I know this has been talked about before but I cant search that far back.  Who are the good alarm companies for the home?  ADT or Brinks were not highly recommended I think. Thanks

I use a comany out of St. Peters, can't think of their name, something like DSC but I'm really happy with them...



After we got broke into and robbed, I got a system put on that has a sensor for every opening (all doors and windows) then I had them add Glass Break and Motion Sensors upstairs and downstairs just in case...



When you open or close any door or window the alarm emits a chim....



When you come in the front door you press a code to disarm it, there is a special code that you press if you are followed in at gunpoint that alerts them your are taken hostage.



The Alarm Brain is hidden and even if they kick in the front door and throw the keypad out in the street, the alarm will still function and call out.



Also, the alarm maintains a 24hour celluar connection in case they cut the phone lines and it has an internal battery backup thats good for almost a week.  Plus I've plugged it into an APC that should be good for a week as well...



Its pretty modular so you can add on more sirens sensors or many other options like Smoke detectors, water level sensors for the basement...



I added two remote keypads that work the same way as my car alarm remote...



The place I used charges quarterly and NO contract... Everything has a warrenty (besides the batteries in the alarm and sensors) But if a sensor or keypad goes bad, they come out and replace it.



It can alo be setup with video and or to be controlled remotly via Iphone too.





If you have any more questions let me know...



I can dig up the # if you need it...

ADT, Brinks, etc are just national companies that contract out all their work.........just like DirecTV and Dish.  The worst part is that your monitoring goes to cheapest contractor who is most likely not local.  Can you imagine your local police getting a call from India asking them to repsond to your alarm?  Plus the "free" system they give you is a junk wireless system (keypad and brain is one unit.)  They mount it wherever they can find a free outlet and phone line––rip the unit off the wall and it's disabled.  Plus, you'll pay $35/month in monitoring for the next three years to pay for your free [junk] system.

Get a LOCAL company with LOCAL monitoring.  You can get a pretty good WIRED system with motion detectors, fire, etc for under $700 installed, and it's under $20/month to monitor.  I have a wireless GSM communicator, so it's $25/month for it.  Plus you have LOCAL dispatchers that know the area (several work at 911, and are part time for the alarm co.)

In St. Louis, Gateway Alarm is the best I have found––they use DSC equipment which is easy to work with.  Their dispatch facility is in Affton and has gotten me out of the citations associated with the two false alarms I have had from my dog & kids setting it off.  Send me an email if you want to talk with head salesman, he's big into guns (I taught his wife and her mom's CCW class.)

EDIT:  I pretty much have the same setup as described above.  DSC gives you all kinds of options to expand.  I have heat sensors in the attics and smoke & CO detectors on each floor.  You can add water sensors for the basement.  I have the remotes, but make sure you ALWAYS have those on you––don't leave one behind in the house.  I also have certain doors set for entry delays, but most are on immediate alarms.  You can set different chirp for different doors too.  You can up a seperate pad and partition for your safe, barn, etc. (so the house system is off, but the other system is armed.)  I have the duress codes set up to.  Everything goes through the cell phone transmitter which has a heartbeat......if it doesn't check it every hour, they call to alert you that something is wrong with the system.  And everything in my system is WIRED––closed loop––anything gets disconnect and it alarms.  This is when NOT to go wireless.

My oldest son was working at a convenience store, at 01:30 a guy comes in with a ski mask on and a Glock drawn.

He hits the ADT panic alarm button, there are THREE St. Joseph Police units at a Convenience store less than a half mile away. According to the video the robber was in the store over three minutes!

When the dirtbag leaves he calls 911, they arrive in around 45 seconds from time of dispatch.

ONE AND A HALF HOURS LATER ADT CALLS and asks if there is a problem!

I don't have any alarm advice but use Google to search instead if our POS search....try something like "alarm systems ar15.com".

There's quite a bit of active and old threads over in the Safes & Security forum under the Amory tab.

Fort Knox security out of DeSoto is fantastic.
They came and installed when they said they would, when there was trouble, they came out to repair the system.
They monitor themselves, and the owner Steve is great to work with. They also installed video surveillance. The install was clean and hidden for the entire system.

Not sure where you are at,  I am east of KC and use Maxim Security out of Oak Grove 816-252-3573 and I love it.   They have a local call center which I like, most others have a national monitoring station.  I think ADT's is in Atlanta.
The system cost a little more to install because it is all hardwired but everyone I talked to said go hardwired not the quick install wireless stuff they all want to use now.  It took two guys all day to install it, the wireless ones take one guy a couple hours.    The wireless systems have more false alarm problems.  
I have had no false alarms except when I get up at 3 in the morning and forget to turn it off before I let the dog out.

I work for a local alarm and cctv parts house and deal with literally hundreds of different installers.
Their are many good local alarm companies.  I would definitely go with a local company over an out of town corporation.
I personally went with Assurance Protection.  The company is based out of St. Charles but works all over the
Missouri and Illinois area.  Give Ryan Montgomery a call @ 314-575-8747.  Let him know what your looking to do.
I went with a monitored, gsm backed up system with all entrance points covered as well as smoke alarms and a flood sensor in the basement.
Most insurance companies give you a discount on your homeowners policy.
If you have any questions let me know.

Jeff

ABF in Fenton is a local company.  When I built the house..the builder suggested them...so far they seem to be ok..if I forget and set off the motion..they call before I can call them ...so ????

Where are you located?  I am an alarm installer located in Chillicothe, MO.

Ok, this is a professional experience qualified statement...I send out the alarm bills every month.  For those who have alarm companies in my town, here's how it works.  You pay a company to place various sensors of varying sensitivity throughout your house.  For whatever reason, your alarm is activated and here's how it works (again, in my town...not everyone's...)  Alarm is activated.  Depending on the type, the alarm company may/may not attempt to contact you.  If they cannot validate the alarm, they call my dispatch center.  My dispatch center attempts to validate the company/alarm call is for real.  It may be now 1 to 5 minutes into the call.  If we get the call, we send minimum 2 units to investigate.  If it's an accidental activation, the first one is free.  The second one costs you $8, the second $12, and there after $20.  Initially, most alarm companies will cover the cost until they have your alarm dialed in.



There are good and bad points for having them...for the record, I have one.  It's hooked to my house, video camera system and even my safe. YMMV.


 

Thanks for all the replies,  BTW I am in KC

You can buy the hardware for EASILY half the price any of those places charge, install it yourself and then contract monitoring through anyone you want.
the same local call centers get used by everyone so keep that in mind.

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Ron Brewer. His son knows/has bought from Brett IIRC.