Joshua Unseth Posts

Alarm Grid's YouTube channel has hit a huge milestone this week. Now, with just a hair short of sixty subscribers (we know it's still not that many), the channel itself served its 50,000 minute of video this week. Simply put, users have watched nearly 32 days worth of installation videos and instructionals since we launched the channel back in August. It's growing fast too, more than half of those minutes watched came in the last two months. Since our last slough of videos, viewership has shot up, and visitors to the channel are increasing the number of minutes we serve per day by incredible amounts watching just under 1,000 minutes of Alarm Grid footage each day.

So we want to thank all of you for watching our videos, and we hope that you continue to get great use out of them. 

In the meantime, we'd love if you subscribed to the YouTube channel. We love watching numbers go up.

Below are the 4 most most watched videos on our channel ordered from most wasted time spent watching it to least:

We are told an awful lot that we show up everywhere in the search results. It's no accident. We've built a comprehensive site that will do just that, ranking for everything from products to questions about each and every product. We do our darndest to cater to DIY alarm enthusiasts, which means that we are working with a crowd of people who love to research. That said, I assume you've probably run into our security FAQs once or twice in the course of looking for information about your dream home security question.

Ever wondered what percentage of people who come to our site with a question actually find the answer they were looking for?

I've put together a fun little chart that takes a look at Alarm Grid's FAQ traffic since our launch last year on May 15(ish).

As you can see, nearly 9% of our traffic comes from people looking for answers to questions. The orange line shows anyone who came to the site looking for an answer and finding it. The blue line shows the number of people coming to the site looking for an answer and not finding what they were looking for. And the green line is every person who came to the site looking for an answer to a question regardless of whether the question was answered or not.

So if you look at our progress, when we started writing the FAQs to now, things have really changed. Since we're pretty much coming up on our 1 year anniversary, I thought I might break up the year into quarters to show the progress.

From May-July, we had answered only 27.4% of all questions asked by visitors.

From Aug-Oct we had answered 54.8% of all questions asked by visitors.

From Nov-Jan we had answered 55.8% of all questions asked by visitors.

And from Feb-present, we have answered nearly 58% of all questions asked by visitors.

Our goal is to get to about 80%. But as you can see by the data, the more questions we answer, the more difficult it gets to increase the ratio of answered questions to unanswered questions.

Some more data-fun. We can actually drill down on products and see what percentage of questions are answered for each specific product.

For the last 3 months, 53% of all L5100 questions are answered, 79% of all VISTA 20P questions have been answered, but only 21% of VISTA 21iP questions have been answered. So, as you can see, there is a lot of work to be done.

Anyhow, if you're part of the now-42% whose questions haven't yet been answered in the FAQ, please feel free to leave your question here or on any of the FAQs themselves, we'll do our best to write up a good, comprehensive response.

Since we opened for business, we've had a number of requests from wholesalers, distributors, and installers who want to purchase product at a deep discount. Usually it's an enormous amount of product that someone wants at a fraction of the price everyone else pays.

We made a decision very early on not to do business with wholesalers, distributors and installers. We really are only interested in selling to end users. One look at our alarm monitoring page reveals our goal, I think. It's clean, simple to understand, and we are up front about our pricing

Our goal has been to create a brand that helps guide individuals through the process of purchasing and installing a new alarm system and then offer them the exact kind of home security monitoring that they need. We really aren't the negotiating type of company. The price you pay on our site is the same price that every single person pays.

We really are a very small team. When we get distracted trying to give wholesalers, distributors and installers price quotes, it deters from our ability to build the brand that we want to build (and that we think you want us to build).

So if you're a wholesaler, distributor or installer please don't bother contacting us for quotes on big orders. You can do the math yourself. If you want 100 5808W3s, you will pay 100 * $77.99, just like everyone else.

Are you stuck with an old VISTA 15P or VISTA 20P panel, but you want Total Connect? While the bad news is that if your PROM chip (that little microchip in the center of your control panel's circuit board) is lower than version 9.12, you can't use Total Connect 2.0, the good news is, you can upgrade your VISTA panel pretty easily.

