After reviewing the multitude of comments on my original review of alarm.com and realizing I had totally forgotten to write the next review, I thought I’d throw together something real quick for anyone still interested in what I have to say.
The truth is my family has been very happy with the alarm.com system we have installed. It has been reliable and operational for at least 8 months now with hardly any problems at all. We have a huge system with all the bells and whistles, lots and lots of sensors (motion, door, audio glass break, surface break, screen, water, smoke, CO, et cetera) in both wired and wireless formats. From what I can see, everything seems to work flawlessly.
There have been a few accidental alarm triggers caused by us and the company is quick to call. Also, the text message/email functionality is very quick (so I know what’s going on). Typically, my cell phone will alert my via text message that an alarm is “pending” and I will receive that message before the alarm has actually gone off. Kinda cool to know in real time what’s going on.
The web site history is nice as well to check up on the house while on vacation. (also nice to be able to disarm the system remotely for a friend to come in and water the plants without having to give them an access code)
The cellular paging aspect is rock solid. Not once have we ever had a problem in that regard.
The one area that was mildly disappointing was the x10 functionality with the lights; but that’s mostly because of limitations in my house rather than the alarm system itself. Basically, because the house is split on several different “circuits”, only the outlets and switches that are on the same “branch” as the alarm panel work properly. I understand there are x10 solutions to this problem; but I haven’t looked into it too much at this point (I’ve just been too busy).
Overall though, I still like alarm.com and would use them again if I had it do all over again.
If you have any specific questions, I can try to answer them within a week or so… so just leave a comment!
August 7th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
[…] Please read my new review everyone - it’s been a while since I wrote this. addthis_url = […]
August 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hi Dustin,
Thanks for the update. Very good, just like the first.
Your first review is the main reason I looked into Alarm.com further and ultimately became a customer, so thanks!
I have been a Frontpoint Security and Alarm.com customer for about 7 months now, and I echo your great sentiment about the service. It is bar-none the absolute best technology platform I have seen in this space, especially at anywhere near the same price-point. And I honestly have never experienced better service anywhere than I have at Frontpoint Security.
And, it should be noted that I am not affiliated with (other than being a regular customer, paying regular rates) nor am I being compensated in any way for saying these things by either company.
I have written a few other reviews around the internet, so I won’t rehash anything here… just wanted to pop my head in and say thanks for the reviews, and making me aware of this great technology platform.
Best regards,
Alan
September 21st, 2008 at 8:47 am
When you log into the alarm.com portal is it a secure link, like https?
Please respond on this review blog.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:43 am
NV
I happened to investigate frontpoint’s website and although this is just a screen shot the browser has an https link. I am not a customer with alarm.com or frontpoint yet but I am looking to switch from ADT.
(hope this link is not in violation, I just wanted to show the image with https)
http://www.frontpointsecurity.com./control/online-control
My only concern is comment made on the previous blog entry about false alarms and fines issued by the police. Were his problems a result of the authorized front company he used or alarm.com ?
October 16th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
NV,
When you log into the portal it forces https. Once logged in, if you try to change the url to http manually it’ll redirect back to https.
October 31st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
How does alarm.com protect against signal jamming? One of the bloggers said he can make one for $20, but commercial jammers are in the hundreds. Has anything been done to negate jamming and ensure that the signal can be sent?