Looking to possibly purchase a security system...Was wondering which company is the best to deal with ???? ADT, AlarmForce,etc........Any comments would greatly be appreciated

Wow...that's alot like deciding which DVD player or Television Manufacture to deal with. :)

All the major companies deal in slightly different models, some have wired, some wireless. Some charge nothing if you monitor, some charge alot but you gain more control of your alarm system. There are also some great small companies out there ,that install the same equipment that might give you a better deal.

If you give me more info as to what you want to "alarm" I can suggest some things...

What is your location? Check out these people, you won't beat the price if they're in your area.

http://www.themonitoringcenter.com/

Also do a search for "security systems" or "alarm monitoring" - plenty of previous threads. For example:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=38901

Sorry for being so vague....I am in the Niagara region area.....mainly looking for a system that specializes more in burglary prevention and Home Security..Don't wish to pay a crap load up front(if anything at all)....but would like to have peace of mind for the family.

Like mentioned, some companies might offer a free security system with x amount of devices if you sign a monitoring contract with them for 3-4-5 years. You'll end up paying more in the long run, but nothing up front.

Be careful with your alarm companies search.

Try to find an independant alarm company if you can. A friend of mine is with Alarm Force and he was not very happy with their product and service.

Basically they rely on a simple plug in alarm module that does not take control of the phone line (at least not in my friends install). All the rest of the modules are wireless and require batteries to be changed periodically which is not covered or done by alarm force.

You should be able to find an independant company that will monitor for about $15 a month. Installation of a basic alarm system is about $500 for a wired install including the equipment.

Factor this in when you consider an installation included price which can range from $28 to $40 a month...

Here is an interesting web site from an independant alarm contractor in Ottawa. It has some good general information. I used to use this guy but he does cover my new area after I moved...

http://www3.sympatico.ca/rh.campbell/

Skippy31

I have installed thousands of alarms, and while others say different, I always preach a few things, that will save you in the long run...

1. Always try to go hard wired if you can. (I know technology is great but changing batteries, interference, surface mounted stuff that can break off etc... will always be a problem)

2. Never sign a contract for more than a year. Or atleast make sure you can break out of your contract with no or little penalties...I can tell you stories...

3. A system YOU buy is always better. Anyone installing for free will give you the appropriate service for it. They want to make up the money in monitoring so the priority isn't installation it's the monitoring. Others will say different but I can tell from LOTS of experience...


Hope that helps.

You are absolutely dead on the money ! Phoney "free" systems are nothing but an EXPENSIVE way to finance an alarm purchase. As well, long term contracts do NOTHING for the client and severely limit your freedom to move suppliers should your alarm company give you bad service, or for any of a lot of legitimate reasons. You want to remain in the drivers seat, so go month to month only. If they insist on a long term contract, show them the door !!

And always remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch in business ! You WILL pay the piper at some point. How much in total depends upon you !!

Hope that helps as well.:p

:) Thanks for all the input and suggestions.....will be doing some more research into the companies in my area....Once again THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As the saying goes...you get what you pay for. Don't go cheap on the control unit.
DSC makes a quality product for a control head end and will give years of trouble free operation.

As a rule get all the basement windows contacted with a motion detector for backup. Front and back doors and door to garage if that applies. A second keypad is a nice feature by the garage door if that applies.

Sliding windows on the main floor should be contacted with a motion detector covering the traffic areas as backup.

If you are going to have the system monitored, smoke detectors are a great add on. They will run on the alarm systems power and have battery stand by during power failures. Your insurance company might give you a break with them as well.

The smaller companies are a better bet for price but if you go no name service could be an issue.

I would not recommend wireless at all...no plug in transformers either. Remember a system is only as good as it's ability to communicate to the alarm station. Phone lines can be cut very easily but with name brand products cell backups are available.

In a nut shell its nice to have the system on when sleeping with the motions off so you can move freely around the house at night and have a siren wake you if someone breaks through the perimeter.
And when coming home to an empty house you see an alarm in memory turn around and leave the house until you know its ok inside.

These days its for your protection more than for your stuff. If they want in, they are coming in.

Just another note,

We had ALARM FORCE for the 3 year contract and we were not happy with their services. First off, the guy that came to install made unnecessary holes in the wall, scratched the walls with his equipment. When the alarm would be set off accidentally it would take almost two minutes before the two way voice would kick in, half the time you could hardly understand what they were saying. In real terms, by the time they use the two way, then find out that you can't verify with a password they call your cell phone. By now 5-10 minutes has gone by before they even call the police. When the police get the call, almost 15 minutes has gone by. By then, the burgalar has already taken valuables etc. By the time police show up (home alarm is the lowest priority for them and average response time is 45 minutes in most urban areas) the burgalar is long gone with all your valuables. Trust me, monitored home security systems are just a gimmick. Check out private dealers and look for security systems that have loud sirens (inexpensive), strobe lights for outside, and automatic dialers that can call you directly within 10 seconds of the alarm being activated. Sirens are the biggest deterrant anyway, make it loud so that neighbours can hear.