To date, the only way to upgrade the panels would have been to purchase the iGSMV-TC2, the GSMV4G-TC2 or the GSMX4G-TC2. These AlarmNet cellular alarm communicator upgrade kits include a little PROM chip version 9.12 that can replace your existing chip. The problem is that not every systems is monitored using a cellular communicator. And while cellular communicators definitely provide a security panel with the most secure communication pathway between the panel and the central station, if you wanted to add an IP communicator and upgrade to Total Connect 2.0, you've been out of luck. You'd have to buy the IP communicator and replaced your entire control panel. Of course, that means mapping over all of your wiring and reprogramming your whole system.

So we're very excited to announce that we've broken out the PROM chips, and you can now buy them separately from any of the GSM communicators. The new VISTA 15P PROM chip and the VISTA 20P PROM chip are simple to install, and will bring your older VISTA system up to date with AlarmNet's award winning interactive service, Total Connect 2.0.

We get a lot of questions about how central station monitoring works, and so I thought it was a good idea to sort of explain how we do central station monitoring and why we partnered with our central station.

First, I think it’s worth noting that most alarm companies will tell you that they do the central station monitoring. The truth is, most security companies don’t actually monitor your alarm, they outsource it to a company. So when you ask them about their central station, they are probably telling you about someone else’s central station. It’s not really dishonest, but we prefer to be completely transparent about how we work so that you can make a better, informed decision.

We chose to partner with Criticom Monitoring Services (CMS) because of their incredible track record. While most alarm companies use a central monitoring station that is UL listed, which means they meet UL’s rigorous standards for quality, some central stations go way above and beyond those standards, and that is what CMS does.

The most attractive features of CMS, in our opinion, was their load balancing and redundant station locations. While most UL listed central stations are one building, somewhere a bit remote and probably very secure, CMS has three different locations from which they answer calls: one in New Jersey, one in California, and one in Florida (where Alarm Grid is headquartered).

They also have load balancing, which means when they get flooded with calls, they re-route them to the location that has less volume. What that means is when there is an event (hurricane, snow storm, etc.) that causes a lot of systems to go off, and the central is inundated with calls, because your system is monitored by Alarm Grid and CMS, your alarm signal will still get the priority response you need without any delay.

Why does it all matter? Well, think about what would happen if we had only one central station here in Florida. Sure, we’d be UL listed. We’d have a great, secure location, all our fire extinguishers would be in the right places, we would have two redundant servers, multiple lines coming in, etc. But, if there were a hurricane, there is a chance that we would have to shut down for a short time to make sure our staff were safe. Even if we didn't have to shut down, our operators would have so many false alarms coming in that our response for real alarms may get delayed.

As a result of using CMS, not only do you not have to worry about natural disasters that are happening where the central station is located (think Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey), you can be certain that 24 hours a day, someone is looking out for you and ready to respond immediately to any emergency.

The GSMVLP was a wonderful device that allowed Honeywell's LYNX Plus L3000 panel to communicate with AlarmNet using the cellular communication pathway.

As Honeywell transitions to AT&T's fast and reliable 4G network in anticipation of the end of the older 2G network, they have begun discontinuing the antiquated 2G communicators and replacing them with 4G compatible communicators.

We're sad to see this communicator go as we have loved the amazing security it has provided for Alarm Grid's many monitored clients. However, this is one of the final communicators to be put to rest and its replacement, the GSMVLP4G, will join Honeywell's growing pantheon of 4G communicators: the GSMVLP5-4G for the L5100, the GSMV4G or GSMX4G for a majority of the VISTA panels, and the VISTA-GSM4G for the VISTA 21iP.

I’m excited to tell you we’re getting bigger and bigger. We add more accounts each day, which makes us wonderfully excited. But even though we’re growing, we’re still a company with only a few employees. So this weekend, we are all out to see our dear leader, President Sterling Donnelly, get married to his beautiful fiancee.

Don’t expect to see many personal announcements here on the blog, but we thought this one was a particularly important one both because of who’s getting married and because we didn’t want to leave you all wondering what the heck was going on when you called.

