Alarm company vs. Ring

[tcufrog]

Next month we are moving to a new house. We currently live in a small town (population is the size of the large high school I attended) where the town DPS monitors the house alarms for free. It's a very safe town with very little crime. We're moving to a brand new suburban-style neighborhood in a large city. It's supposed to be a pretty safe area but I want to get some sort of alarm system set up when we move. The home is brand new and doesn't have alarm wiring. The city police aren't known for being as helpful as the police in our current town.

What would y'all recommend? Should we go with something like Ring or should I get our home wired for an alarm system? If you recommend the latter, what company would you recommend and what features do you think are worth it? It will be a two-story home. The community isn't gated.

 

[barkley]

no suggestions for a company but you might want to check with your homeowner's insurance to find out what discounts they might offer on your premiums for one type vs. another. it could help you with running the numbers on cost if you knew that one type would be offset w/a policy discount vs. another that wouldn't.

 

[GreatLakes]

Next month we are moving to a new house. We currently live in a small town (population is the size of the large high school I attended) where the town DPS monitors the house alarms for free. It's a very safe town with very little crime. We're moving to a brand new suburban-style neighborhood in a large city. It's supposed to be a pretty safe area but I want to get some sort of alarm system set up when we move. The home is brand new and doesn't have alarm wiring. The city police aren't known for being as helpful as the police in our current town.

What would y'all recommend? Should we go with something like Ring or should I get our home wired for an alarm system? If you recommend the latter, what company would you recommend and what features do you think are worth it? It will be a two-story home. The community isn't gated.

The ring doorbell is great but I don't think it is an either/or in your situation. I would go with the Ring doorbell and look at a wireless alarm system. I have SimpliSafe but there are others. The sensors all communicate wirelessly with a base station and then that station can be set up to have multiple redundant paths. SimpliSafe uses LTE and WiFi but there are others that can also use a landline. The security system we put in all of our corporate locations is similar. The sensors aren't WiFi, just the base station out.

All that being said the two best things you can do for security are motion lights and having a dog so I would suggest adding those to whatever solution you go with.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Another SimpliSafe fan here. We've had it at least 5 years. I love that you don't have to wire anything, and you can add modules as needed.

 

[tvguy]

Around here most alarm companies will put in a system for free if you sign up for 3 years monitoring at $40 to $50 a month. I save 15% on my homeowners insurance for having an alarm.
You are in an unusual situation in your current town with the Police actually monitoring the alarms. Here, residential burglar alarms are listed as "Priority Zero" calls. That means if a burglar alarm goes off on a house, officers will only respond if all over calls for service have been handled, and everyone has gotten their meal break. Do not confuse that for a burglar alarm on a house going off and someone inside calling 9-1-1, that would get an immediate response from law enforcement. I understand the reason residential alarms are a low priority since 95% are false alarms, and that includes the alarm calls where someone calls 9-1-1 from inside the home.
The real role of a residential burglar alarm is to deter break in attempts, to scare off those who might be trying to break in, and to alert your immediate neighbors of the attempt by the siren or bell going off. I suspect by the time an alarm company calls your local law enforcement after an alarm goes off, and an officer is dispatched, any burglar is long gone.

 

[MrsPete]

Neither. Total waste of money. An alarm system is going to tell you that someone has broken into your house, but it isn't going to do anything to stop that person. Before you say, "Oh, but I'll have a picture of him!" No, no, you won't. You'll have a picture of someone nondescript in a hoodie or a hat -- criminals aren't stupid.

Put the money into a solid front door with a deadbolt lock and no pier glasses to the sides -- and other protections that'll actually keep the burglar out of your house.

 

[_19disnA]

If you decide to get an alarm system, most are now wireless, so there is no need for the builder to run a lot of extra wiring as was the case in the past. Motion sensors, window sensors, etc. are simply attached and communicate to the base unit wirelessly. Many amateur burglars simply enter through an unlocked first floor window, so some common sense along with a security system is a good plan.

When we had some issues in our neighborhood last year, it was teenagers looking for money/valuables left in unlocked cars in the yard overnight. So a little common sense goes a long way. Police finally caught them and put an end to that. ALWAYS lock your car in the driveway overnight no matter where you live and don't leave PC's or other items of obvious value on the front seat.

 

[barkley]

Around here most alarm companies will put in a system for free if you sign up for 3 years monitoring at $40 to $50 a month. I save 15% on my homeowners insurance for having an alarm.
You are in an unusual situation in your current town with the Police actually monitoring the alarms. Here, residential burglar alarms are listed as "Priority Zero" calls. That means if a burglar alarm goes off on a house, officers will only respond if all over calls for service have been handled, and everyone has gotten their meal break. Do not confuse that for a burglar alarm on a house going off and someone inside calling 9-1-1, that would get an immediate response from law enforcement. I understand the reason residential alarms are a low priority since 95% are false alarms, and that includes the alarm calls where someone calls 9-1-1 from inside the home.
The real role of a residential burglar alarm is to deter break in attempts, to scare off those who might be trying to break in, and to alert your immediate neighbors of the attempt by the siren or bell going off. I suspect by the time an alarm company calls your local law enforcement after an alarm goes off, and an officer is dispatched, any burglar is long gone.

i remember when the little town we lived in near you instituted a fee for response by the local p.d. on calls from alarm companies-there was a certain number/over a certain period of time that people got free of charge but after that unless there was direct evidence of a break in the homeowner got billed (too many false alarms or oversensitive systems that got triggered by house cats).

 

[DVC-Don]

We have our alarm through the cable company and it's wireless. We have breakin and fire detection on our service.

 

[jerseygal]

Have had ADT for 27 years, in 3 different houses been very happy with it, can't imagine not having it. We have ADT stickers on rear slider door, basement slider door, and an ADT sign right by our front steps. We live in a very safe community, but it is a matter of "peace of mind". As others have said, no need to hard wire a home anymore. We have backup cellular coverage in case the Landline telephone line is cut, the cellguard coverage takes over. In addition to window and door sensors, we have glass protection breakage coverage monitors in case the glass on sliders is broken. Most communities are experiencing the same issue as others have said in regard to car burglary in cars where people leave cars unlocked and valuables in sight on their driveway. That is just plain old "asking for trouble".

 

[Micca]

Neither. Total waste of money. An alarm system is going to tell you that someone has broken into your house, but it isn't going to do anything to stop that person. Before you say, "Oh, but I'll have a picture of him!" No, no, you won't. You'll have a picture of someone nondescript in a hoodie or a hat -- criminals aren't stupid.

Yes and no. You may have a "picture of someone nondescript in a hoodie" but chances are there will be other folks in the area who will get that same video and the police can put something together based on it. You can also get video of suspicious characters that circulate on Nextdoor and other such websites that can help narrow the field of people who are up to no good. I'd also argue that some criminals ARE stupid because we're seeing people who are oblivious to the fact that they are on camera. We also have issues with area teens pulling various pranks that get shut down pretty quickly because of the Ring doorbell.

It's not ideal, but it's reasonably priced and it gives you an eye on your property and area that you wouldn't otherwise have.