Re: avoiding being "locked out"

["R.H.Campbell" <rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There does not appear to be any easy way to do this. Generally, installing
companies in the area get to know those who engage in this shady practice,
but an individual consumer never knows until he goes to change monitoring
suppliers. Since I unlock quite a number of boards for local (and not so
local) companies, I have come to know the companies in our area that do it.
If I were to generalize (with all it's inherent flaws), I would have to say
that the smaller the alarm company, the more you should be alert for this.
For example, in our area, ADT never lock their boards, nor do Protectron.
But I can think of a half a dozen other small to medium companies that
always do. But I have heard that some "authorized dealers" of ADT in other
areas do. So the field is wide open.

Most equipment has a check for this during a power up and down cycle.
Unfortunately, some makes destroy a measure of the existing programming if
you try, thereby effectively disabling the panel for local use.

R.H.Campbell
Home Security Metal Products
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
www.homemetal.com


<powercat@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1124629286.071477.270930@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Greetings I know a commercial alarm system installer who moonlights on
> residential set-ups.  Basically I do the unpleasant part (running the
> wiring) and he does the programming and is paid appropriately for that
> task.  What he does not do is sell alarm monitoring to avoid a conflict
> with his "real" employer.
>
> This all sounds very fair to me.  He does say "pick an alarm monitoring
> company that won't "lock out" your panel and prevent you from switching
> later".
>
> In short how do you know if a company is engaged in that practice
> (obviously I can ask).  This sounds very shady to me especially if I
> own the equipment.
>
> Thanks for any comments.
>