Home Alarm Monitoring System in The Woodlands (Howe: new house, residential)

[breezeshore]

Can anyone recommend a Home Alarm Monitoring System in The Woodlands. Is it better with the landline or cell phone. I heard there were few incidents in The Woodlands last year, the thiefs disconnected the alarm system and got in to the houses.

[bhouston77386]

Do some research there are some good companies out there... Brinks... ADT.. go to their websites.

[EasilyAmused]

ADT with cellular backup. I don't really understand having a alarm system without it. All they have to do is cut the phone line. Even if the horn goes off, I often find most neighbors don't come out of their homes unless it goes on way too long and they are annoyed.

However, I have two older neighbors (+70)that pop out the minute one goes off and march over and ask what's going on. Older neighbors are awesome, and probably more affective than an alarm.

[Grunn]

Originally Posted by bhouston77386

there are some good companies out there... ... ADT..

ADT isn't one of the good companies out there IMO. Their response times were poor on alarm activation and I was basically lied to by one of their employees regarding contract terms and conditions. It took me weeks of wrangling to get them to accept the contract conditions we both agreed to on signing ie they would not believe I had a contract variance.

If you want to waste hours of your time talking to barely literate schlubs in the event there is a slight problem then ADT is the way to go..........

[breezeshore]

Are there any other reputable companies in The Woodlands, other than Brinks and ADT. How good is Brinks?

[EasilyAmused]

Wow, my experience with ADT is the total opposite. I have ADT Gold and they call within 15 seconds of the alarm trigger, even if I clear the panel immediately. They call me when the power goes off and we switch to battery as well. When I change the battery in the alarm, they alway call about a "tamper alert."

[Grunn]

ADT Gold was what I had- and their response times were good sometimes and at other times it would take them upto five minutes to call.

My real 'beef' with them however is the way they do business and their lack of accountability when something goes wrong.

[tdhg566]

Smith Thompson alarm

Texas Home Security System Residential Alarm Wireless Monitoring Home Security Service (http://www.smiththompson.com/smiththompson/ - broken link)

cell connection is standard at $16.95/mo

I've used many big name companies over the years, including ADT, Brinks and Broadview, and there's no reason to pay their ridiculous monthly rates. As public companies they have to inflate their rates to give an adequate rate of return to stockholders (obviously I'm answering this msg as a consumer, not as an investor). Smith Thompson is family owned, so they don't have that pressure.

If you DO insist on giving your money away to one of the big name companies, have them "bid" against each other, or negotiate a reduced rate for a yearly contract. Once when I had Brinks (now Broadview) I had them take at least 1/3 off the normal monthly rate by signing up for a one year contract.

[breezeshore]

Thanks everyone. We decided to go with ADT with wireless back up.

[kreeyax]

If you ever need to cancel ADT make sure you call them about 90 days in advance even if you are no longer under contract. I cancelled them a few weeks before disconnecting my phone service and they informed me that I still had to pay for the remaining 60 (or 90?) days for the remainder of my billing period.

With the new house I went with Smith Thompson with the wireless transmitter. Like others have mentioned, there's no need to pay $35+ per month for monitored alarm service.