BT Monitored ALarm System from Argos

skywalker_208

Hi,

Ive been thinking about getting a monitored alarm system. Eircom phone watch is too much hassle as they wont even give you a quote without a lenghtly discussion and it has to be wired anyway.

Argos have a wireless BT alarm for €299. The subscription is €5 a month. But get this! BT say the alarm is no use in Ireland as it can only ring UK Landlines and Mobile Numbers!!!

How can they get away with selling that over here if it doesnt work?

Redshift

These DIY alarms are quite frankly crap, Burglars know they are diy and they offer very poor protection with the few rubbishy detectors you get with them.
Infact I would be happier with a couple of decoy boxes that look the same as a normal alarm box on the outside of my house than one of these systems.
If you are electrically competant and are prepared to spend a little time at it you would be better off buying a proprer alarm system from a security wholesaler and installing it yourself costwise buying a professional system wholsale would not be substantially more than the argos system with the same number of sensors of course they are quite a bit harder to install and the literature that comes with most professional systems assumes you already know how to put in an alarm, but if you are reasonably competant in terms of DIY and electrical wok you should be well able to manage it

skywalker_208

yea i suppose when you put it like that... where can you get a decoy box? The house is actually fully wired for an alarm but im only renting at the moment so dont want to invest too much money in it if i cant take it with me....

Redshift

skywalker_208 wrote:

yea i suppose when you put it like that... where can you get a decoy box? The house is actually fully wired for an alarm but im only renting at the moment so dont want to invest too much money in it if i cant take it with me....

Any electrical or security wholesaler will sell you a couple of decoy boxes for 10 or 15 euro each, Where are you located I might know somewhere close by.
At least if you put up decoys it will look like there is a proper alarm installed.

BTW if your house is fully wired phonewatch will install a wired system for cheaper than you could buy the gear yourself. Might be worth mentioning to the landlord if you were to get it installed and knock the cost off the rent I know a few people who have done that.

skywalker_208

thanks for the tips. I might mention the phone watch idea. Im located in Meath/Blanch/West Dublin area if you can think of anywhere for those decoy boxes..

Jnealon

Dummy boxes are a bad idea especially now since most new alarm boxes have some sort of flashing led. Back in the old days of steel boxes and mechanical bells you couldn't tell the difference but now you can spot one a mile away. Anyway what some thieves are doing is throwing tennis balls at windows seeing if the alarm is on or not so a couple of dummys will be no good to you.
If you still want the dummy box you're best bet is T ORielly in Blanch beside the credit union, they're a bit dear but it wont make much difference on €25 - €30 for a couple of dummys.

skywalker_208

yea but surely anything is better than nothing!

mad m

Had eircom sales people knock at door other day,asking if i was interested in Eircom phone watch and i said "No! i have an alarm already" to which the sales bloke went into his pitch..."I know sir,but would you be interested if we take off your existing alarm box cover and put our Eircom phone one on it as part of our advertising to try and promote it in your area"...i scratched my chin ok i said whats in it for me....

Well he said "i was getting the whole Eircom shabang phone watch plus it will be only 10euro a month subscription"...I laughed and said "Nah but if i was getting X amount of free phone calls id let you put your box up there,to which they declined and shook there head as if i was robbing them of there lively hood...hehe.....

So after i thought about it after they went i thought jesus they must be desperate to get the phone watch thing going.To ask householder could they put there cover over an existing alarm which is hardwired..... :rolleyes:

skywalker_208

that doesnt make much sense!! so is Phonewatch generally a tenner a month? wat i liked about the BT one is that you can logon over the net and view the status of your senors.. not sure if you can do that with Eircom...

mad m

to be honest skywalker_208 i havent a clue,but thats what sales rep said to me"10 euro a month if i agreed to put there box up"

RicardoSmith

I know someone with an Wireless Eircom (Phonewatch) monitored alarm. Cost about 2K. It went off one night, and they couldn't reach anyone on the list they had to ring. (They were all at the same function) So they waited for 4 hours to ring back the house owner!

Whats the point of that! If it was me I would have asked for my money back!

I wish alarm companies would just configure the dialler to ring a few mobiles and phones that you tell them. But noone seems willing to do that for you.

The Security ma

>>These DIY alarms are quite frankly crap, Burglars know they are diy and they offer very poor protection with the few rubbishy detectors you get with them.
Infact I would be happier with a couple of decoy boxes that look the same as a normal alarm box on the outside of my house than one of these systems.


And they won't know the difference with these ??? !!

RicardoSmith

Whats a DIY detector and how is it different from a non DIY detector.

