Secure Your Home
By floor9 on Jun 13, 2007 in Central PA, Technology
It’s that time of year again. Summer weather brings warm evenings on the deck at Duke’s, cookouts in backyards and decks all over the midstate, and that inexplicable bliss one gets from stepping from the heat and mugginess of Second Street into the cool, dry air of Your Favorite Club. It also brings a sharp increase in the number of prowlers, burglars, and other friendly neighborhood faces. Yet each year, we read about multiple incidents where someone was murdered or assaulted in their own home. Which begs the question — with security systems starting under $200, and monitoring available for as little as $5.00 per month, how are these things still happening?
I’ve talked about burglar alarms before. Put simply, they’re a very inexpensive way to help protect your home and, more importantly, your life. Quality systems are availble from a number of sources for $200 - $250. The monitoring company that I use even sells systems that include one year of free monitoring starting at $249. For me, this was a tiny price to pay to watch my home for burglars, fire, or worse when I can’t.
I continue to be dumbstruck when I hear people say things like “I don’t need an alarm, I have a gun” or “someone breaks into MY house, I’ll kick their ass”. But what good does a gun do if you’re sleeping? What makes you think you’ll wake up in time to fight? For that matter, what makes you think someone will break in while you’re home?
Alarms don’t just watch your house while you’re away. Pretty much all systems include a “Home” mode, where only your door and window sensors are monitored. This mode ignores your interior motion detectors, allowing you to move around freely inside your house. But the instant someone cracks open a window or door, the system sounds the alarm and notifies the monitoring center, who in turn will dispatch your local police department.
And it’s not just intrusions. All of my smoke detectors are tied into my panel as well. There are also flood sensors, carbon monoxide detectors, even temperature sensors (nothing like coming home after a long weekend to a broken furnace and shattered pipes) that tie into any given system. I know for a fact that if my house catches fire while I’m away, the fire department has a fighting chance of saving it.
Monitoring isn’t that expensive, either. I pay just $11/mo for 24-hour, UL-listed service, with real, live, human beings on the other end when trouble arises. I’ve seen service as low as $8.99/mo. Companies like ADT and Brinks will charge you well over $30/mo, and will lock your security system so that it can never be used with another monitoring company. By buying your own system and installing it yourself, you’ll not only save a ton of money, but you’ll be free to choose whatever monitoring company you choose.
I’ll be happy to help anyone reading this to design and pick out a system. Just reply to this post, or use the “contact” button above. When I read about a tragedy like the family from Lancaster, I can’t help but wonder if a $250 plastic box would have prevented that.
I guess you wouldn’t be able to give an objective opinion of the X10 security system?
Bone | Jun 13, 2007 | Reply
Actually, my first alarm was an X10 panel. I think I may still have it around here somewhere if you want it - free. It was utter garbage. I purchased it because it was cheap, and I figured all I needed was something to make loud noise when someone broke into my home. Unfortunately, it failed miserably. For starters, the motion detectors would trip constantly for no reason (this was before the cats were in place, so I can’t blame it on pets). Then, because the device doesn’t have a swinger-stop feature (whereby a device giving multiple alarms within a set period eventually gets ignored), it would keep calling me over and over. Finally, it won’t tell you what’s wrong when it calls you; you have to call it back. Stupid idea, because that means while I’m waiting for it to ring 15 times before it answers, it’s tripping yet another false alarm. So right about the time I hit ring #14, it would pick up the line, sense no dialtone, hang up, and call me to tell me I had to call it back. This would go on for hours.
But the X10 alarm system is especially vulnerable to the one achilles heel of wireless systems: Destroying the panel. If you break into a home with a screeching alarm (or an alarm giving a countdown tone), just smash the panel before it can call out for help — voila, no alarm. My system has a remote keypad and several remote sirens, so intruders can’t just follow the sound of the siren to locate / destroy the panel. I suppose they can locate it after a few minutes of frantic searching, but it only takes 20 seconds to call in a report; after that, they can do whatever they want.
The X10 also doesn’t support tamper alarms (alerting you if someone tries to remove or disable a sensor) IIRC, nor does it report conditions like low batteries in the sensors, signal jamming attempts, or power failures. It also doesn’t use supervised devices, which means that it will never notice if a device goes missing.
Finally, the X10 doesn’t support monitoring. This means that when someone breaks into your home while you’re sleeping, your alarm will helpfully call you to inform that someone is in your house.
To paraphrase, avoid the X10 at all costs. I wouldn’t even trust it to secure my cat’s litterbox.
floor9 | Jun 13, 2007 | Reply
Hi,
What security system do you have, and what company do you use for just $11 a month?
Thanks,
Katie
Katie | Jul 15, 2007 | Reply
There are several reliable companies in that price range. I use NextAlarm (nextalarm.com). Another good one is Alarm Relay (alarmrelay.com). I’ve had NextAlarm since 2004 and have never had a single issue with them.
You can use any brand of alarm system you like, but NextAlarm offers two different systems that include one year of free monitoring for around $250. Click here: https://nextalarm.com/products.jsp
Be wary of alarm companies that offer “free” alarm systems. You’ll get the basic hardware for free, but you’ll need to sign a multi-year monitoring contract — usually to the tune of $30 / month or more. Your “free” alarm will wind up costing you a LOT more than it should.
floor9 | Jul 15, 2007 | Reply