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ADT

Loggie

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Does anyone have this installed and are you happy with it? How exactly is a signal transmitted to their offices?
 

Clemson Fan

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Does anyone have this installed and are you happy with it? How exactly is a signal transmitted to their offices?

Nowadays they usually put a little cell receiver/transmitter somewhere in your attic. It used to be an add on just in case a burgler cut your landline, but nowadays so many people don't have a landline that they just use it as the primary source of communication.
 

Glynda

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We haven't been happy with ADT. Lots of little issues and poor service in our area. Battery life in the cell phone isn't long. Nor in the heat detector we had to switch to as the smoke detector was way too sensitive. The call service has been an issue too. Scorched popcorn in our rental house brought in a fire alarm. The call went to my voice mail. I picked it up immediately and returned the call but had to navigate the menu and then got put on hold so by then the fire department had brought three trucks and the police to close off a block of Broad Street expecting The Great Fire of 2014 only to find my renter sitting on the front steps eating around his burned popcorn with the front door open. The time before, the fire department and police did the same thing at 2 AM because of a bad install on ADT's part. Our neighbors had to let them in that time as no one was staying there at the time.
 

Ken555

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I've been much more satisfied with small independent alarm companies rather than a national operator. Costs are usually less with a local provider along with better service.


Sent from my iPad
 

GetawaysRus

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We used ADT for a number of years. There were no service issues, but the price slowly crept up year by year.

Ultimately I switched to another local company. I have essentially the same service for a much lower price.

We are dinosaurs and still have a landline phone. So the signal is transmitted over the landline. Yes, I could go to a wireless system, but my current monitoring company would charge me (one time fee) for installing the transmitter and would also add $10 per month to my bill because they have to rely on a third party company to send the wireless signal to them.
 

VacationForever

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We went through a 3 different monitoring systems/services before moving to ADT a month ago. We like that it uses cellular, includes camera options and that you can remotely control the system from a mobile device (it does not support Windows phone or tablet) or through their website. We have been happy with it so far. I can see my cats when I am not home.
 

Ann-Marie

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We recently did a lot of research on this. We were told to stay away from ADT mainly because if you want to switch to another company, it is harder with an ADT system being compatible with other companies service.
 

cp73

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Be sure to check out simply safe. They are highly rated. I have a friend who just switched to them and is very happy. Its a lot less costly than others. I think monthly service starts at $15 per month and you buy the equipment. Equipment runs about $300-$400 depending on what you get....
 

VacationForever

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We recently did a lot of research on this. We were told to stay away from ADT mainly because if you want to switch to another company, it is harder with an ADT system being compatible with other companies service.

We kept our old equipment so that if we need to switch out of ADT it is a simple reconnect. Frankly speaking old equipment = non-cellular, and cellular monitoring is the way to go.
 

DaveNV

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I had ADT for several years, but finally switched away after three separate service calls were scheduled to replace a defective smoke alarm they had installed.

On the first call, I took the day off to be home, because they wouldn't give me more than a general 8-5 time frame. They never showed up, then claimed I wasn't home when they came by. A flat out lie.

On the second call, the repair person did show up, but said he didn't have a replacement smoke alarm with him, and that things would have to be rescheduled.

On the third call, a different repair person showed up, but said the smoke alarm they were coming to replace was not the model that was installed (by them) in my home, and they had no knowledge of the factory recall that had prompted the request for the service call. I showed them the letter ADT had sent to me about it, and they still said they knew nothing about it. The guy left with no apologies for wasting my time.

In disgust, I called another company (since I was out of contract on the ADT contract I had at the time), and I had the entire system switched over to another company. Guess what? The main ADT equipment was proprietary to their system, and it all had to be replaced by the new company. A few window sensors were able to be reused, but generally everything had to be replaced.

In their defense, they are prompt to call when an alarm is triggered, and they did save my possessions when my home was broken into in broad daylight. By the time the burglar got into the house, they'd already notified the police, who happened to be in the area. They caught the criminal red-handed, and he is currently serving an eight year sentence in prison. (He had outstanding warrants, and was sent back on a number of charges.)

Would I go with ADT again? Probably, if I felt comfortable they were installing current equipment, and would be available to service it properly. Since I already have someone else, I'll probably stick with them. The fees are very competitive.

Dave
 

Ken555

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We kept our old equipment so that if we need to switch out of ADT it is a simple reconnect. Frankly speaking old equipment = non-cellular, and cellular monitoring is the way to go.


