technerd
Member
Hi All - I didn't see this sub-forum until my 20+ posts! Sorry for being so impolite. 
I'm just a newbie in this space, but I feel like compared to the average home owner I know relatively a lot of info.
I'm on my second home right now, with an alarm system. My first home had an alarm system, but the previous home owners never used it because they felt it was too much trouble.
I used to do a lot of out of town travel for work, so I activated that alarm and had a local company that was owned by a former police officer do all my service work. It was some basic Ademco unit, and I learned how to change my own back up battery and do some basic programming on that unit. It was a POTS only monitored system, and my neighbors let me know that several times when I was away on business, the alarm system had gone off, but yet my alarm company had never detected and never contacted me. Only when I came home did I see that the alarm system had registered an alarm. I think I had a problem with the sensors or something because my house had never been broken into during that time.
I got married, had kids, and moved to my second home. With my second home I did a lot of research on alarm systems, since I was wary of the lack of accurate response from the first alarm system. After rejecting low bidders and their cheap alarm systems, I opted for a higher end Ademco Vista 20P system that has a ton of sensors and motion sensors. I also felt very comfortable with the installer's expertise and the company's customer service. I have had several issues throughout the last 3 years and the company has always sent a tecnician to my house to address the issue within 24 hours.
Now that my 3 years commitment with Monitronics h as expired, I looked around again for a good monitoring solution. I was not happy with just POTS monitoring and wanted cellular and more control over my alarm system. After doing a lot of research, I chose uControl and have it currently installed and active. I couldn't be happier with uControl as their customer serivce is second to none.
Now I'm here looking to absorb as much information as I possibly can, for when our family moves to a 3rd house, and I want as much home automation and security as my wife is willing to put up with.
Thanks for having me here!
I'm just a newbie in this space, but I feel like compared to the average home owner I know relatively a lot of info.
I'm on my second home right now, with an alarm system. My first home had an alarm system, but the previous home owners never used it because they felt it was too much trouble.
I used to do a lot of out of town travel for work, so I activated that alarm and had a local company that was owned by a former police officer do all my service work. It was some basic Ademco unit, and I learned how to change my own back up battery and do some basic programming on that unit. It was a POTS only monitored system, and my neighbors let me know that several times when I was away on business, the alarm system had gone off, but yet my alarm company had never detected and never contacted me. Only when I came home did I see that the alarm system had registered an alarm. I think I had a problem with the sensors or something because my house had never been broken into during that time.
I got married, had kids, and moved to my second home. With my second home I did a lot of research on alarm systems, since I was wary of the lack of accurate response from the first alarm system. After rejecting low bidders and their cheap alarm systems, I opted for a higher end Ademco Vista 20P system that has a ton of sensors and motion sensors. I also felt very comfortable with the installer's expertise and the company's customer service. I have had several issues throughout the last 3 years and the company has always sent a tecnician to my house to address the issue within 24 hours.
Now that my 3 years commitment with Monitronics h as expired, I looked around again for a good monitoring solution. I was not happy with just POTS monitoring and wanted cellular and more control over my alarm system. After doing a lot of research, I chose uControl and have it currently installed and active. I couldn't be happier with uControl as their customer serivce is second to none.
Now I'm here looking to absorb as much information as I possibly can, for when our family moves to a 3rd house, and I want as much home automation and security as my wife is willing to put up with.
Thanks for having me here!
