Time Needed to Activate My Alarm Grid System

Hi DIYers. This is Michael from Alarm Grid. And today, I'm going to be explaining, how long it takes to activate your Alarm Grid Security System for monitoring service. So the short answer is that it depends. We can give you the best estimate of 30 minutes. That's the typical case of your typical system, your typical activator, typical monitoring service central station service. We estimate about 30 minutes. Now, we have one hour long activation slots. And that's to account for the unexpected and so that way we're prepared. The last thing we want is to really go over the activation slot. So we give you one hour slots. You should prepare for the activation to take one hour, just in case, but 30 minutes is the best estimate. Now, we have seen shorter activations and of course, we've seen longer activations. On the short end, I've seen one of the techs activate a system in as little as six or seven minutes. That's rare, that's the perfect scenario. That's usually the Lyric, actually, probably on WiFi only for self-monitoring, I would imagine, but we have seen it that quickly. But usually 30 minutes is more what it takes. Now, when you're activating your system, there's a few things we're doing. And it depends on the type of service you're getting as well. We are activating the communicator for use with alarm.net or alarm.com. That's a big part activated communicator because that's how the system sends out the signals. We're setting up your central station documents, configuring your central station settings, assuming you're getting central station monitoring service. Obviously, if you're self-monitoring that's not applicable. We're discussing a false alarm passcode. If you have central station service. As well as a possible duress code, if you need call for help. And we're testing the system zones for a certificate of alarm. You can get a burglar intrusion zones, carbon monoxide zones, fire zones, temperature zones, and flood zones. So we need to have you activate the sensors and trigger alarms on your system, to make sure that those zone types are working. We can only give you a certificate of alarm for the ones that we've tested. That's by law, we have to do it that way. So we'll be testing those during your activation, that's a great time to do it. So when you go to sign up for a monitoring service, you're choosing an activation slot. And our slots are from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Eastern time, and those are on business days, which are Monday through Friday. So 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern time. So you'll choose a one hour slot and an activator will call you at the time that you've chosen. So what you need to do is you need to be ready for that activation. You need to be on site with the system. You should have the system installed. You should have all the sensors for the system already programmed. We recommend keeping the codes for your system, the master code and the installer code, at their defaults. You'll want to know these codes. So that way you can go through the activation as smoothly as possible. We'll tell you what to do. And of course, after the activation, you will want to change your master code to something different. So that's for security purposes, don't keep it at the defaults. Someone might know the default code and they'll be able to get into your system. So change it afterwards, but for the activation, it's a good idea to keep it at the default. That's what we recommend anyway. And you'll just want to listen closely to your technician. They're going to give you instructions during the process. And you want to listen to those instructions carefully. So that way we can go through the process as smoothly as possible. And we make as few mistakes-- is made as possible. We just move through it and get you activated. So just make sure to listen carefully. And remember, it's going to take-- the amount of time it'll take will depend on the panel. It will depend on the communication path. What type of COA you're getting. And how closely you listen to the technician. Like I said, we've seen it done as little as seven minutes, but we've also used the full time for that hour slot. So you should definitely prepare for it to take an hour, but if it's quicker than that's great. We're happy to listen to you. The activation is also a great time to address any concerns you might have or to ask any questions. We're here to help. So feel free to ask us as much as you want. Use this slot to its fullest, if you want to. That's what we have them set up that way for. We're here to help you. So if you have any questions about using our system, then feel free to ask. And we really want to help you prevent false alarms. That's something that's really important to us as a monitoring company. So if you have questions about preventing false alarms, then feel free to ask us. We're here to give you tips as well. So we're here to help you. So feel free to pick our brains, that's what we're here for. So be ready for your activations slot. You have to do your part as well and make sure you're ready beforehand. And remember you have to be on site, know the codes, have your system installed in programmed. So that's how long your activation should take. Our best estimate is 30 minutes, but it can be longer, it can be shorter. It's really going to depend. So if you have questions about activations or monitoring service, send an email to support@alarmgrid.com. If you find this video helpful, make sure to give it a thumbs up below to the video and remember to subscribe to our channel for updates on future videos. We hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you.