Almost all systems may be adapted for cellular use without needing to replace everything. Not all providers will you tell this, though.


Sent from my iPad
 

Beefnot

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I have had ADT for maybe 7 or 8 years and have not really had a problem with them. I am about to migrate over to LifeShield though, which was recently acquired by DirecTV. They have indoor and outdoor cameras and all that yadda yadda and I think it competes with ADT Pulse, minus the home automation.
 

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Nowadays they usually put a little cell receiver/transmitter somewhere in your attic. It used to be an add on just in case a burgler cut your landline, but nowadays so many people don't have a landline that they just use it as the primary source of communication.

Hmmm. We have an ADT system that was installed some time ago. Since we're the second owner's of our home, we had ADT here and they reinstalled a newer keypad, etc. However, they did not mention the opportunity of using a cell for their service. If this is available, that upsets me. We are holding onto two VOIP over the internet lines from Verizon that we thought about discontinuing, but we're told we needed a land line for the security system.

I should also ad we never use it, and only had it upgraded since it's provided by our HOA.
 

Clemson Fan

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Hmmm. We have an ADT system that was installed some time ago. Since we're the second owner's of our home, we had ADT here and they reinstalled a newer keypad, etc. However, they did not mention the opportunity of using a cell for their service. If this is available, that upsets me. We are holding onto two VOIP over the internet lines from Verizon that we thought about discontinuing, but we're told we needed a land line for the security system.

I should also ad we never use it, and only had it upgraded since it's provided by our HOA.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear in my original post. I've never used ADT and have always used a local company. I was just commenting on how these systems connect nowadays to the monitoring service center. I recently had to do a mandatory cellular upgrade to a LTE cellular because my old cellular ran on a older 2G signal which is about to be phased out by AT&T which is the company they contract with. It cost me a one time fee of $100.

BTW, I believe there are only a couple of these central monitoring stations that pretty much all of the independent local companies contract with. I've seen the Simpli safe ads on Facebook and I've been thinking about switching to them because they basically eliminate the middle man and you just end up connecting your system and working directly with those big centralized monitoring centers. You would lose the ability, though, to have it serviced locally and you would need to do any servicing yourself.
 
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bogey21

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A number of years ago I imposed on a (very good) friend who owned a local alarm service to give me signs and decals indicating to the outside world that my house was protected with his security system. Of course it wasn't but it cost me nothing.

George
 

presley

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Anything that connects to the internet can be hacked. I wouldn't use any service that works through the internet. If someone wants to take control of your system badly enough, they will be able to.

Last year at the big hacker convention there was going to be a speaker presenting how easy it was for him to takeover home security systems run by the 3 biggest companies, ADT was one of them. I went to the presentation and sadly found it was canceled because the presenter made the mistake of publicly talking about it before the convention and was threatened with a bunch of lawsuits from ADT and the other companies. Even though I didn't get to hear the ins and outs, I was fully convinced to never use a company that uses the internet.

I have my own surveillance system installed. I do want to add signs, but for now, people can see my cameras around the perimeter.

EDIT: I found an article, but it is talking about how easy it is to jam the radio frequency on wireless alarm systems. This particular article is about ones not connected to the internet, but it does mention the guy who was going to speak last year. Old article, so it doesn't reflect that he never actually spoke at the convention or conference. http://www.wired.com/2014/07/hacking-home-alarms/
 
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Clemson Fan

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Anything that connects to the internet can be hacked. I wouldn't use any service that works through the internet. If someone wants to take control of your system badly enough, they will be able to.

I found an article, but it is talking about how easy it is to jam the radio frequency on wireless alarm systems. This particular article is about ones not connected to the internet

So what are you saying? You can't trust systems that connect over the Internet/VOIP because they can be hacked and you can't trust systems that use cellular to connect because they can be jammed.

Frankly if the Oceans 11 team wants to break into my house I know I'm not going to be able to stop them. I'm not going to live my life in a paranoid state. I'm still going to enjoy all my social media over the Internet as well as do my banking and many other things over the Internet.
 

derb

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Be sure to check out simply safe. They are highly rated. I have a friend who just switched to them and is very happy. Its a lot less costly than others. I think monthly service starts at $15 per month and you buy the equipment. Equipment runs about $300-$400 depending on what you get....

