What alarm company do you use/ recommend ? Are you using Video camera security?

[Anonymous]

Worth ut$? Which company to use. I thought ADT sucked. Does anyone use a camera video system ? Is it worth the $$$ ? Or is it better off to get a camera system on your own like lomas/ arlo? I find research annoying and confusing. Plus$$$. What about "Livewatch?" I saw the commercial on TV.

[Anonymous]

Wow no one using camera systems, I might as well save money. I ended up with regular alarm and keeping lights on. Cell connected though, in case someone cuts lines.

[Anonymous]

We use Simplisafe and I love it. After 10+ years of ADT and Ackerman, I'd say it has them beat, hands down. You choose the equipment you want and install yourself. In addition to entry sensors, we got smoke and CO2 detectors, motion sensors, panic buttons. The monitoring costs about $20/ month. You can control the system from any mobile device or computer. Accidentally set off the alarm in the first month and police were at the door in about three minutes. We got a call first and my husband couldn't remember which number was our passcode and which number was the fake passcode to secretly say say send help.

[Anonymous]

6:00 here. We have cameras connected to a DVR, but I don't know much about that system. We had a $2500 estimate from one security company which pissed off my DH, and then he found someone who was a friend of a friend who sold us cameras (four total) and installation for about $1200.

[Anonymous]

I do (use multiple video cameras). Check out AT&T Digital Life.

I can see video feeds in real time from my phone (or computer). I can set motion detection sensitivity level for recordings (with different durations). Outdoors camera has night vision. Indoors cameras has 4 panning positions. I can set system to text me if it detects a motion, etc. All in all I think we spent about $750-$1000 including installation.

[Anonymous]

I've been using Urban Alarm for about a year now and could not be more pleased.

[Anonymous]

I [unlike other posters] have had good experience with ADT. Pulse cameras are great.

[Anonymous]

I bought a camera set from Costco for $3,000. DH is handy and ran the cabling himself to the DVR (or whatever the unit is that records the images) to a location in the garage. We have 10 exterior cameras. Yes, that's a lot. Two are pointed at the street because we have drug activity a few homes down and I'm gathering street info and license plates. Plus with the drug house I don't trust the people coming in. FWIW, i live in a neighborhood with 800k homes, so this shit happens everywhere.

I have text alerts that come directly to our cell phones if there is movement outside of thr perimeter of our home. Would give us time to lock and load and have a little suprise welcome party waiting. Basically After dark, if the camera detects movement, it sends the text of the camera location and a picture directly to our phones. We have our phones set up so that only that number can make it through while we are sleeping and it's on high volume. Would give us time to lock and load and have a little suprise welcome party waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use Simplisafe and I love it. After 10+ years of ADT and Ackerman, I'd say it has them beat, hands down. You choose the equipment you want and install yourself. In addition to entry sensors, we got smoke and CO2 detectors, motion sensors, panic buttons. The monitoring costs about $20/ month. You can control the system from any mobile device or computer. Accidentally set off the alarm in the first month and police were at the door in about three minutes. We got a call first and my husband couldn't remember which number was our passcode and which number was the fake passcode to secretly say say send help.

+1 for Simplisafe. We really loved that we could install it ourselves, and it was super easy to do so. We got the refurbished parts but they looked as good as new to us. We pay $25/month but that lets us control and monitor the system remotely via the Internet -- you can pay as little as $15/month for monitoring if you are willing to forego your own remote access (although they will still text/call you if there is an alert).

The one downside is that Simplisafe doesn't offer cameras. They've been talking about offering one for a long time but they just sent out an email saying that the cameras won't be ready this year. That didn't bother us, as we weren't particularly inclined to get a camera (and if we were figured we could set up an independent one).

[Anonymous]

If you have a home that's already hard wired with ADT/Ackerman/etc one option is to remove and replace the hardware with Honeywell hardware. It's a pretty straightforward job to replace the keypads, alarm brain, and siren yourself. If you look online you'll see tutorials about it.

I used a Honeywell Vista 20p and replaced the keypads. I reused the hardwired ADT door sensors and added on many other wireless sensors throughout the house. You can all do it yourself which makes it cheap and easy. There are neat addons available for the Honeywell system to allow remote monitoring (sending txt messages/etc for events).

I don't have video but do plan on installing cameras one of these days. Easiest/simplest these days is to run PoE (power over ethernet) IP cameras (you just need to use a PoE ethernet switch) so all you need to run is a cat5 cable to each location.

The all in one fancy systems are either very pricey or limited in some ways.

[Anonymous]

We have FrontPoint and love it. A bit more expensive per month than Simplisafe I think but same idea. You set it up and you can take it all with you when you move. Very customizable - we don't have video but could add it at any time. I personally liked the equipment better than Simplisafe which was fine but a bit out of date looking.

[Anonymous]

We have Simplisafe also. We like it so far, and no false alarms so far either. Easy to install. We had a couple fires in or neighborhood, plus a couple of break-in's (middle class mostly, though close to some not as great housing areas). We also started using our Nest/Dropcam camera until we could get the security system installed. I think it's $10 a month for storage on the cloud. We have a Nest thermostat also, and when it goes to Away automatically, the camera starts recording. You can also get text alerts for sounds and movement, which will allow you to look at the camera and see what's happening from your phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have Simplisafe also. We like it so far, and no false alarms so far either. Easy to install. We had a couple fires in or neighborhood, plus a couple of break-in's (middle class mostly, though close to some not as great housing areas). We also started using our Nest/Dropcam camera until we could get the security system installed. I think it's $10 a month for storage on the cloud. We have a Nest thermostat also, and when it goes to Away automatically, the camera starts recording. You can also get text alerts for sounds and movement, which will allow you to look at the camera and see what's happening from your phone.

I ordered Simplisafe over the Black Friday weekend. My neighbor has it and highly recommends the service

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have Simplisafe also. We like it so far, and no false alarms so far either. Easy to install. We had a couple fires in or neighborhood, plus a couple of break-in's (middle class mostly, though close to some not as great housing areas). We also started using our Nest/Dropcam camera until we could get the security system installed. I think it's $10 a month for storage on the cloud. We have a Nest thermostat also, and when it goes to Away automatically, the camera starts recording. You can also get text alerts for sounds and movement, which will allow you to look at the camera and see what's happening from your phone.

I ordered Simplisafe over the Black Friday weekend. My neighbor has it and highly recommends the service

They will have camera soon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I [unlike other posters] have had good experience with ADT. Pulse cameras are great.

Do you have a comparison between ADT Pulse and their previous systems?

I have ADT now, and I'm happy with everything except for the ever-increasing monitoring costs, and I'm considering different options. They're up to about $50/month, which seems quite excessive for the older system.