usually there by the time the call is made to my cell phone (alternate number).

There are devices that can do phone, gsm and internet. However; police won't roll for a call like that. Works ok for a break in when you are not home, but if you had a home invasion or the like, the call just goes to you.
Click to expand...

If the police decide its a false alarm, don't notice any reason for it, they roll about two or three times free then the owner or alarm company gets told they will be billed for more false alarms.

Only robbery we (neighborhood) have had in years turned out to be connected to the alarm installer.
 
Around $40. It's cell based with instant notification on my phone in addition to the alarm company. Plus I have cameras and dogs.
 
In San Jose, CA, the police will not automatically respond to alarm calls. So paying for an outside service in my opinion isn't worth it.
 
mikeford said:
If the police decide its a false alarm, don't notice any reason for it, they roll about two or three times free then the owner or alarm company gets told they will be billed for more false alarms.

Only robbery we (neighborhood) have had in years turned out to be connected to the alarm installer.
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A broken window would never be a false alarm, here they will always respond to a monitored alarm system. If there is no signs of vandalism or break in you get 3 calls free, and then it goes $25, $50, $100, $200, $300 for each false after up to one year and then it resets.

You can request to opt-out of responses.
 
Kadarin said:
In San Jose, CA, the police will not automatically respond to alarm calls. So paying for an outside service in my opinion isn't worth it.
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Not true. Robbery/Panic get responses always also as long as some additional verification is given burglary calls will be responded too. I get called by my monitoring company after the police are called on my cell phone. I have cameras at the house. If I log in and verify people are in/breaking in my house the San Jose Police would roll out.

http://www.sjpd.org/records/Verified_Response.html
 
Drako said:
Get a dog.

A loud barking dog.

Oh, and get a gun.

Put signs outside your abode that you are armed and ready to shoot.

That has worked for me so far. 😎
Click to expand...

Guns don't shoot fugitives if they're sitting against a wall in an unoccupied home, and dead dogs don't bark or bite. :awe:

The whole idea of an alarm system is to protect (or at least try to, they're not 100%) your property and pets when you're not home. I don't actually turn on my alarm if I'm home.... I would set it off if I did. I keep a crobar in a central location "just in case" for if someone tries to break in when I'm home but 99% of the time breakins happen with nobody home.

I never considered the fact that fugitives might purposely trigger your system then run off though, if they keep doing it and you're gone eventually the cops may stop going because it's always a false alarm. I suppose decent cops would notice the broken window and realize there is someone around doing it though, but someone who knows what they're doing could probably find a way to trigger it without causing property damage, perhaps a powerful enough infrared laser or something. (most motion sensors now are infrared)

One thing I'd like to add to my system is cameras though, and I don't want to go through the alarm company for that but go DIY, I don't trust these wireless or centrally managed systems where they can easily be hacked.
 
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