Need to be schooled on Security Systems

[Swancoat]

I recently built a new home, and received a lot of help here on the AV and data pre-wire. As far as the Alarm goes, the builder (or more accurately, their sub) pushed back hard against putting anything but their standard alarm in. No worries, I thought. I'll just replace it with something of my own at a later date as long as the sensors are wired in, right?

Well, I've been in the house for a couple of weeks, and I've got some questions about how to go about the whole thing.
First, the builder's sub hit me up right away with "When can we start your alarm monitoring service?" Service is minimum 39.99/mo with 36 mo. commitment, so I said, "Never." That being said, I've been looking for a new monitoring company in to monitor my alarm in Houston, and it's been more difficult than I thought.

First of all, I figured that the alarm brand doesn't matter so much as long as it can dial out, but everyone just wants to replace what I have with a Honeywell or DSC (and set me up for a 36 mo. commitment as well). The builder's system is a GE Concord. I downloaded a manual and I can't see anywhere where I can program the number it dials out to. It seems like this whole thing is engineered to require me to get into bed with some sort of long-term deal.

I may be oversimplifying this, but it seems to be that alarm monitoring is a glorified version of sitting by the phone. Why can't I find someone to do this at a reasonable price?

My questions:

1) Does anyone know of an alarm company that will monitor my GE Concord without a contract (I'm in Houston)?
2) Does anyone know where I can find out how to just set this up myself? Some sort of secret Concord owners manual or something.
3) If I decide to refit something else at a later date, like an Elk, where the heck do you guys get those things monitored?

Sorry if these questions are kind of 'elementary', but I just can't seem to find the answers.

 

[TurboSam]

You can find Concord owners and installation manuals on-line by simple internet searches. I found both.

I had a similar situation with the GE Simon 3 system, and while I was given a users manual, the installation manual was much more useful. I migrated my system to the ELK-M1.

Lots of people here use NextAlarm monitoriing but other services are also available.

Welcome.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I take it they gave you the installer code for that Concord system or it is just factory default as it was never powered up?

 

[Sandpiper]

My questions:

1) Does anyone know of an alarm company that will monitor my GE Concord without a contract (I'm in Houston)?
2) Does anyone know where I can find out how to just set this up myself? Some sort of secret Concord owners manual or something.
3) If I decide to refit something else at a later date, like an Elk, where the heck do you guys get those things monitored?

A Concord 4, like most other popular brands, can be programmed to call any central monitoring station. There are some national alarm companies, however, that purchase special hardware from the alarm system vendors which cannot be programmed (i.e. "locked out" or "hard-coded"). You should be able to find an installer manual and try to get into programming. If you don't have the installer code (the default code is in the manual), you are locked out. The Concord 4 cannot be defaulted back to factory settings without the installer code.

There are several national "monitoring-only" companies out there who can do the monitoring. They have professionals that can help you program the required settings. In my opinion, if you have some electrical and/or computer skills, these companies are the best bang for the buck in alarm monitoring.

The national "install and monitor" alarm companies all do the same thing...just for slightly different outragously high prices. However, some users will need to go with them if they cannot or are not willing to do the programming, installation and maintenance of the alarm systems.

The Elk M1 can be monitored as easy as an other national brand. The signals they send to the central monitoring station are exactly the same. It's just that the "install and monitor" companies do not know how to program them and are not willing to learn how. But the "monitor-only" companies will help you with the setup for M1 monitoring.

 

[tmbrown97]

nextalarm is a common one around here... and here's another one I've been looking at lately http://www.alarmrelay.com/

 

[Swancoat]

Thanks for all the tips and PMs. Nextalarm and the like look great for when I'm ready to move ahead with an Elk or whatever I choose. In the meantime, I really want the thing up and running so I can get my insurance discount, etc. Having just moved in, I don't really have time to get into messing with a whole new system myself and likely won't for a few months.

That being said, I found a company that will monitor for $16/mo with no contract. Called them up, they said no problem, but regarding my current system, they will have to replace the 'keypads' to 'communicate with their system'. First one is free, second is $28, which I'm fine with.

This sounded a little suspicious to me, so I questioned him how they could possibly need to replace the keypads to communicate with their system. Well, it turns out that they need to replace the keypads, and a 'board' inside the can too. Basically, they're using the sensors as installed, and the can but giving me a DSC security system with 2 keypads for $28 (I confirmed that there was no contract period). Gives you a sense of the actual value of these security systems.

Anyway, I wasn't married to the GE, so I said go ahead. They're coming in on Wednesday, so at least I'll be up and running, and ready to go to Elk/nextalarm a few months down the road.

 

[Photon]

Ask for the installer code in case you don't have an opportunity to do the upgrade as planned.