Home security system

mms2020

Member
We are moving to new home in Pavilion Park next month.  Irvine is generally safe but Pavilion Park is going to have lot of construction for next couple of years. That makes me concerned about general security and want to have a security system installed.  I have looked it ADT and others as well as thought about DIY systems and going with alarmrelay.com etc.  It seems that unless one is handy with the DIY systems, installation can be costly.

I would really appreciate if some one has any recommendations for the security companies which can do both installation and monitoring, or a contractor how can install a system with reasonable cost.  Thanks
 
In addition to mms question,  what are your thoughts about hardwired vs wireless security ?  Is the extra cost of hard wiring the security systems / sensors worth it and does it even add value to the house down the road?  My calculation shows about extra $2.5K cost for pre-build hardwire vs third-party wireless security system after build out given the same amount of equipments and sensors (used Cox Home Security as comparison) plus a 3 yr contract to use the in-house monitoring system which is about $10+/month more expensive. 

mms, we currently have security monitoring with JWE (http://www.jwecorp.com/home.php?page=Solutions) for a little under $25/month.  It was the in-house security company and one-yr monitoring was included in the hardwire installation package and we just went with them afterwards. So far so good, the few times the alarms got accidentally triggered, they called right away.  Once both of us did not respond to the call, and Irvine police were right in our door in 20 minutes or so to check =)
 
we use alarm.com, we went with the wireless security system. the sensors install very easily and can be removed easily as well without any damage. that way if something goes wrong you can just replace the sensor. the alarm unit itself just needs a power source and it sends/receives all signals through cellular so its pretty hard to be disabled. im not handy at all and was able to install the system easily. the sensors have a heavy duty adhesive and i have not had one fall off. i have their wifi cameras as well and use them to keep an eye on the nanny and dogs. excellent features as well. has the iphone app also, but im guessing now that is pretty much standard with all security companies. i pay 50/month cause i have the cameras, they offer packages as low as 28/month i believe though.
 
Thank you to every one who replied.

Qwerty: Would you be able to share which system you have?

I was also thinking about home automation with the z-wave devices and possibly getting a security system which interacts with z-wave.  There is a lot of information available at different websites and forums.  Just wondering if any one on the TI had any practical experience with this.

 
@qwerter:

What was the cost of the equipment?

I think you got it for the doggy/nanny cam... there are no burglars in Irvine/Tustin.
 
mms2020 said:
Thank you to every one who replied.

Qwerty: Would you be able to share which system you have?

I was also thinking about home automation with the z-wave devices and possibly getting a security system which interacts with z-wave.  There is a lot of information available at different websites and forums.  Just wondering if any one on the TI had any practical experience with this.

here is their hardware page:http://www.alarm.com/productservices/hardware/hardware.aspx

for the cameras i have several of the Indoor Wireless Fixed IP Camera with Night Vision (ADC-V520IR)

for the sensors i have motion, door and window sensors.

for the control panel i have the Interlogix Simon XT
 
irvinehomeowner said:
@qwerter:

What was the cost of the equipment?

I think you got it for the doggy/nanny cam... there are no burglars in Irvine/Tustin.

yeah i got it for the dogs/nanny. i used to just have the DLINK camera that i used to access through the Dlink website for the dogs. when we bought the house figured we would just get a full blown system. the cameras are the most expensive, cost about $150-160 each.  total cost of the equipment was about 500-600 but if you sign up for a three year monitoring agreement they knock off $300. so 200-300 net.

just saw they have this now, seems pretty cool, but you dont need if you have the cameras. 
http://www.alarm.com/productservices/imagesensor/image-sensor.aspx
 
mms2020 said:
Thank you to every one who replied.

Qwerty: Would you be able to share which system you have?

I was also thinking about home automation with the z-wave devices and possibly getting a security system which interacts with z-wave.  There is a lot of information available at different websites and forums.  Just wondering if any one on the TI had any practical experience with this.

i thought about doing home automation, but my thermostat (as in all new construction) are programmable, but the house never gets that hot/cold that i need to program it. now the nanny is there so doesnt really matter. the only benefit would be to be able to turn lights on/off but as IHO in irvine/tustin (or santa ana as homer likes to say) you really dont have to worry about burglars too much. and if they do get in then the alarm will just go off. didnt seem worth it.
 
qwerty, how's your experience with Dlink cameras ?  I saw one in Best Buy black friday sale and might want to pick up one .. Also, why did you decide to go full blown instead of the DLink cameras which I assume you only monitor yourself (and will email/msg you when things get triggered)?  What extra value are you getting for the extra monthly monitoring fee ?  (More than the fee, am somewhat also  not comfortable on some unknown person in unknown location being able to look inside my house when they want) ...  thanks
 
