Home Alarms
 

Hi everyone,

I currently live in Surrey and my family's house doesn't have an alarm system so I'm not too familar with this topic. But, I recently purchased a townhome in Coquitlam. My question is: is it worth it to get the wireless alarms, or get one of those monthly monitoring services?

Any personal experiences, comments or suggestions welcome =)

thank-you

First off, how old is your town home? All of the newer builds I've seen have been pre-wired so you'll just need someone to come in and install the panel, contacts, motions, keypads, etc.

IMO it's not worth it to get a 100% wireless system. They will never be as reliable as wired systems, wireless contacts cost more and you will need to replace the batteries for each contact every couple of years. If this is a retrofit with no wiring in place I would consider a wired system with the cables fished and hidden. Wireless is the installer's lazy way out.

Monitoring service is related to your alarm system. When your alarm goes off, your system will dial out to the monitoring station and then they'll call your property references, and then police if needed. You can still have a local alarm system w/o monitoring.

EDIT: When choosing an alarm company, choose a reputable one based on what your friends and family have experienced good service from. The last thing you want to do is look in the phone book or listen to radio ads to find one. Bigger companies like ADT will do quick installs (2-3 hours tops) and their main focus is your monthly monitoring revenue, not a good install. Whereas companies like Alarm Force are targeted to people who are afraid of using their alarm systems... but they're also the laughing stock of the industry haha.

if you have good neighbors and you know them, I wouldn't waste my time with monitoring. waste of money. 99% of thief's will just run out when the alarm goes off anyways (get some loud sirens and more then one). and good neighbors will check it out too, and can call police themselves for free.

if you have 100k worth of gold and cash laying around the house, that's another story, and I'd probably get monitoring. or if you don't trust any of your neighbors.

that said, alot of companys won't install unless you sign up for a monitor contact, so search around

yes, most have a 3 year contract.

Good neighbors don't exist anymore. When was the last time you paid attention to a neighbor's car or home alarm and did something about it?

Monitoring works on the same principle as the alarm system itself. Security companies can never guarantee you won't get broken into just because you have an alarm or monitoring. Monitoring gives the owner piece of mind. In the event of a break-in the owner will be notified and the police will be called.

You might also want to consider a company which allows at least 1 false alarm a year without charging you a penalty. Meaning they won't bill you a $100.00 if your alarm is accidently set off and police are dispatched. This sort of situation is bound to come up every now and then, especially if you give guest access to your house when you're not around.

anyone recommend a good installer. I have all the parts.