Originally posted by lilmira
Aren't they supposed to phone the police in case of an alarm after no confirmation from the owner?
Check your contract for the providers policy. I don't know many local companies that direct call the police when an alarm is triggered. There's a cost involved to false alarms, both in operational losses and fines, and there's lot of false alarms.
I don't think paying for home alarm is useless. It's not necessity, more like peace of mind.
That's personal choice. If you feel like you and your possessions are protected from violence or theft by a term contract alarm system with a monthly fee, well....more power to ya.
Another thing is fire, they will phone the fire department when the smoke detector goes off. That would help when you are not home or in bed at night.
Sure about that? Check the company policy on fire alerts. Lots still deploy a car first, then call in if there is something. There is quite a few that do immediately call to fire dept though.
Might prevent the entire house from burning down if you're not home, but it'll still be burnt, full of toxins, smoke damage, and the fire dept will pump in a few thousand gallons of water anyway. You won't be living in that house a while. If you were home and sleeping your smoke detectors would have woken you, and maybe you could have done something, or not.
Plus, you do get a bit of discount on your home insurance, not a whole lot though.
My last two providers didn't offer any discount. The alarm doesn't do shit. The window stickers and yard signs do. A visual preventative works well for low lifes and crack heads. Why risk it? They'll just go to the next place that doesn't have evidence of "security".