Monitored alarm
Discussion
Thinking of getting one - ADT are doing it at the minute for £99 plus £20.95 a month for the monitoring for three years, working out at £853.20 for three years. Kit remains theirs I think.
Anyone else out there do anything? I've seen alarm monitoring for £11 but not too sure. Don't want Police alerts, just call/message to phone.
Anyone else out there do anything? I've seen alarm monitoring for £11 but not too sure. Don't want Police alerts, just call/message to phone.
We have an ADT alarm in our rented house - the landlord pays the monthly fee. The alarm itself is a POS - just a main unit in the hall, two PIR sensors (one upstairs, one downstairs) and a front door sensor. It is nice having the landlord paying the subscription as we've had the engineer out a few times. However, I'm not sure I'd pay £21 a month for it.
It once malfunctioned by telephoning the monitoring centre to tell them we had pushed the panic button. We were in bed and the first we knew about it was when the police were trying to break the front door down! However, it's nice to know that we can get the cops here at the push of a button....
It once malfunctioned by telephoning the monitoring centre to tell them we had pushed the panic button. We were in bed and the first we knew about it was when the police were trying to break the front door down! However, it's nice to know that we can get the cops here at the push of a button....
As a company, we charge from £165inclVAT a year for monitoring which includes 2 services.
Depending on the system installed and coverage required in a normal sized house, an alarm capable of monitoring can normally be fitted in the region £600-£900. For that you will also get a fully covered house rather than a couple of PIRS and a Door contact. Please take these cost as a rough estimate as everyone's requirements will be different. If a police system is required, there should be a one-off payment to the Police for a URN ( unique reference number ) to be assigned to your system, which is about £45.
I'll leave you to do the maths and without slagging them off, my advice would be to seek out a local installer who will treat you as a valued customer rather than a number.
On our website in my profile, there is a document (which I still haven't finished yet
) in the downloads section that should give you some good pointers how to find an installer.
Hope that helps.
Depending on the system installed and coverage required in a normal sized house, an alarm capable of monitoring can normally be fitted in the region £600-£900. For that you will also get a fully covered house rather than a couple of PIRS and a Door contact. Please take these cost as a rough estimate as everyone's requirements will be different. If a police system is required, there should be a one-off payment to the Police for a URN ( unique reference number ) to be assigned to your system, which is about £45.
dfen5 said:
Kit remains theirs I think.
This is one of the reasons why ADT looks cheap but over the long-term can be an expensive option.I'll leave you to do the maths and without slagging them off, my advice would be to seek out a local installer who will treat you as a valued customer rather than a number.
On our website in my profile, there is a document (which I still haven't finished yet
) in the downloads section that should give you some good pointers how to find an installer.Hope that helps.
Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Wednesday 15th December 19:05
http://cpc.farnell.com/pyronix/fp05501/vocaliser-s...
Rings up to four numbers until someone answers the phone and acknoledges.
Rings up to four numbers until someone answers the phone and acknoledges.
The wierd thing is that they tend to go off when you can't do anything about it - ours went off only once in a decade and rang us when we were in Turkey, and my parents' one rang the monitoring centre with a (real) fire when they were on a boat between Tierra del Fuego (very appropriate) and the Antarctic.
Kind neighbour sorted ours and the fire brigade & equally kind neighbour sorted their problem...
Kind neighbour sorted ours and the fire brigade & equally kind neighbour sorted their problem...
My bro works for ADT's main rival, Chubb.
From what he's told me, You "rent" your system from ADT hence why it seems cheap.
One of your loca alarm installerl companies will be probably be cheaper than the big boys (Chubb and ADT).
Alternatively you could buy the parts from eBay and just pay for someone to install it?
From what he's told me, You "rent" your system from ADT hence why it seems cheap.
One of your loca alarm installerl companies will be probably be cheaper than the big boys (Chubb and ADT).
Alternatively you could buy the parts from eBay and just pay for someone to install it?
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
Does the ADT system ring a premium rate number every time you set/unset? (or has that little scam been closed out?)
It's not a scam, it's a requirement for a policed system to dial the monitoring centre on set and unset. 
There is now a device that can be fitted into a system that eliminates the call charges for small yearly fee. Whether ADT fit these is, I don't know.
I can't remember what it's called now but post it when I remember.
It's called a DigiPlus
http://www.alertsystems.co.uk/dualcom-digi-plus.ht...
Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Thursday 16th December 08:46
Westy Pre-Lit said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
Does the ADT system ring a premium rate number every time you set/unset? (or has that little scam been closed out?)
It's not a scam, it's a requirement for a policed system to dial the monitoring centre on set and unset. There is now a device that can be fitted into a system that eliminates the call charges for small yearly fee. Whether ADT fit these is, I don't know.
I can't remember what it's called now but post it when I remember.
My alarm pulses to receiving centre at no call cost.
Had the alarm for 13 years, never paid a penny piece in call charges! In my experience of ADT the monitored system has no call charges for set/unset with a 'digicom' - not sure if you don't have one. As westy said you need to pay your local police authority (used to be £10) and nowadays your 'system' should only request a police response when you have 2 zones/sensors triggered - may vary from authority to authority. You can also have CO sensors so ADT will call the fire brigade too. They make one call to the house number, if there's no reply they call the fire brigade. Once the fire brigade are called they will not turn back and will always visit the property so if you have too many false alarms they may charge you.
Mike
Mike
I went with one of these recently following a recommendation on here.
I think I paid £320 for the following kit:
1. Control panel
2. 3 x wireless pet friendly PIRs
3. 2 x wireless door sensors
4. 2 x wireless remote fobs
5. 1 x wireless keypad
6. 1 x wireless siren
The system was preconfigured and all I had to do was install it on the wall. They included 6 months monitoring free of charge and the few times we have set it off accidently they have been quick to respond.
After the 6 month period we'll just have it set to call our mobiles. Monitoring is £15 per month.
I think I paid £320 for the following kit:
1. Control panel
2. 3 x wireless pet friendly PIRs
3. 2 x wireless door sensors
4. 2 x wireless remote fobs
5. 1 x wireless keypad
6. 1 x wireless siren
The system was preconfigured and all I had to do was install it on the wall. They included 6 months monitoring free of charge and the few times we have set it off accidently they have been quick to respond.
After the 6 month period we'll just have it set to call our mobiles. Monitoring is £15 per month.
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