We will be checking messages if you call 888-818-7728, and we will be checking emails when you send them to support@alarmgrid.com. We will do our best to get back to these as quickly as possible. And starting on Tuesday, things will be back to normal, except that Alarm Grid will have a new First Lady.

In the meantime, if you're feeling a little nostalgic, or feel like celebrating with us, go ahead and listen to the wedding march, drink a samosa, and send some good thoughts our way!

Introducing Alarm Grid's Zombie Motion Detector

Traditional motion detectors generally work through infrared detection. When a hot body of a certain size (and yes, by hot body I am referring to all of us here at Alarm Grid), crosses the sensor, it will go off.

So what happens when a member of the undead crosses a sensor?

Well, since they're cold-blooded like a lizard, we assumed nothing would happen, but we weren't really sure since so little is known about these scary creatures. So we ran some tests of our own, rustled up some zombies, and worked on a motion detector that is both pet immune and zombie proficient. When the zombies approach, the 5800PIRZ-RES will let you know right away. Similar to Honeywell's 5800PIR-RES   our most popular motion detector, the 5800PIRZ-RES will let you know when a warm blooded body is approaching, but at the top is what we call the "Cyclops Eye" which looks for big bodies (80 pounds and up) that are below 80 degrees, which is right about where a Zombie running a fever might find itself.

You can have peace of mind against all sorts of undead, since our solution ensures that vampires, zombies, and other creatures of the night will all be stopped in their tracks. Next on the invention train for Alarm Grid: werewolf detectors. Unfortunately, those big dogs are still ignored by pet immunity. But we're working on a solution as we speak.

If you are interested in getting a 5800PIRZ-RES for yourself, we're currently taking pre-orders, call us today, and put your name on the list before we sell out of our first batch!

Sometimes Alarm Grid's customers send us pictures of their DIY projects and how we helped or how we made a positive difference in their lives. Today, we thought we'd share a particularly cute one with you all since it warmed our little hearts.

After getting her Alarm Grid security signs and security stickers  this mother decided to use the box to pack her daughter up and send her to us. We're still waiting for the young lass to arrive in the mail, but we are all very excited about having a little girl to keep around the office. And before you get upset by the idea of sending your 3 foot tall child to Alarm Grid (which will fit perfectly into one of those boxes), just look at how happy she is.

Oh, and here's another great little picture of an Alarm Grid sign weathering the great Minnesota winter.

We feel bad for the sign, it looks awful cold and we're against subjecting these beautiful billboards to the elements; we're pretty sure that it's shivering. We asked the homeowners if they could get out there and put a jacket on it. We're hoping they do. If they don't, this sign's got a rough 6-8 months ahead of it.

Is that right? Minnesota has snow on the ground until September?

It's pictures like these that make us happy that we're in Florida. But we're proud of the fact that our Alarm Grid tendrils stretch all the way to the frozen tundras.

If you have a picture of an Alarm Grid sign, or if you have shoved your son or daughter into a box and want to show us, feel free to send your pictures to us at support@alarmgrid.com   If our signs look good in your yard or If we think your kid is cute enough, we might even add the picture to the blog!

A few years ago, Honeywell released an Android keypad made by Coby called the Mid-7H. Like most Android tablets, it was pretty enough, but the system was plagued by its slow processor, low resolution screen, and a generally poor public reception. To be honest, it is a bit of an inelegant addition to their wireless LYNX product line. That said, the app for controlling your L5100 which is installed on the device is well-loved by users and if that's what you were looking for, you might be sad to see it go.

Then again, it's not gone quite yet. So if you are desperate to get a Mid-7H for yourself, we will carry them until the product line is exhausted.

The good news for those of you who just wanted the L5100 software, Honeywell has told us that they are going to be making the software available in the Apple store and eventually will make the program available for download on Androids. We're not sure when that will happen, but in the meantime, go ahead and get your hands on one of the few remaining Mid-7Hs. These things are going to be a collectors item like pogs, beanie babies, and old Barbie dolls.

We anticipate that once the world hears of the tablets demise, collectors will scramble to get their hands on one like WalMart shoppers looking for Tickle-me-Elmo the day after Thanksgiving.