March 2014 Archives

It's no secret that the Home Security industry is full of companies willing to say anything to get you to sign a multi-year contract with them. It's one of the many problematic practices that resulted in the founding of Alarm Grid. It's a practice that nearly every single member of the industry does. When we started Alarm Grid two years ago, and we mentioned that we were going to try this whole thing by treating customers well and not making them sign contracts, we were laughed out of rooms and told that it would never work. Well, here we are two years later: one of the fastest growing security companies in the United States.

The industry incumbents aren't any better, unfortunately. Over the last year, we've seen tons of home security scams where companies are claiming to be ADT or another known security brand and tricking customers into signing up. Rightly, most of the brands whose names are being misrepresented are working hard to make sure that those companies are squelched. That said, if ADT thinks that tricking customers is such a bad idea, then why is it that they were just found reprimanded by the FTC for misrepresenting their advertisements by paying for spokespeople to discuss their product glowingly?

In the FTC's release, they wrote the following:

As part of its ongoing crackdown on misleading endorsements in advertising, the Federal Trade Commission has charged the home security company ADT LLC with misrepresenting that paid endorsements from safety and technology experts were independent reviews. Under an agreed-upon settlement, ADT is prohibited from misrepresenting paid endorsements as independent reviews in the future....

“It’s hard for consumers to make good buying decisions when they think they’re getting independent expert advice as part of an impartial news segment and have no way of knowing they are actually watching a sales pitch,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “When a paid endorser appears in a news or talk show segment with the host of that program, the relationship with the advertiser must be clearly disclosed."

While we find the practice of undisclosed paid endorsements reprehensible - especially when these endorsement deals are hundreds of thousands of dollars - it's unfortunately commonplace in this industry. You don't have to look too far online to find a company or two that always shows up at the top of what looks like a legitimate resource for consumers doing research on systems.

We find it odd that companies like ADT who go far to try to keep other companies from dragging their name through the mud (they offered $20,000 bounties for footage of companies training their employees to do what we described at the beginning of the article), would turn around and disrespect consumers in the same way. 

You will never find Alarm Grid faking reviews. Every Alarm Grid review online is 100% real. It is common for us to ask customers to leave those reviews, but they do it without any compensation. Our on-site testimonials, as we've stated numerous times before, are given to us in exchange for a free month of monitoring, but only after a client has worked with us for at least 6 months. But that's it. If you find our name on a blog, or on some rating site, we will very clearly disclose if we paid for it to be there - you have our word.

Ever worked for a startup? Want to?

While Alarm Grid is a new alarm company, this is not a traditional alarm tech job for the traditional alarm technician. We are looking for someone who is interested in building a career and who strongly believes in Alarm Grid's Do-It-Yourself business model.

While a traditional alarm tech job requires hours of intensive labor, Alarm Grid's techs work from the comfort of an office. Our goal is to build the most customer-centric company that has ever existed in the home security space, and we want someone who desires to be a part of that.

If you think that you would be a great fit for Alarm Grid, please send us your resume. We are giving preference to applicants from Florida. We are also looking for individuals with a good amount of experience in the industry. Knowledge of Compass software, AlarmNet Direct website and Honeywell wired and wireless security system programming is strongly desired.

Duties and Responsibilities:

As a Remote Alarm Technician, you would:

Answer calls and emails from customers who have questions about their current system. Help customers install and service their equipment and activate monitoring accounts over the phone and through email support. Provide advice to customers who are thinking of purchasing a system.

Education and Experience

Skills

Compensation will be commensurate with experience.

We're proud to say that as of today, we are making available the 10-sensor kit. It will come, complete with everything that is in the L5100PK, but it will include 7 additional wireless door/window sensors, and all of the sensors will be 5811s instead of 5816s. These kits are being release din four different configurations to ensure that they meet your needs.

Honeywell LYNXZ-KT57 base kit

This is a standard kit without a communicator. If you already have a communicator, want to use the old-school phone line you still have installed in your home, or if you just want to use your system as a local alarm with no central station backup, this kit is perfect for you!

Honeywell LYNXZ-KT57-WIFI

For homes with reliable WIFI/IP, this kit is amazing. While WIFI isn't as secure as cellular communication, for most alarm system users, the security it provides is completely adequate. And with our 24 hour supervision, we will know whether your WIFI is down for significant periods of time. This is the perfect kit for those looking to get affordable alarm monitoring in a big home.

Honeywell LYNXZ-KT57-4G

The 4G communication pathway is often regarded as the most secure pathway available. This kit provides its owners with the ability to take advantage of AT&T's amazingly reliable cellular network. These networks are difficult to disrupt, and will ensure that even the most cunning James Bond-like criminals will be kept at bay.

