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Alarm Monitoring - Get Rid of ADT - Nextalarm.com $8.95/month and 2 months free in: Computers & Electronics › Electronics

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rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:39p
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I think this is hot considering until last week I didn't know anyone but ADT could monitor my home alarm. I have been paying $30/month for monitoring to ADT (which has been driving me nuts, we hardly use the alarm). In the VoiceIP threads I saw mention on Nextalarm.com. Looking at it, the cost is only $8.95/month (if you pre-pay for the year) and they give you two months free when you join. Signed up on Friday, got it activated today.

Very easy, the tech walked me through the steps to change the dial-out over the phone and then tested the system for me. They say it will take an 1/2hr or maybe more for the setup. It took me only about 10mins. The Tech seemed extremely competent. All alarm info (activations, alarms, etc) are available from your web browser.

NextAlarm.com

Your yearly payment is refundable if you cancel (it is pro-rated but you can get a refund)
From NextAlarm' Website:
$14.95 per month paid monthly, or $8.95 per month paid one year in advance ($107.40)
If you prepay for one year then cancel during the year, you will receive a refund pro-rated at our $14.95 monthly rate.
Next Alarm Services Description

Note: I beleive you can only do this if you own your alarm. If you are still under your original ADT contract and got the alarm for free, you might need to do some sort of buy-out or turn your equipment back in.

FAQ from thread:

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.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
somedaze said:Another company that sells alarm equipment + monitoring is www.alarmyourself.com, but it seems targeted towards more advanced diy'ers.

Pato said:If you own your alarm, nextalarm has manuals (both owners and installation) for many models. The install/programming manuals are hard to find w/o having to pay for them. I tried getting an install manual one from ITI and ADT awhile back and they would not do it.

NextAlarm Alarm Manuals for Download
somedaze said:Try www.panelguides.com for installation and owner's manuals.


ToHellWithUGA said:Since you saw this on VOIP thread, I assume you can use this if you have VOIP?
I think you need a special adapter but that is why it was mentioned because it support VOIP. Here is a link about on DSL Reports:
NextAlarm Reviews/VOIP Info Thread

PeakMaster said:4. Legitimate alarm monitoring companies must be able to show that they are UL listed and approved.
This mandates certain requirements to ensure that their site is secure and "fail safe".From NextAlarm's FAQ:
Our central stations are UL-Listed, which means they conform to the same standards as many other alarm monitoring services, including those offered by ADT and Brink's
NextAlarm FAQ

Message edited by: jjct1 on 2005-01-06 09:32:14
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:39p

Increased price for NextAlarm, current pricing (2/2008):

- Basic Monthly - $14.95 per month
- 2 Years' Service pre-paid for $286.80 (equal to $11.95/mo), plus 1 free month
- 3 Years' Service pre-paid for $430.20 (equal to $11.95/mo), plus 2 free months
- 1 Year Service pre-paid for $143.40 (equal to $11.95/mo)

UPDATE - the price runup continues ********************************************

Billing Plans: New pricing as of May 11, 2008
NextAlarm.com monitoring service is available under two low-cost billing plans.

Pay $17.95 per month, on the 3rd month anniversary of the day we started monitoring your system.
Even more economical is prepaying for one, two, or three years at $179.40 per year. This works out to just $14.95 per month.
Monitoring of a cellular backup unit such as an Uplink dialer costs an additional $7.50 per month, regardless of your billing plan. Monitoring over broadband using an ABN adapter costs an additional $5 per month, regardless of your billing plan.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I highly recommend the Visonic PowerMax Plus Home Security System Control Kit - PowerMax+ wireless alarm system, which can be used with an alarm service and/or private numbers. Two good places to purchase from are Smarthome and Safe-Mart. Safe-Mart has better prices on the equipment/kits, for example Visonic PowerMax® Plus Home Security System Control Kit - PowerMax®+

If you have an ADT alarm and the installer code has been changed from the default, try 6321 which seems to be pretty standard. On my DSC Power632 system, you can test the install code using *8+install code, if it works you'll see "Program" in the window, otherwise, you'll hear a long beep after entering a wrong installer code.
Lots of info here: link

