CJ wrote

Having read the thread I would like to add the following for the groups
discussion.

How dare you ?

I agree with all who say change your insurance carrier as the discount is
far less the cost of an alarm contract.

However an alarm in a domestic property can be justified if it gives piece
of mind to the occupier and alerts neighbours to an alarm or frightens off
the robbers.

Yes, they certainly have their uses.

An alarm will never stop you being robbed if the thief want to take your
things they will find a way.

Very few have stuff that sees thieves behave like that.

ALL you have to do is make your place a lot harder to rob
than someone else's so they rob someone else's instead.

Just imagine having goons with guns at each door and window.

Very few thieves will try to rob a place like that anyway.

On a technical front, PIR detectors can last over 15yrs but deteriorate
with age becoming hyper-sensitive causing false alarms.

I've seen no evidence of that with the best of them.

Dual tec devices start to fail mainly because the microwave antenna
corrodes (especially in damp or cold locations like garages) this causes
the device to go out of tune giving false alarms.

And that doesn't happen with well designed ones
either, they are designed so that they don't corrode.

Modern analytical vibration sensors (if setup correctly) will detect
forced entry on uPVC windows before the glass is broken. Mine did and
still do.

The Redcare system is a BT dedicated telephone line which is monitored
24/7 so the monitoring station will know if the line is cut before you do.

And you can have a system that is battery backed and which uses the
mobile phone system too and that's a lot cheaper in ongoing costs.

Modern dual-com monitoring systems use both the mobile phone network and
landline together so unless you jam the mobile signal and cut the phone
line at the same time a line fault will be sent to the monitoring station.

And the mobile phone system alone is good enough for houses unless
you are a diamond merchant etc and keep the jewels at home etc.

By law external bells must stop after a predetermined time (usually
20mins) but this is set by local authorities.This said if the alarm is
programmed to auto reset as most are the bell will stop for 10secs then
start again.

That doesn't satisfy some jurisdictions.

Monitoring stations will call the police but most forces and stations
operate a 3 strikes and you're out system.
ie. Within a set timeframe ;1st false call a warning 2nd a fine ,3rd a
bigger fine and no more monitoring (NB you will still have to pay for the
duration of the contract.)

And those sorts of monitored systems arent cheap per year.

You can now do the monitoring yourself with a system
that alerts you using the mobile system and which allows
you to have a look at whats going on in the monitored
place so you can decide whether to call the cops etc.

You can even tell the crims that they have been
detected and that the cops are on their way too.

And that sort of system doesn't have massive ongoing costs
and isnt all that expensive to buy when done DIY either.

From the above it becomes clear that to guarantee everything works a
company must regularly check the system and would not normally take on a
DIY install.

But there is nothing to stop you monitoring it yourself
and making an obscene gesture in their general direction.

You can still do that when out of the country trivially too.

We all know this is not always the case but hopefully you can see why
nobody will touch a DIY system.

But there is no reason why you can't touch it yourself.