Hi,
I was thinking the other day, that rather then pay $35 a month for ADT
to baby sit me, I could dump them, and have the system call my
cellphone if the alarm goes off.
Monitoring by professionals is not required just like dyers do as good
the installation job than so called pro's.
Too many false alarms have lead police to a point that they lower the
intervention priority of alarm calls.
Where is the benefit to have pro monitoring?
Initially the cause of police complains about false alarms was that
the systems where installed by non pro's, not reliable they said..
Did the pro's installations improve false alarms, i think so when it
boils down to selecting the appropriate type of sensor (dog present,
sunshine,..), but you can have recommendations/advises also, so why
would a pro installation be better when it boils down to false alarm
system reliability ?
You can make a parallel between installation knowledge and monitoring,
why should you need them?
Let's see how i handle alarms without monitoring ?
First, i prefer a silent alarm approach :
- i don't see who allows himself to involve external persons not
directly involved with a noisy sound/flashlight outside.
There is already enough unwanted noise around;
Its no longer an alarm system according to law when those
external devises are not present, Dyer's welcome.
- i prefer several low volume buzzers, located at multiple
places inside my house, in order to inform the intruder that he
has been detected.
There are enough spare wires in the cables to the
sensors to provide the required alarm signal to small buzzers all
around the protected area's.
- i let the system rings directly to my cell phone. If i like to
have my neighbor's involved, i give them a personal call and
explain them the ongoing problem.
At least i will know who is involved to observe the surrounding and
who look if the police are arriving. No direct intervention;
- second, i let the system call back hiss own phone-line who will
be busy of course (see below for more details).
Is a pro monitoring required ?
The usual arguments of monitoring stations are that they are
available all the time and that you will not receive the alarm call
all the time. Well yes and no..
How do i solve that?
When an alarm is detected it dial my cell phone and the place
where the alarm is originated from, my home. Why ?
Well when i'm not reachable for action (at the theater for instance
or for any other reason) i redirect my alarm phone-line
"conditionally" (when the line is busy) to an alternative person who
agree to take action.
When an alarm goes on, my alarm phone-line is busy, so it redirects.
Why do i not change the phone number in the alarm control panel to
redirect the call?
Redirection by means of a phone is less error risky, it can be done :
- with my home-phone in a semi-automatic manner, the
redirection/cancel data is included and stored in the phone number
to call;
- from my cell phone at any time and place;
So, is so called pro monitoring required?
Do they do a better job whit theyre standard procedures?
Is outside warning (yelling and flashing devices) mandatory?
Are very noisy sirens inside required to disturb intruders?
Well it depends on your choice and how good you will feel
afterwards about the selected solution.
How good will you feel when you select:
- an all included out of your control handling by so called
standard procedure alarm stations or
- when you choise a personal intervention when there is an
alarm going on.
Think it over.
Paul