Re: Which system is better?

["Crash Gordon" <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So you'd have the neighbor go over and get shot by the burglar...before the
police arrive...interesting concept.



--
**Crash Gordon**







"Bill" <billnomailnospamx@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7g4k29F2m9bvoU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> As to monitored systems and response time, most home security systems
> basically pick up the phone, dial a number to an alarm business monitoring
> station, and transmit your alarm information to the alarm company. Then
> the alarm company picks up the phone and calls the police.
>
> The problem with this is many alarm monitoring centers are out of town.
> They will have one large center to serve a regional area. Sometimes the
> phone lines going out of town can be busy and your alarm system may need
> to call several times before it finally gets through. This is rare these
> days, but still happens sometimes.
>
> There are more expensive alarm systems available which are always
> connected to a separate phone line and instantly notify the alarm company
> if there is an alarm.
>
> So you get what you pay for, but if you need "for sure" instant
> notification, it is available.
>
> Then as to response time, in some areas the police get tons of false
> alarms. Burglar alarms go off, and most of the time it winds up being a
> malfunction of the alarm system. So the police get to thinking alarms are
> a waste of their time and take their time responding. Sometimes taking 30
> minutes or longer to respond.
>
> But again you get what you pay for and can pay for optional services. Some
> alarm companies have private armed guards who will respond to your alarm
> quicker than the police. So you can have a private guard service respond
> as well as the police and chances are someone will show up sooner than if
> you had just the police responding.
>
> And the alarm monitoring company has people working there. When an alarm
> is transmitted to the alarm company, these people can notify anyone you
> want. Maybe you have a neighbor who is a good friend. The alarm company
> could notify the police and your neighbor. A neighbor would be able to get
> there quicker than anyone else. Or call you on your cell phone or call you
> at work. Whatever you want, mix/match!
>
> Also a monitored alarm system can send different signals or alarms. You
> can have burglar signal in which case they notify the police, fire signal
> in which case they notify the fire department, and medical in which they
> call the paramedics (or whoever you want). And you can have a remote
> control which you carry with you and this can signal an attack by an
> intruder, or it could be assigned to a medical alarm and maybe an elderly
> person in the home would carry it around - press the button if having
> medical problems.
>
> Or maybe you have a vacation home and the basement is prone to flooding,
> you could have a water alarm and the alarm company would notify just you
> for that specific signal. Or you may own a business and there is a lot of
> refrigerated meat - you could monitor the temperatures in the freezers and
> have the alarm company notify you (and others if you are not available)
> that the temperature is above a certain point or the electricity is off or
> both.
>
> Then you can have silent alarms where only a signal is sent to the alarm
> company or it could also sound a local siren, bell, etc. And each signal
> the alarm sends can be set as to if it sounds a local siren/bell or not.
> You could have a silent burglar alarm and also a fire alarm which has an
> audible alarm. These different alarms are called "zones" and can be
> programmed anyway you want.
>
>
> "O.B.McClintock"  wrote in message
>> We are modernizing our home and want a security system.  I am not
>> familiar with a monitored system as we have always had just a local
>> alarm in the past. Can I get some honest input from people with such a
>> system as to reliability and response time. This will help me make a
>> decision. I am considering Electrowatchman, A.D.T., and Brinks. Maybe
>> you all know of better ones. Thank you very much !!!
>
>