Searched and looks like last thread was 2011?
In the house 43 years. Take 6-8 weeks of vacation a year. House behind us was broken into yesterday. Wife wants alarm installed.
What to get, options, who to get it from etc.?

 

We use Scout. Flexible system where you get get as many components as you need. App integration is easy, and professional monitoring is $200 a month (but you can forego that if you want). Love it so far, only problem is that the sensors are battery powered, so you do need to do a battery replacement every couple of months

 

$200 a month

I'm cheap so I use SmartThings because it's free self monitoring but it obviously, doesn't call police/fire. That being said, I believe Scout will monitor ST if need be.

 

We use SimpliSafe with a few Arlo cameras scattered around. SimpliSafe is only $14/mo and they have been awesome. Had them for about 2.5 years now and highly recommend them.

 

$200 a month?!?!?! Smartthings + 12ga is all the monitoring I plan on doing in the very near future. Will look into simplisafe and scout though.

 

my dad has ADT. He noticed a problem on his panel and called in to ADT to find out that his CO's needed replacing and they had tried to call him for several weeks... on weekdays... during working hours... and didn't leave any messages

 

I've been on enough jobs that have had ADT there to install their stuff to know, do not go with ADT. If you cannot take the time to at least make your wiring neat, than you have no business being in the business. Just about every ADT install I see is a mess. The best is usually to find the small independent shops if you want quality. If you want cheap, the bigger companies will usually cover the price of equipment with a signed contract for a specific length of time. $200 a month is just plain absurd for monitoring. Most places are in the $30/month range. Some may be a little higher or lower.

 

I have received the sales pitches. Final decision will be Bay Alarm or Abode.

 

Sorry, $200/year for scout for professional monitoring, not a month. This includes monitoring through their cellular backup system, in case your house has a wifi or power outage

 

I went with a small local place. The house already had equiptment in but I paid to upgrade to a cell connection as I don't pay for a phoneline. Even with the cell connection fee and the monitoring fee I still only pay $25 a month for my service.

 

^ That's not bad...

Problem with our house is no attic, no crawl/basement... so wireless is the only option. SimpliSafe just made the most sense and the low cost of it is just a bonus

 

Currently have ADT (Wish I went with a different company) Pulse and they have recently raised their rates so I'm currently paying $50/mo. My contract will be over soon and will happily say good bye to them.
Their customer service sucks and they are very expensive!