Check out alarmshield.ca they offer systems with no monthly fees and no contracts

I had ADT in my townhouse. After my 3-year contract was up, I went with The Monitoring Centre. I think ADT's service was good, but The Monitoring Centre's service was equally good or better.

I moved into a new house with a DSC PC-3000 (http://www.aaaalarms.ca/file_source/AAA%20Alarms/Static%20Files/PDFs/dsc_pc3000_ledkeypad.pdf) and still use The Monitoring Centre.

I think the current TMC deal is $220 for 18 months (including the $100 setup fee), which works out to $15.56 per month plus tax. After that it's $120 per year (which is $10 per month). So, the cost for say 3.5 years is $460, not including equipment or tax.

For ADT, you get your equipment "free", but it's still $200 for the installation, and $34 per month for the monitoring. So after 3.5 years that's $1628. Ouch!

The difference is over $1168 in just 3.5 years. That would buy an awful lot of equipment. Last I checked, ADT makes you sign a 3-year contract if you want the free equipment.

Now, let's expand that to 10.5 years:

TMC (no equipment) - $1300
ADT (free hardware) - $4484

That's a difference of $3184, all for "free" equipment.

I agree with comments about A-Force. The contract I signed was 4 years and I kicked myself a day after signing. The machine was very hokey - a small box that was both alarm, voice box and command centre, plus a couple of sensors. The service was equally unimpressive.

Also, it is monitored in Ontario so they have no clue where your location is outside of Sudbury or wherever they are. And Im still trying to figure this one out: we moved to a new house while still under contract and moved the equipment with us (ie just unplugged it) due to the contract. When the system went off one day they called the people at our old house to check and make sure everything was ok! They had our new address in their systems but somehow skipped to the old information (and skipped our phone number) and looked up the address we used to live at and called those people! They didn't even have an alarm. We would have never known had we not been friends with the people that bought our old place. Very Strange.:confused:

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone had any experience with Kelcom's security one service? They are based in Ontario and have a call centre in Leamington, ON. I am also curious about wireless monitoring, is it worth the extra fee? Any suggestions is much appreciated!

We haven't had any problems with our wireless system... It's a smaller house, (1300sqft 2 story), but everything communicates perfectly fine, had it for almost a year now and no battery problems, (they are supposed to replace batteries as part of service whenever they do go). The Cellular phone monitoring works great, we don't even have a normal landline phone. The monitoring company is very good and very professional on the phone, they call even when the power goes out.

We went with APX alarms, as they were going door to door in our neighborhood... kind of regretted paying $44 for 5 years. Pretty expensive but I'm quite happy with service and equipment (all Honeywell stuff... good enough but not top of the line I'm sure).

Same here. My current place is hardwired, but my previous townhouse was wireless. It was a relatively small place, but those wireless sensors did work fine.

My neighbor across the street had Alarmforce which was just a small all-in-one box that connected into a standard phone jack. When they tripped the alarm by accident, they'd just unplug the phone jack to disable it. Now that's security. hehe

I have installed thousands of alarms, and while others say different, I always preach a few things, that will save you in the long run...

1. Always try to go hard wired if you can. (I know technology is great but changing batteries, interference, surface mounted stuff that can break off etc... will always be a problem)

2. Never sign a contract for more than a year. Or atleast make sure you can break out of your contract with no or little penalties...I can tell you stories...

3. A system YOU buy is always better. Anyone installing for free will give you the appropriate service for it. They want to make up the money in monitoring so the priority isn't installation it's the monitoring. Others will say different but I can tell from LOTS of experience...


My $0.02 from a good many years in the industry:

1. Interference is practically never a problem, but you certainly right about the batteries. Even at five years, it's a major PITA to source $50 of lithium batteries and run around changing them. With the surface mount devices, the biggest thing is they are unsightly compared to a nicely flush mounted contact.

2. You got that right.

3. Nothing is free, and like Eug points out, the exact opposite is often the case.

I just switched my monitoring from API to TMC. Very happy wit the switch so far. 18 months for the price of 12 to help offset the $99 switch fee. Plus, I've already referred my two neighbours, so another 4 months free.

My only complaint would be the tech who came out accidentally hit the reset button on my modem in the media box in the basement. I was working from home and lost a presentation I was working on while connected to work…..at least I only lost 5 slides though :rolleyes:

I'm curious to find out how expensive wireless monitoring would cost. I have a VOIP line and love what Nextalarm offers, but I don't like the idea of buying my system online and having to do the install myself. I'd rather a local rep come to my house, survey everything then recommend what I need. I checked ADT and they want $45/month for wireless monitoring! That to me, is too expensive. Any one have any experience with this?