The Security ma

A DIY detector is more than likely a '9volt' battery operated (square ones).
This is how to tell a GOOD detector from a CHEAP one...

A proper wireless detector will have a 3.6V LITHIUM battery fitted. This should last in the region of 3 to 4 years minimum.

Security is not really a subject to be 'tight-fisted' about - you get what you pay for. Stay away from those DIY kits - they're more hasstle than their worth and you need to change batteries every few months.

A proper good quality wirefree system will monitor the batteries for you, giving a low battery indication at the panel, telling you which sensor. They are also reasonable enough to buy.

The Security ma

>>>>>>>>>I wish alarm companies would just configure the dialler to ring a few mobiles and phones that you tell them. But noone seems willing to do that for you.

Thats because there's no REVENUE for them!
All these companies are interested is YEARLY REVENUE - get you to sign-up on a monthly direct debit and hope you forget about it.
In a couple of years you'll stand back, scratch your head and wonder 'Why am I paying this??'
At that stage, they'll be after selling up.
Without monitoring, Phonewatch would be gone down the pan long ago.
Its not the best wirefree alarm out there (ok, it was 7 years ago, but not today) and the monitoring fee is DOUBLE any other company.

BUT PEOPLE STILL KEEP PAYING IT....... ! - so they keep winning.

RicardoSmith

The Security ma wrote:

>>>>>>>>>I wish alarm companies would just configure the dialler to ring a few mobiles and phones that you tell them. But noone seems willing to do that for you.
...

Thats all I wanted. In fact if I could get all this to work from an old PC even better. Then I could hook up a few web cams and check it all remotely.

The Security ma

if you buy a dvr (Digital video recorder) you can assign an IP address to it and connect your broadband. you will be able to access your cameras then, remotely. a 4 camera dvr is about €700.

RicardoSmith

The Security ma wrote:

if you buy a dvr (Digital video recorder) you can assign an IP address to it and connect your broadband. you will be able to access your cameras then, remotely. a 4 camera dvr is about €700.

700 :eek:

pollyantic

I had a 'monitored' alarm before.
Noticed that it kept going off and the 'Monitors' never called me even though they were chargeing me €12 a month for the monitoring. Oart of that deal was that the alarm called home every 4 days to tell them it was still working, so nothing could go wrong.

I got them up to look at it and they said the engineer said that now that i had ISDN (had it for over a year) i would need a knew modem in the alarm as it couldn't call home.

My problem here is that they got over €150 from me where they were supposedly monitoring my alarm and check every 4 days to see if the alarm was ok.

I got rid of them and got phonewatch. The alarm went off once and they phoned and left a message on the home phone. I complained that they didnt ring the other key holders or the police when there was no answer. They considered it their job done when they left a messag.


A common problem i'm told since.

RicardoSmith

I have a friend who had a similar problem with phone watch. They rang all the numbers got no answers and did nothing. 4 hours later they rang back again.

Whats the point of that?

Eurorunner

My problem here is that they got over €150 from me where they were supposedly monitoring my alarm and check every 4 days to see if the alarm was ok.

A clearcut case for the small claims court surely?

fred funk }{

pollyantic wrote:

I had a 'monitored' alarm before.
Noticed that it kept going off and the 'Monitors' never called me even though they were chargeing me €12 a month for the monitoring. Oart of that deal was that the alarm called home every 4 days to tell them it was still working, so nothing could go wrong.

I got them up to look at it and they said the engineer said that now that i had ISDN (had it for over a year) i would need a knew modem in the alarm as it couldn't call home.

My problem here is that they got over €150 from me where they were supposedly monitoring my alarm and check every 4 days to see if the alarm was ok.

I got rid of them and got phonewatch. The alarm went off once and they phoned and left a message on the home phone. I complained that they didnt ring the other key holders or the police when there was no answer. They considered it their job done when they left a messag.


A common problem i'm told since.

What was setting the alarm off? Your alarm can send lots of different signals to the monitoring company, If it was an alarm signal they should have called the key holders and the gaurds.

You should have called the monitoring company and asked them what signals they got from your house and why they didnt contact the people they should have.

Regarding your ISDN line, If they said you need a new dialler (modem) they are ripping you off, Every ISDN modem has an analog port which is ok for the alarm to use ( I use it every day of the week)

The Security ma

I'll tell you an even better one!!

I know a house where Phonewatch was installed - the place got burgled and the alarm went off, contacted phonewatch (before it was smashed off the wall) as it does.

All was going well for the burglars, 'cause the woman didn't find out until she arrived home 5 hours later.

