Keep in mind that ADT also saves you money on false alarms(if you are going the monitored route). ADT has the fade system which is why they try to call you every time the alarm is set off. They try to contact you to determine if it is a false alarm. If they can't contact you they will send the police armed and guns drawn. This helps you cut cost because the local police will charge you X amount of dollars after you go over a certain amount of false alarms. They may even come slower next time, if anyone recalls the story 'boy yells wolf'. ADT monitors you with more than one monitoring station with live people as oppose to other alarm systems which may or may not have people but I would be wary of someone monitoring my house with just a modem....

Just some more reasons to consider...

summary***

1-false alarms (check your local police department for cost etc)
2-quality of monitoring (find answers to how you are being monitored)

Final note....

I know for certain alarm companies overcharge us on many things [I been inside ADT] but sometimes for the safety of our family and love ones some things we shouldn't cut cost on. It all depends on your level of tolerance. I want cheap but I also want quality.

Jackboot said:lanb said:I used to be with ADT and still have their equipment after the contract.

I own it per the contract terms.

My question - Does it need to be unlocked in some way by ADT before i can use it with
another alarm company ? The alarm panel is made by ADEMCO & installed in 1998.

Most likely it is locked to ADT similar to the way that a mobile phone is locked to its provider in the USA. Who was your original provider? I'm guessing it was an ADT dealer, not ADT corporate. Most ADT accounts are dealer generated.

Yes, it was installed by a local dealer. Does it make a difference for the "lock"
and will ADT remove the lock ? What should i ask for if i call ADT ?

BTW, I no longer have the monitoring service just the equipment and the
all important signs .

Conventional wisdom is that the signs from the alarm company deter the
most since the robbers will likely pick a house that looks/is unmonitored.

Anyone know if there's any place that sells the ADT signs? I just feel a little bit safer with them on the front yard even if I choose to go the nextalarm route. tia.

MountainDewRules said:Little off topic and probably a stupid question...but if for some reason your alarm goes off and they can't get a hold of me (say I'm in a meeting), and they do call the police, do I get charged for a false alarm? I would think so...that is why we pay taxes, but just wondering.

Depends on your codes for the responding agencys. Some areas have 1 free false alarm and then either a fixed or sliding scale based on the number of false alarms you have per year.

lanb said:Jackboot said:lanb said:I used to be with ADT and still have their equipment after the contract.

I own it per the contract terms.

My question - Does it need to be unlocked in some way by ADT before i can use it with
another alarm company ? The alarm panel is made by ADEMCO & installed in 1998.

Most likely it is locked to ADT similar to the way that a mobile phone is locked to its provider in the USA. Who was your original provider? I'm guessing it was an ADT dealer, not ADT corporate. Most ADT accounts are dealer generated.

Yes, it was installed by a local dealer. Does it make a difference for the "lock"
and will ADT remove the lock ? What should i ask for if i call ADT ?

BTW, I no longer have the monitoring service just the equipment and the
all important signs .

Conventional wisdom is that the signs from the alarm company deter the
most since the robbers will likely pick a house that looks/is unmonitored.

It depends, if you ended your contract in good terms they should unlock the panel. Ademco panels can be locked by a company in a way where you can not unlock them. (They can disable the ability to enter local programming from the keypad). I am not sure what ADT's policies are on this and from what I have seen from them they probably change from time to time.

I would probably try to reprogram the system before contacting ADT see what your new monitoring company has to say about the re-program first.

I've read all of the justifications and complaints about monitored alarm systems in this thread and, for the most part, I think they're all correct. When we moved into our new house, it came pre-wired for an alarm system, so we called a local independant supplier who installed sirens, smoke detector alarms, a motion detector, and tied in to all of the window contacts for $400 with no monitoring contract. This is the way to go, rather than the $30/month ADT route. When we went to VOIP, we dropped the monitoring, but it sounds like we may be able to go back to that.

As far as the reasons go, the primary one for me is that when either my wife or I are alone in the house, it is an added measure of security that there is a "perimiter" - if we are on one end of the house and there's an intruder, we get advance notice... and so do the police. We've only had a couple of false alarms, mainly due to my stupidity, and we cleared it with the alarm company before they sent the police.

Whether or not it makes a big difference to me, $107.40 is a very cheap price to pay for 12 months of secure feelings for my wife. We men tend to underestimate the value of security, be it emotional, physical, financial or spiritual for our mates.

Am I being too philsophical for FW?

NoDiscount said:Anyone know if there's any place that sells the ADT signs? I just feel a little bit safer with them on the front yard even if I choose to go the nextalarm route. tia.

You can find the ADT signs on fleabay, of course. They fetch a hefty profit. It's funny to think of some nefarious fleabayer "gathering inventory" by stealing the signs from the yards of homeowners. Hmm?? I might need an alarm to protect my ADT "eBay acquired" sign from fleabayers.

(Naturally, the authenticity of the signs on eBay is to be questioned).

Link

mindful said:Keep in mind that ADT also saves you money on false alarms(if you are going the monitored route). ADT has the fade system which is why they try to call you every time the alarm is set off. They try to contact you to determine if it is a false alarm.
NextAlarm does the same thing, they ask who to call to verify the alarm and a passphrase, just like ADT.

lex said:I too am looking to get my house wired with an alarm system that I can use the $8.95 monitoring with. I guess I have a few options:

1 . Anyone have any reccomendations on good systems Online order, and install myself.
2. call a professional, and purchase the system and the install from them.
3. have ADT or another company install the system and be in contract until I own the system afterward?
It appears NextAlarm sells equipment as well. Not sure about the pricing as I already had my alarm so didn't need to buy anything. They do sell the alarm Internet adapters.
NextAlarm Equpment Store

If anyone has any other suggestions for places to buy alarm equipment please post and I will update the original message. Maybe X10?

(I will add this to the top of the thread)

Great thread. NextAlarm has this offer for a wireless alarm system for $249 with 1-yr free monitoring. Do you think this would be an adequate system for a townhouse? I'd maybe put the sensors on front and rear doors, the motion sensor in the basement, and look into buying another motion sensor for ground level windows.