Honeywell LYNXZ-KT57-WIFI-4G

For Fort Knox level security, this kit ensures that your home is a fortress of safety. The dual path communication makes this a wireless security system that is virtually impossible to take down. In situations where cell networks are flooded (very rare events like Hurricanes), the system will automatically fail over to the WIFI connection. In situations where your WIFI is down, it will fail over to the cellular network. Relying on the redundant communication should give an user piece of mind that their system will be communicating 99.9% of the time.

Alarm Grid has begun selling the Honeywell 5800C2W, a new wired system to wireless system conversion kit. “This marks a real sea change in the alarm industry,” said Joshua Unseth, spokesperson for the company, “it shows a shift in focus from the old wired panels to an industry dominated by wireless technologies.” Years ago, the industry was reticent to accept new RF wireless sensors, since they were regarded as notoriously unreliable. Nowadays, however, wireless installations dominate the market. “It is hard to convince hardwired installers that the new wireless systems are just as good,” Unseth said. “The technology was as of yet unproven just 5 or 10 years ago. But now, these systems have now shown that they can do just as good a job at protecting the lives and the property of everyone who installs them in their home. Anyone who isn't convinced yet is going to be left in the dust by these emerging technologies.”

Honeywell's most popular security system is the LYNX 5100, a touchscreen system that is capable of home automation and home security. While marked down at an affordable price, compared with what a security system used to cost, perhaps the biggest story when it comes to the Honeywell LYNX is the ease of installation. While customers have traditionally relied on professional, licensed installers to put wire panels into a home, these new systems allow access to state-of-the-art home security equipment that runs using simple A/C power, which means that individual homeowners can install a unit on their own, without the help of a professional. That said, until the introduction of the 5800C2W, customers have not had a reliable way to use their already installed wired contacts, which would prompt users who would have been good candidates for a wireless security system to purchase and install one of the wired systems since changing out sensors can be extremely expensive.

“We want to make sure that wireless security is available to anyone that wants it.” Unseth believes very strongly in the implications of wireless technologies to Alarm Grid's future. “Wireless systems are cheaper, at least as reliable, and much more simple to install and use than any wired system on the market.” If that is in fact the case, then there is little doubt that Alarm Grid's future looks very bright.

If you have a home that was pre-wired, you want to use those wires, but you love the features of the Honeywell Lynx, you are in luck!

As of yesterday morning, Honeywell has released its newest product, the 5800C2W. This beautiful, green circuit board is an incredible piece of equipment that should get anyone getting ready to put in a home security system incredibly excited. This 9-zone unit will allow the user to take advantage of all the wired sensors in their home, and convert them into a wireless zone.

Previous to this device, users could accomplish a similar result using the RE208, but since that product was not made by Honeywell, most users simply opted to do an installation of a wired panel, such as the Honeywell VISTA 20P, and install a wireless receiver either at the panel or get one of Honeywell's RF keypads (6162RF, 6152RF) which have the receiver installed internally and do not need to be put onto the panel.

If you've ever done it, a full panel swap-out is a crazy experience, especially if it's your first time trying one. You can do it without too much trouble, but the time involved in the conversion can be a significant investment. With this product, instead of a full system swap-out, all you'll need to do is install a Lynxtouch L5100, then at the old panel, take out each wire, zone by zone, pair it to the zones on this panel, and then use the one-button configuration to have the unit found by the L5100.

If you have more than 9 zones, that's no problem either. Honeywell confirmed with us that you can run more than one of these units at a time. So, if you have around 18 zones on your old Brinks or ADT system and you want to use this item, all you will need to do is buy 2. For those around 27 zones, 3 5800C2Ws will suffice.

In all, this is a huge development for Honeywell, and we're excited to be selling the product. It further emphasizes their commitment to moving in the direction of wireless security technology. And for all you DIYers out there, that should sound like music to your ears!

Keep moving. Nothing much to see here... except a lower price Honeywell's super popular GSM communicators. These Honeywell cellular communicators are used on a majority of Honeywell's wired security systems, including the 10P, the 15P, the 20P and more.

We are lowering the price from $229.99 on the GSMV4G to $213.99 (-7.4%), and the GSMX4G from $224.99 to $200.99 (-11.9%). The GSMX4G-TC2 was $237.99 and will now be $213.99 (-11.1%), and the GSMV4G-TC2 will now be priced at $226.99, down from $252.99 (-11.4%).

Ultimately, these are small changes. But we want to make sure that we are giving you the best deal that we can possibly offer on all of our products. A home security system is a wonderful luxury that gives all of its owners the peace of mind that can only come from knowing that your property and family are safe and secure. The cellular pathway is the most secure available in consumer grade security systems. So we're glad to be able to offer these communicators at such a great price.

If you're in the market for a home security system and all of this is just a little bit over your head, just pick up the phone and give us a call. We will gladly explain the difference between a GSMV4G and an iGSMV4G or any of the other communicators you're interested in learning about.