Home Alarm System Review

Beautiful Life

Many people are not interested to pay for a home alarm system, probably because doubtful of its effectiveness, and not fully aware of the options out there.  Three years ago, I remember recommending the system and service for several years to my best friend because he lives alone and the cost was not an issue to him.  He would ask me many questions instead and conclude why to waste money.  One day, his house was burglarized.  Only two laptops were stolen, but they happened to be brand new ones, worth USD $3000.  Next day, he called me to refer home alarm system and installed it right away.

2013 is about to start.  December would be the best time to set resolution and plan for next year  

When a Home Alarm System is need

• Living by yourself or with family in a property, without dogs
• Living neighborhood is quite unsafe.
• Travel often and have valuable items at home
• Neighbors are unlikely to call 911 for you.  (Once my alarm sirened for 15 minutes because I forgot my secret code and informed ADT security that I was at home. There was no police car or firetruck arrival; i.e. no neighbors made a call)

Benefit of a Home Alarm System with Monitoring Service

Electronic Smoke Detector

1. Burglary leads to loss of valuable items.  Fire can destroy the entire house which incurs much higher financial loss. Add a fire alarm to the monitoring service.  As soon as it smells smoke, it will call the nearest fire station right away. No need to count on your neighbors
2. Going to work or vacation with a better peace of mind - the monitoring service calls for you the police or fire station right away, and they arrive very fast.
3. Going to sleep with a better peace of mind - select disable motion detector optoin, so people can still walk inside the house without triggering the alarm.  The windows and doors are still protected.
4. Home Insurance Discount - ~2% off every year.  Not much, but is still a discount.
5. The loss in a typical burglary can amount to thousands of dollar which easily equivalents to the cost of multiple years of active alarm monitoring service.
6. The ADT console has one large red button for firetruck, green button for ambulance and blue button for police station.  These big buttons will prove useful for seniors at home when they are alone and critical times.

Home Alarm System and Service Review - ADT

Mine started with Brinks which was acquired by ADT later. I can only share my ADT experience

• Customize your system:  minimum motion detector, glass-shatter noise sensor, door-gap sensor
• Add the ADT fire alarm.  Add $1 to the monthly fee to cover the fire active monitoring. Just think about how much your house costs.
• Three false alarms with police or firetruck coming are forgiven.  There will be a fee $50. after that. (similar to AAA service. First three are covered by the service fee)
• ADT remotely tests your system once a month and email about the test.
• Both parts and services are reliable, because I have seen both police and fire trucks ... due to false alarms.

Cost (Parts & Labor)

1. Requirements: 
• home phone service available, both digital or analog are accepted.  
• home is pre-wired.  If not pre-wired, choose wireless option for certain locations.   (my motion detector is wireless)
2. One-time Parts and Labor Costs: 
1. ADT always have $99 promotional package.  It includes the cost of basic package install and components, assuming house is pre-wired. However, your home may have many more doors and windows. Additional parts are needed. (I paid $550 total)
2. Wireless parts are more expensive.
3. Monthly fee, as of 2012
1. $30 basic monitoring fee
2. $38 premium package (monitoring + maintenance)
4. Discount: If you are 62 or over, $2 discount per month from AARP membership which costs only $16 per year. Last week, my Dad joined AARP at promotional price $10 for 1st year. AARP also offers discount for hotels like Marriott, Hilton. You need to call AARP to provide them AARP membership number, and they will apply it for life.  In other words, after 1st-year AARP membership is not required.  $16 cost for $24 annual savings and for life. Math is simple.  

Take Away

Home Alarm System does not eliminate chances of burglary, but it helps to deter.  If you were a burglar, would you select a house with or without home alarm?