BUT DIG THIS!! - Phonewatch had the wrong phone number for the local Garda station and couldn't get through!! So they just decided to give up, after leaving messages on the keyholders phones.

The Gardai had changed their number several months previous and notified all the monitoring companies in writing (I know for a fact, beleive me...). Phonewatch didnt have the cop-on (excuse the punn) to ring the next nearest Garda station (who incidentally could have given them the new No.) or even diall 999!

prospect

The Security ma wrote:

I wish alarm companies would just configure the dialler to ring a few mobiles and phones that you tell them.

I got an alarm fitted in my place and it texts my mobile, and my wifes mobile.
In fact, it will text and mobile i input into it, (neighbours if we are away etc), and it only costs for on text every time the alaram activates...
There is no yearly subscription.

Eurorunner

prospect wrote:

I got an alarm fitted in my place and it texts my mobile, and my wifes mobile.
In fact, it will text and mobile i input into it, (neighbours if we are away etc), and it only costs for on text every time the alaram activates...
There is no yearly subscription.

What system would that be prospect?
Wired or wireless?

RicardoSmith

prospect wrote:

I got an alarm fitted in my place and it texts my mobile, and my wifes mobile.
In fact, it will text and mobile i input into it, (neighbours if we are away etc), and it only costs for on text every time the alaram activates...
There is no yearly subscription.

I'd be very interested in that myself. Can you PM us some details or post them here etc. Did you fit it yourself? Whats the make and model of the alarm?

prospect

Eurorunner wrote:

What system would that be prospect?
Wired or wireless?

The electrician wired in for the window sersors, siren, keypad, etc, when the house was being built.
Then the alarm guy came along afterwards and fitted his kit, and we brought a cable from the landline back to the alarm control panel. This is where the texting is done from.

The Security ma

This is done Guys, with the 'HKC Securewatch' panel.
Most alarm companies are now using this panel.

Since last October, the software has been upgraded to allow for SMS modem (add-on card). If your system is a Securewatch but older than last october, you need a software upgrade- this will have to be done by an expert (like me ).
If its a newer system, the SMS Digi-modem card costs about €160 - but has to be programmed by the engineer via the panels programming menu.

It is connected to your house land-line and uses the Eircom (or whoever) 'TEXT FROM HOME' server. (You can buy landline phones now, that you can SMS from, over your landline network).
The text is sent from the modem down your landline (@15cents) to the server, which in turn decodes the info and sends it to the Mobile network's server, then to your Moby.

HOWEVER - there are disadvantages - you are soley reliant on the Eircom SMS central server. (It is not a whole lot better than their 'Customer Care' department) it can be very slow at times. Occasionally you will get the text 15/20mins AFTER it was actually sent from your house. Not much use if you've been burgled....
Also, remember it sends ONE TEXT FOR EACH EVENT - i.e; I got 42 texts one day in 6mins, because my Daughter forgot the new code and decided to wander around the house for 5mins with the alarm ringing. Each activation from the PIR (motion sensor) was ONE text - so beware!!

prospect

The Security ma wrote:

Each activation from the PIR (motion sensor) was ONE text - so beware!!

This can be a pain, as it also sends a text to say it disarmed, and then another the first time it is set after an activation.
But, i believe the police require this now before a callout. As the old systems only sent one text to say a window sensor has gone off. This could have been anything, like a bird hitting the glass. But with these newer systems, like ours, it will send 'update texts' so we would get messages like:
'Kitchen window sensor - 01:00am'
'Kitchen PIR - 01:01am'
'Hall PIR - 01:01am'
etc.
So this confirms to the police that there is actually someone in the house.

The Security ma

prospect wrote:

But with these newer systems, like ours, it will send 'update texts' so we would get messages like:
'Kitchen window sensor - 01:00am'
'Kitchen PIR - 01:01am'
'Hall PIR - 01:01am'
etc.
So this confirms to the police that there is actually someone in the house.

***This is not connected to the Police (or garda). It just texts your phone. In order for a Garda response, you need the traditional 'monitored' alarm, where you fork out €180 + a year for monitoring. The Gardai will only respond to an alarm from a monitoring company.

Prospect is correct about 'verification' - The new Garda policy (April 2004) is that they now require TWO activations from your alarm (via the monitoring company) before they will respond. This will now ensure that the activation is genuine, and that your house is well and truly cleaned out before they get there. (I guess they want to make sure they don't arrive PRIOR to the burglars leaving.... otherwise, there would be no crimes for them to solve... )

prospect

LOL @ The Security ma