Okay just a note for who wants to change monitoring... I say just do it...
I used to work in ADT for years, they paid us very well. The monitoring centers are the same like many other monitoring center. The size does not matter because everything is computerized and handled with large customer service.
When I worked in ADT I found out that the cost to monitor each client's home is less than $3 so if you're paying $30/month, they are robbing you blind.
When I was still with them I only paid $7/month. After I quit ADT, I quickly changed to AA company to monitor my alarm for $12.95/month.
Don't fall for their marketing scheme, everthing is the same!
The difference is only in your system, some systems are using dial ups and some system using wireless.
Dial ups are easy to disable, cut the phone line and you left out with nothing.
ADT will often say, it's better to protect your phone box, dial ups take about 30 seconds to dial out, if the burglars manage to cut your phone line in less than 30 seconds you're out of luck.

So take care, I hope it will answer some people's question regarding the monitoring.

Message edited by: Dealhunter101 on 2008-05-29 08:25:15 CDT
rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:43p
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How much your net worth has to be to consider for paying that much for an Alarm system.

Why not buy the As on seen on TV 10$ product and hook up all over your gardens and windows.

Message edited by: fatcool on 2005-01-05 21:46:30
rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:44p
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Hot deal... thanks OP!

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:45p
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Since you saw this on VOIP thread, I assume you can use this if you have VOIP?

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:50p
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ToHellWithUGA said:Since you saw this on VOIP thread, I assume you can use this if you have VOIP?
I think you need a special adapter but that is why it was mentioned because it support VOIP. Here is a link about on DSL Reports:

Linky

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:54p
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Thanks OP!

Note that the $8.95 rate requires prepaying for one year.
See below why I didn't phrase it as a one year commitment:
It is fine if you don't plan to move for 8 months or more.
I mention 8 months as opposed to a year, because it is still cheaper to pay for one year if you're staying for 8 mths, since the month to month rate is $14.95 which comes out to $119.60 for 8 months whereas one year is $107.40

Does anyone know how good NextAlarm's monitoring service is, however?

Message edited by: LighterWallet on 2005-01-05 21:54:58
rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:56p
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If your house is worth robbing, wouldn't the theif be smart enough to cut the cable going into your house/cable modem? Or does that trigger an alarm too?

Message edited by: RBA on 2005-01-05 21:56:37
rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:57p
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Your yearly payment is refundable if you cancel (it is pro-rated but you can get a refund)
From NextAlarm' Website:

$14.95 per month paid monthly, or $8.95 per month paid one year in advance ($107.40)
If you prepay for one year then cancel during the year, you will receive a refund pro-rated at our $14.95 monthly rate.
Link

(Added this info to the top)

Message edited by: jjct1 on 2005-01-05 22:00:50
rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 9:58p
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RBA said:If your house is worth robbing, wouldn't the theif be smart enough to cut the cable going into your house/cable modem? Or does that trigger an alarm too?

It does if you have a good system, yes.
Otherwise, as you correctly point out, it isn't much good.

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:00p
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jjct1 said:Your yearly payment is refundable if you cancel (it is pro-rated but you can get a refund)
From NextAlarm' Website:

$14.95 per month paid monthly, or $8.95 per month paid one year in advance ($107.40)
If you prepay for one year then cancel during the year, you will receive a refund pro-rated at our $14.95 monthly rate.


Link

That's great. So it appears you're better off picking the one year option no matter what then, since at worst you'll pay the same as if you had done month to month.
If you do end up staying at least 8 months you'll be better off than the month to month since you will "keep" it for the full year, even if you move after 9 or 10 mths for instance???

Message edited by: LighterWallet on 2005-01-05 22:02:16
rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:05p
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LighterWallet said:RBA said:If your house is worth robbing, wouldn't the theif be smart enough to cut the cable going into your house/cable modem? Or does that trigger an alarm too?

It does if you have a good system, yes.
Otherwise, as you correctly point out, it isn't much good.

So if it does?