DITTO on simply safe. Installation was a breeze even for a butter
finger like me. no land line needed,
 

VacationForever

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Anything that connects to the internet can be hacked. I wouldn't use any service that works through the internet. If someone wants to take control of your system badly enough, they will be able to.

Last year at the big hacker convention there was going to be a speaker presenting how easy it was for him to takeover home security systems run by the 3 biggest companies, ADT was one of them. I went to the presentation and sadly found it was canceled because the presenter made the mistake of publicly talking about it before the convention and was threatened with a bunch of lawsuits from ADT and the other companies. Even though I didn't get to hear the ins and outs, I was fully convinced to never use a company that uses the internet.

[/url]

Just like you would not do internet banking or online shop, huh!? :doh:

Everything can be hacked into. Petty thieves who burglarize homes are very unlikely to know how to hack into computer systems. However if you are targeted because of who you are (spy/intelligence personnel) then we are talking about highly compensated hackers who want access to your home not for valuables but for access to information. If you are not such a person you should not worry about someone hacking into your security monitoring system. Your banking info is likely to be hacked into before your home security system.
 

presley

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So what are you saying? You can't trust systems that connect over the Internet/VOIP because they can be hacked and you can't trust systems that use cellular to connect because they can be jammed.

Just like you would not do internet banking or online shop, huh!? :doh:

I suppose I am more comfortable with those things being hacked than with my home being unlocked remotely or my internal cameras being hijacked. Everyone has to weigh their own risks. Personally, I agree with the class action lawsuit against ADT and I almost never agree with class action lawsuits. They know their vulnerabilities, but still tell people they are totally protected.

Clemson, you bring up an interesting point. When I was recently a victim of a cyber crime, my whole family needed to give our cell #s to the local authorities because they believed our Vonage would get jammed and I wouldn't be able to call them or them be able to call me in an emergency. You also mentioned social media, which was something else they mentioned. I was specifically told that if I had a facebook, an instragram, or anything other social media, they wouldn't have helped me at all. It's a very weird world we are currently living in.
 

Clemson Fan

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Clemson, you bring up an interesting point. When I was recently a victim of a cyber crime, my whole family needed to give our cell #s to the local authorities because they believed our Vonage would get jammed and I wouldn't be able to call them or them be able to call me in an emergency. You also mentioned social media, which was something else they mentioned. I was specifically told that if I had a facebook, an instragram, or anything other social media, they wouldn't have helped me at all. It's a very weird world we are currently living in.

Are you saying if you had a FB account your local authorities wouldn't help you if you're a victim of a cyber crime?

Do you live in the U.S.? If you do then frankly I don't believe you in that you're on your own with a cyber crime if you have a social media account.
 

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Are you saying if you had a FB account your local authorities wouldn't help you if you're a victim of a cyber crime?

A couple of years ago I closed my Face Book Account. I thought the risks of having it outweighed the positives. One issue I considered was who would FB allow to shut it down after I die. I don't know if it is easier to close a FB account now than it was back then. It wasn't easy to shut it down and in fact took me about 3 weeks to get it done.

George
 

pwrshift

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A friend of mine got back from a cruise to find his house was robbed of all the cash, jewels, watches....nothing big in size. The police came and told him the first place they look is your bedrooms...and that's where he had it all. His insurance company was very good about it...came to about $30,000 as he had it all appraised a few years ago. The police told him to hide such valuables in some remote location...like next to the furnace when you go away or are not using it.

He got an alarm service after all this.

Brian
 

VegasBella

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We had ADT for a while. Their customer service was terrible. The initial installer made a mistake on the forms and put my name as something it's not. For years they would not correct it and it caused us trouble whenever there was a false alarm and I had to answer the security questions.

When it comes to online crimes, don't go to the local authorities. Go to the FBI.
http://www.justice.gov/criminal-cci...ternet-related-or-intellectual-property-crime
You can have a facebook account and other social media and it will not prevent you from attempting to get justice for cyber crime. Whoever told you that was lying/confused/stupid.
 
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zinger1457

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A friend of mine got back from a cruise to find his house was robbed of all the cash, jewels, watches....nothing big in size. The police came and told him the first place they look is your bedrooms...and that's where he had it all. His insurance company was very good about it...came to about $30,000 as he had it all appraised a few years ago. The police told him to hide such valuables in some remote location...like next to the furnace when you go away or are not using it.

Hide your valuables next to the furnace??? I would think most people who have $30K of cash and jewelry sitting around the house use a quality safe or rent a safety deposit box to keep it in.
 
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