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Providing an objective voice for the new home security customer
I have to admit when I first got my home security system installed, I was a little intimidated. The main panel, with its flashing lights and multiple buttons, made me wonder if I was trying to protect my home or fly to the moon. But after my test drive, I realized that it was ridiculously simple. All I had to do was push a button or two to arm it. Then when I wanted to disarm it, I simply entered my super secret code. No hassle, no sparring with the buttons and feeling the shame of defeat.
If that wasn't easy enough, I was given a wireless remote control. It looked like the keyless entry for a car. I definitely know how to work those. Push button. Armed. Push other button. Disarmed. Go me.
When I signed up to have a security system installed in my home I wasn't aware of all the equipment options available today. I figured there was one handy box that blared "intruder alert, intruder alert" while the alarm company was made aware that someone was in the house. I'd never really considered what else came along with that, and how it might benefit me.
The part about the intruder alert box is partially true. Home security systems have a main panel from which all the bells and whistles come. This main panel not only blares warning and contacts emergency officials for you if the need arises, but also lets you know everything else going on with the system. You can even set the panel to tell you whenever any door covered by the system is open. This can also be helpful if you have young kids running around the house.
Motion detectors are also an option. These are usually placed in high traffic areas, where anyone that broke into your home is bound to go. Motion detectors now have the technological capability to differentiate between small pets and large, scary intruders.
Another way of detecting intruders is with glass break detectors. These can listen for the frequency of glass breaking, and sometimes even splintering wood. There are different types of glass break detectors available.
Along with many methods of intruder detection, most companies offer detectors to warn of danger within your home. For example, you can get heat and smoke detectors professionally installed in locations nearest fire hazards. This gives you early warning when signs of danger are detected. Carbon monoxide detectors can also be professionally installed and placed in locations that will give the soonest warning. Some companies even offer flood and frozen pipe detection.
Among all of these safety features comes a very convenient feature. Some companies now offer wireless remote controls. Arming and disarming your system can be as easy as getting in and out of your car.
With these and so many other convenient and protective options, I was able to choose features I felt were necessary in my home. Now I feel I'm covered in every area.
If you're considering a home alarm system, or if you already have one, make sure you know all the tools that are available to reinforce your system.
Alarm monitoring is one of those things that initially seemed unnecessary to our family. We had always been safety-conscious, and we had a house alarm that we installed ourselves. But then we started to pay a little more attention to the crime stats in our area, and made efforts to be more aware of the crime trends and typical response times if an emergent situation did arise and we were pretty surprised by all we learned.
It turns out that many police departments will stop responding to alarms at households that have had several false alarms. In a lot of precincts they actually require a third party, such as a security monitoring company, to confirm the need for law enforcement or other emergency aid. We were concerned that not having a monitoring service could delay the response time from police if a break in occurred at our house.
Another bit of information that impressed us was the fact that modern monitoring services use cellular towers instead of traditional phone land lines. The great thing about that is, even if some crafty criminal element cut the telephone line, our monitoring connections would still remain effective. That’s a real confidence-promoting factor!
The alarm systems used by most of the reputable security system providers are wireless these days, too. Along with the safety-enhancing feature of cellular monitoring, the wireless alarms are great because they don’t rely on regular power lines. When the electricity goes out that doesn’t compromise your family’s safety; the wireless alarms and monitors keep working!
Alarm monitoring is the perfect safety solution whenever you go on vacation. The old alarm that we installed ourselves was just fine when we were home, but it didn’t really provide the best protection for our property if we weren’t there. Maybe, if we were lucky, it would ring long enough and loudly enough for an irritated neighbor to call police but by that time any perpetrator would likely be long gone.
With an alarm monitoring service, we know a reliable, responsible watch is kept on our house even when we’re away. Monitoring services have response centers that are staffed round the clock with trained professionals. When the alarms go off, they know to check immediately for any false triggers and, when the authorities need to be called in, they immediately contact police or fire stations. If an intruder gets into your house or a fire starts up, you have the peace of mind that comes from knowing the home security monitoring service will get help out there right away, preventing loss of your belongings or excessive damage to your property.
Our family recently invested in a home alarm system. We were really surprised how affordable it was. But the really great thing was how easy it was to install and operate. My wife and I are possibly the least mechanical people in the entire state and we were able to set it up by ourselves. The system is wireless, so we didn't have to do any drilling and (obviously) there wasn't any complicated wiring was involved. We didn't even have to think about calling in an electrician for help.
Along with that simple set-up, the fact that all the equipment is wireless means we don't have to stress about the alarms and everything not working any time we have a power outage. Every year around Thanksgiving we can count on having at least one big power failure, and with the older house alarms that needed normal electricity you didn't have working alarms whenever the power went down.
Holiday times seem to be a busy time for the crooks in our area, so knowing our alarm will be working all the time is a big deal to us. Last year neighbors in our trailer park got broken into three times between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We wanted to make sure that didn't happen to us. It's not like we can all sit by the door with a shotgun in our laps all day, every day, like my mother in law.
Older styles of electric alarms, the ones that are wired in, need to be reset when the power lines go down. We don't have to worry about all that either with our wireless equipment.
Okay, one more thing we love about the wireless alarm system is that the monitoring is cellular. Apparently the same power that works with our cell phones is used to monitor these alarms too. Pretty crazy. So, if some thief goes and cuts your phone line, that doesn't cut off the contact to your alarm company. With the cell monitoring, the people who take care of customers are always available to help you, even if it's in the middle of the night or on a weekend, or on holidays.
I know I mentioned the affordability thing earlier, but that deserves to be talked about a little more. We were seriously shocked at how little it costs for a whole month of service for a really nice security system. Even if you had some big, fancy house, this would be enough to cover all your safety needs. And for about the same price as just one carton of cigarettes, we get the whole deal. Wireless alarms are awesome.
$99.99
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