1. Does it also know when there is a cable outage in the area? Would police respond everytime the cable went out?

2. If it uses the VOIP, what happens if the power goes out? Or if the VOIP goes down for any reason. Another false response by the police?

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:05p
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Smarthome--Another $8.95 per mo company

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:09p
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fatcool said:How much your net worth has to be to consider for paying that much for an Alarm system.

I've heard you can save money on your homeowner's insurance by having an alarm system. I wired for a system when I remodeled, but have not bought a system. If anyone knows of any good deals on an installation with hardware, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:11p
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fatcool said:How much your net worth has to be to consider for paying that much for an Alarm system.

Why not buy the As on seen on TV 10$ product and hook up all over your gardens and windows.

LOL. What kind of question is that??

Let's see. I have about 10k worth of TV's, 8k worth of musical instruments, 2k worth of home theater gear, 4k worth of computers, probably 6-7k worth of jewelry, etc etc. I also have the smoke detectors for my $240,000 home wired in to my monitored alarm system, to hopefully get the trucks rolling a few minutes faster- I do get a decent discount on my homeowners insurance due to having all of this on a monitored system.

But, I don't think i'd trust the same results from a "as seen on TV" $10 product.

I'm also on ADT, paying $30 a month, and even at that price, it's worth it- but I'd much rather pay less. Thx OP!

QnD

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:13p
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RBA said:LighterWallet said:RBA said:If your house is worth robbing, wouldn't the theif be smart enough to cut the cable going into your house/cable modem? Or does that trigger an alarm too?

It does if you have a good system, yes.
Otherwise, as you correctly point out, it isn't much good.

So if it does?

1. Does it also know when there is a cable outage in the area? Would police respond everytime the cable went out?

2. If it uses the VOIP, what happens if the power goes out? Or if the VOIP goes down for any reason. Another false response by the police?

Your alarm company calls you before they call the cops. I've had them call my cell if they couldn't reach anyone at the house. No false response unless you tell them you're not home and to call the police.

QnD

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:13p
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I have an alarm system. She eats about 25 dollars of dog food a month and all the table scraps she can get a hold of.

She always sounds the alarm when my Fatwallet orders come via UPS/Fedex/USPS, etc. Trust me, the delivery people won't be robbing my house.

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:15p
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quickNdirty: Where do you live?


I live in a broken down ol mobile home. As a matter of fact, I'm using an etch-a-sketch to write this that I got from Target and made $10 cause I put two under my jacket and sold one downtown...

Message edited by: willgetin on 2005-01-05 22:18:54
rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:22p
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willgetin said:quickNdirty: Where do you live?


I live in a broken down ol mobile home. As a matter of fact, I'm using an etch-a-sketch to write this that I got from Target and made $10 cause I put two under my jacket and sold one downtown...

LMAO.

It wasn't my intention to brag. I just wanted to show that in some cases, something like this is needed. In your case, say, to protect your one remaining etch-a-sketch so you can continue to read and post hot deals on fatwallet.

QnD

rated:
   posted: Jan. 5, 2005 @ 10:24p
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quickNdirty said:fatcool said:How much your net worth has to be to consider for paying that much for an Alarm system.

Why not buy the As on seen on TV 10$ product and hook up all over your gardens and windows.

LOL. What kind of question is that??

Let's see. I have about 10k worth of TV's, 8k worth of musical instruments, 2k worth of home theater gear, 4k worth of computers, probably 6-7k worth of jewelry, etc etc. I also have the smoke detectors for my $240,000 home wired in to my monitored alarm system, to hopefully get the trucks rolling a few minutes faster- I do get a decent discount on my homeowners insurance due to having all of this on a monitored system.

But, I don't think i'd trust the same results from a "as seen on TV" $10 product.

I'm also on ADT, paying $30 a month, and even at that price, it's worth it- but I'd much rather pay less. Thx OP!

QnDLet's see - I pay my insurance premium. If I'm ripped off of my goods I'm covered. What I primarily look at a home alarm system for is to protect the persons in the house. I have a more restful night sleep knowing that the alarm system is protecting us from anything that goes bump in the night.

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