GH said:
qwerty, how's your experience with Dlink cameras ?  I saw one in Best Buy black friday sale and might want to pick up one .. Also, why did you decide to go full blown instead of the DLink cameras which I assume you only monitor yourself (and will email/msg you when things get triggered)?  What extra value are you getting for the extra monthly monitoring fee ?  (More than the fee, am somewhat also  not comfortable on some unknown person in unknown location being able to look inside my house when they want) ...  thanks

i bought one of the plug n play Dlink cameras (DCS 1130 which appears that they dont offer it anymore) to go with Dlink router at the time. Supposed to be plug n play but i still had to call customer service to help me set it up. Once it got it set up it was great. I could see everything using the mydlink website and on my iphone, worked perfectly. 

we switched to a full blown system cause i could get email/text notifications when the dog walker came/left, when the housekeeper came/left, that was the primary reason. but the peace of mind knowing that the alarm will go off if someone breaks into the house is nice - that should make them take off.  at night if someone breaks in it will give me a headstart to grab the .45

according to the alarm company no one can see inside of our home but if they want to see me in my underwear more power to them. same thing with Dlink, they werent supposed to be able to see inside your home. I know you can set up cameras that dont need to go through a third party website but im not smart enough to set those up.
 
qwerty said:
i bought one of the plug n play Dlink cameras (DCS 1130 which appears that they dont offer it anymore) to go with Dlink router at the time. Supposed to be plug n play but i still had to call customer service to help me set it up. Once it got it set up it was great. I could see everything using the mydlink website and on my iphone, worked perfectly. 

we switched to a full blown system cause i could get email/text notifications when the dog walker came/left, when the housekeeper came/left, that was the primary reason. but the peace of mind knowing that the alarm will go off if someone breaks into the house is nice - that should make them take off.  at night if someone breaks in it will give me a headstart to grab the .45

according to the alarm company no one can see inside of our home but if they want to see me in my underwear more power to them. same thing with Dlink, they werent supposed to be able to see inside your home. I know you can set up cameras that dont need to go through a third party website but im not smart enough to set those up.

I would suppose the Dlink one did not have monthly fee associated with it while the current one has? I guess my question is what extra value do you get for paying extra per month for the camera monitoring package instead of just doing the basic door/window sensor package and use your existing Dlink camera to monitor ?
 
GH said:
qwerty said:
i bought one of the plug n play Dlink cameras (DCS 1130 which appears that they dont offer it anymore) to go with Dlink router at the time. Supposed to be plug n play but i still had to call customer service to help me set it up. Once it got it set up it was great. I could see everything using the mydlink website and on my iphone, worked perfectly. 

we switched to a full blown system cause i could get email/text notifications when the dog walker came/left, when the housekeeper came/left, that was the primary reason. but the peace of mind knowing that the alarm will go off if someone breaks into the house is nice - that should make them take off.  at night if someone breaks in it will give me a headstart to grab the .45

according to the alarm company no one can see inside of our home but if they want to see me in my underwear more power to them. same thing with Dlink, they werent supposed to be able to see inside your home. I know you can set up cameras that dont need to go through a third party website but im not smart enough to set those up.

I would suppose the Dlink one did not have monthly fee associated with it while the current one has? I guess my question is what extra value do you get for paying extra per month for the camera monitoring package instead of just doing the basic door/window sensor package and use your existing Dlink camera to monitor ?

you are correct. the Dlink had no fee associated with it. in my current set up i pay $10/month for the camera monitoring.  There is no real benefit for paying the $10/month. The benefit for me is that i have all the data/video on one site. For example, i can switch tabs from the video tab and see the sensor activity (what time they were opened/closed, etc) so i only log into one website. i suppose i could just as easily do with with two tabs open in the same window but it just seemed more convenient.

but you are right, you can just have the dlink setup for video and basic sensors from your alarm company.
 
Smarthome or alarm relay alarm monitoring is $8.95/mo + $35 setup fee, if you buy the alarm device. Breaks even with ADT cost in about a couple of years, depends on what you buy.
 
adventurous said:
Smarthome or alarm relay alarm monitoring is $8.95/mo + $35 setup fee, if you buy the alarm device. Breaks even with ADT cost in about a couple of years, depends on what you buy.

Adt 3 year contract, plans starting from $30 a month. Also, equipment is only for adt. So if you decide to go with a cheaper alarm service after adt you have to get new equipment.


 
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