Home alarm systems
My wife and I just purchased a house in Oakland and wish to have an alarm system professionally installed as I travel a lot and she will be home by herself. As we have no experience with alarm systems we would be grateful for any information you could give us regarding this subject-especially about the type available and good quality companies who could perform the installation. Many thanks.
Nov 19, 2016
Parent Replies
We ordered and installed SimpliSafe. It was easy to set up on our own, the monthly fees are low (about $15 per month), and they are 100% responsive the times we've accidentally set off the alarm.
It's been many years since we installed our alarm system, but when we did it 8 years ago, I learned that the advertised price is never the true price you pay. The big companies will tell you installation is free, but that's just the basic system, and the extras will add up to $$$$. So look for the company with the best continuing customer service, and ignore those fliers that offer you discounts or free installation. Your installation will be a drop in the bucket compared with your monthly/yearly monitoring fees. We went with Bay Alarm and although they are not perfect, we are very happy with them. They are quick and responsive when anything happens in our house, and their service department has been easy to work with.
We have Bay Alarm at our home and business. We've been pleased with installation and service. Our business is located in a high crime area in Oakland so we've had a few breakin attempts. Bay Alarm has responded exactly as promised. We were having a false alarm problem, turned out it was the glass break alarms going off when there was gunfire in the neighborhood and bay alarm figured out a solution that didn't reduce protection and eliminated false alarms. We have been pleased with bay alarm, also prefer to use a CA based provider.