Security System for new home in Ft. Myers (apartment, condo)

[davephan]

I used to work in the security system monitoring business. If you’re going to have a monitored security system installed, you might want to have the equipment installed independently of the monitoring vendor, since monitoring is a long term, ongoing cost. I purchased and installed our security system and have it monitored for about $140 per year. Full perimeter protection is going to be expensive. I recommend not locking yourself into an auto renewing, multi-year contract with a high cost monitoring company. Some companies charge up to about $30 to $40 a month, just for monitoring. Make sure all you motion detectors are microwave / IR, because dual technology motion detectors are very hard to get past and virtually never false, compared cheap IR only motion detectors. Dual technology motion detectors don’t cost much more than the single technology motion detectors.

[MyITGuy]

Originally Posted by FLHfan

Aren't the Arlo camera's battery operated? Seems like it would be a PITA. How often do you charge/change the batteries?

The Arlo Pro and Arlo Q Models can be powered via plug as well.

Originally Posted by davephan

Full perimeter protection is going to be expensive. I recommend not locking yourself into an auto renewing, multi-year contract with a high cost monitoring company. Some companies charge up to about $30 to $40 a month, just for monitoring.

Thats one of the benefits to Simplisafe, Think we got full coverage for less than $400 and its month to month so no long term contracts and you pay for what you want.

[chiluvr1228]

I recently got the Simplisafe starter kit which included one door alarm, one motion detector, a panic button and naturally the keypad. It was a gift but I believe it was around $229. While I wanted some window protection, the house I recently bought has jalousie windows so couldn't do that which is the downside. I'm going to buy an extra motion detector and door alarm.


I just got everything set up and yesterday I went to our local police department to register it so now I'm good to go.

[FlaLove]

Originally Posted by ND Snowbird

The Xfinity does have a motion detector inside the house. It never went offline during Irma due to the fact it has a battery backup.

We have our ARLO cameras hub, cable modem, and wireless router connected to a battery backup. For $100 you can get a good battery backup.

[Samiamnh]

If somebody from ADT comes to your door.....pepper spray them and lock your door.My neighbors had a system installed recently.....wish I'd known so I could warn them .The guy upsold them on everything and they ended up paying twice the price of a Simplisafe and the have a THREE YEAR contract at $45 monthly for monitoring.....think it's automatically renewed as well but not positive.Yikes

[Corvette Ministries]

Originally Posted by Samiamnh

If somebody from ADT comes to your door.....pepper spray them and lock your door.My neighbors had a system installed recently.....wish I'd known so I could warn them .The guy upsold them on everything and they ended up paying twice the price of a Simplisafe and the have a THREE YEAR contract at $45 monthly for monitoring.....think it's automatically renewed as well but not positive.Yikes

Interestingly, we had the opposite happen to us. We turned down the ADT guy, but it got us to thinking about home security, so we investigated and purchased the Simplisafe.

[FireStation46]

We have had all the big boy security firms over the-years. ADT etc Dropped them all. They were very good at locking you in to a service contract but customer service was horrible.

We are building a new home with Pulte and they use Vivint

Never dealt with them but they had many options to make the new house a “smart home” , we are getting

Sensors

Smart Locks

Doorbell Camera

Outdoor Camera

Element Thermostat

WiFi booster

Smart Home App

Plus they will install the large screen TV’s in the Lanai, gathering room, bedrooms etc

I have NEST up here and will use NEST for inside the house.

Monthly rates for all these firms seem to be in the same spot. I hope Vivint service will be good.

We just dropped Direct TV after 10 years up here as they had no customer service. Went with Dish this week.

In Florida the development we are building our new home will use Century Link FIOS type deal with 1TB connection. I hope it works out as Century non-fios up here sucked. I even upgraded non-fios business class with Verizon, they have plenty of issues.

[davephan]

ADT is overpriced and they do sign you up to a multiple year auto renewing contract. You can buy home security equipment from

Security Store: DIY, Alarm Systems, Home Security,Surveillance.

You could install the equipment yourself or pay someone to install it. Monitoring costs $8.95 a month when billed annually.

We gave up on satellite TV because the rain fade and sometimes snow fade was too annoying. The precipitation can severely weaken the signal, and can result in services outages until the weather event ends. Cable TV doesn’t have the rain and snow fade problems. You don’t have the snow fade problems in Florida, it there’s a lot more rain fade problems in Florida.

[FireStation46]

This is the outfit we will use

https://www.vivint.com

Plus fibre optic 1TB speed from Century Link

[FireStation46]

Found out it is this outfit not the one originally posted.

They have peope doing 24/7 call centers just like ADT etc

https://uxari.com

They also will act like the Geek Squad and install wal mounted TV,s , outdoor lighting etc