FAQ – How Do I Save Money?

Important Questions and Considerations

Switching alarm monitoring providers is not difficult, but many providers don’t want you leaving and attempt to make it so.  We offer a much lower cost for real UL central station security monitoring, no required contracts, and overall better, friendly support, its a natural move.  We are here answering our phones 7 days a week.  Does your existing alarm dealer do that without being on hold for an hour for a simple question?

• Are you under an existing alarm monitoring contract?  Be careful because many dealer contracts have auto renewal provisions that may lock you in for another 3 to 5 years at high pricing.  Also its common to have a 30 or 60 day termination notification period.  Are there any hidden termination fees they failed to mention?  Local dealers and even national dealers such as ADT and Brinks make a LOT of money on alarm monitoring agreements so they will make it as hard as possible for their customers to switch.
• Do you own your alarm equipment?  Another reason to read your existing alarm agreement carefully.  Some dealers offer “free” home security systems when you sign up for their multiyear alarm monitoring plans.  Obviously nothing is free.  In this case the alarm company owns the main equipment such as control panel, keypad, motion sensor.  Anything additional you would own but if you don’t renew their high priced plan they’ll remove “their” equipment leaving you with no working alarm system. Just another sneaky method to retain highly profitable accounts.
• Do you already have a 4G or 5G LTE cellular communicator?  This can be either as part of a plugin wireless system module or hardwired addon unit. Your alarm panel using a cellular communicator actually “talks” with an Interactive Services (IS) provider not the central station directly.  3G has already been turned off by US carriers so any non-LTE cellular communicator would need to be replaced. This would not apply to WIFI or Ethernet IP connections.

It is important to understand what alarm panel model you currently have as well as what Interactive Services provider is/was used. A cellular communicator compatible with Honeywell Alarmnet (Total Connect 2) will not work with any other provider such as Alula or Alarm.com.  Communicators are built for a particular Interactive Services provider, they are not universal unfortunately.  In general this is not a problem if you already like the Interactive Service Provider you are using other than the price your current alarm dealer is charging for this service.

Large national alarm companies such as ADT sometimes use proprietary communicators which will ONLY work with their central station.  If this is the case then a replacement cellular communicator would be required.  The breakeven for the replacement equipment cost however is usually less than four months.  Also ADT cameras will only work with their service and are not transferrable.

• Do you know the “Installer Code” for your alarm panel?   In many cases the installing alarm company did not provide this important code despite you owning the equipment.  The Installer Code is used to get into the programming area of your security system.  Since the Account Number used for the central station will need to be modified getting into Program Mode is necessary.

If you do not know the Installer Code nicely ask your existing or previous alarm company for this code.  They know what it is since they used it to put their account information into your panel.  In some cases dealers will want to send a technician to your home to reset the code to the manufacturer’s default code and of course charge you for the visit ($100 – $150).  There is no reason why they can’t tell you this code over the phone or reset the code remotely. Don’t fall for this last chance to milk you!

Depending on the brand and model alarm control panel you own there may be a “back door” into your panel’s Program Mode if the Installer Code is not known.  Many Honeywell panels for example have an easy way to get into Program Mode if the code was forgotten or not provided.  Others however must be “factory reset” meaning it erases all current configuration (zones, passcodes, etc.) and acts like a new alarm panel out of the box.  Reprogramming the panel is generally not something you want to tackle on your own and requires a local dealer to assist.  Hopefully you know the Installer Code or can get it from the previous dealer without hassle.

** If you have a Honeywell brand alarm panel check our page on how to reset your panel’s Installer Code using the back door method.  Every brand panel has a default Installer Code which can also be tried, but many dealers change it to keep a customer locked in.

See this page for How To Check If Your Alarm Installer Code Is Valid.