Common Home Security Myths

Comments

I hope it is not true that the alarm monitoring center can't tell if your phone line is up or down. They regularly "poll" the detection devices in your home for low batteries and other system problems, why wouldn't they be able to detect the presence or absence of an active phone line? We are talking milliseconds of round trip time to poll the Central Control Unit (CCU) for your house and nanocents of expense to poll the CCU. So ADT, a straight answer please...can you tell if the phone line is up or down? If you can't and there is no adequate cellular back up, the whole system will be compromised by simply cutting the phone service providers connection. Personally, I can't understand how ADT (or any other similar service provider) could survive the liability implications of such an easily compromised "protection system."

thats why u get cell guard theres no phone line to cut its a cell signal all the time who has a phone line anymore anyway when u got your cell phone 5 years from now landlines will be like vcrs if adt doesnt reach you they call the police right after

"What happens if the intruder finds the ADT box and cuts the phone line or pulls the box out of the wall before ADT has a chance to call the house?" - Although ADT may not be able to reach the customers home if the intruder cuts the phone line, this will not prevent ADT from dispatching the authorities or contacting someone that’s on customer’s contact list once the alarm signal is received. "Will the intruder then be free to act at will without fear of the police being summoned or the Call list being activated? In others words, is there any way for ADT to know when an ADT box has been ripped out of the wall?" - For home and business owners that are concerned with intruders cutting their phone line, ADT offers alternative communication products that help to insure the alarm signal is received at the ADT monitoring center. The Safewatch CellGuard backup radio provides a dedicated cellular connection to ADT’s network of interconnected Customer Monitoring Center. ADT can also provide tamper monitoring of the ADT Box that can quickly notify the ADT monitoring center when someone tampers with the alarm system control box. Simply call 1-866-746-7238 to add that to your system.

Hi Gary & Jamie, in this scenario, the signal will not be sent to the Central Station. You will need to have Safewatch CellGuard backup which provides a dedicated cellular connection to ADT’s network of interconnected Customer Monitoring Center. In addition, you can consider perimeter alarms, window alarms, and glass break sensors. That way the alarm will go off before intruders could get to the box. Simply call 1-866-746-7238 to add that to your system.

"What happens if the intruder finds the ADT box and cuts the phone line or pulls the box out of the wall before ADT has a chance to call the house?" - Once the alarm is triggered the signal is sent in less than 5 seconds. Once that signal is received the house is tried, then the police are notified. A CORRECTLY installed system should not be able to be ripped off the wall in under 5 seconds, I would almost argue that this would be impossible to do. Certain system like the Ademco Lynx panel could be knocked down quickly, but the signal will have already been sent. They can completely wreck it, once its sent (and remember this happens in under 5 secs) theres no stopping the process of calling the home and if theres no answer or if its busy, calling the police. "In others words, is there any way for ADT to know when an ADT box has been ripped out of the wall?" - No, but once the signal has been sent theres no way to keep the police from showing up. You CANNOT disable a security system from the outside of a home. The absolute worst you could do is disable power to the home (which a backup battery would counteract) or cut the home phone line (which cellguard would counteract). "It provides you with a false sense of security that you have ADT when you dont even know if the phone lines are working or not, kinda scary." - This statement comes up all the time. "False sense of security..." How can you call a security system a false sense of security? The system will operate regardless of whether your phone lines are cut or not, potentially saving your life by alerting you to the break-in. If your not at the home then without cellguard you won't be monitored, to fix that, get cellular back-up... But to say the entire system is worthless or even a false sense of security is very untrue, materialistic things can be replaced, your life cannot. "what if the alarm dosent scare them off??" - Theres nothing you can do to prevent a break-in. You can deter burglars b

Hi Gary, I totally agree with you, what happens after the telephone lines or ADT box is gone. In fact I have asked the same question to ADT but never received any answer, may be the home security folks on this site know the answer. It provides you with a false sense of security that you have ADT when you dont even know if the phone lines are working or not, kinda scary.

What happens if the intruder finds the ADT box and cuts the phone line or pulls the box out of the wall before ADT has a chance to call the house? Will the intruder then be free to act at will without fear of the police being summoned or the Call list being activated? In others words, is there any way for ADT to know when an ADT box has been ripped out of the wall?

FREINDLY ADVICE...LET THE ALARM DISPTCHER DO THEIR JOB, IF YOUR ALARM GOES OFF & YOU FEEL YOU ARE IN DANGER LEAVE OR HIDE & DO NOT DISARM YOUR SYSTEM UNTILL THE AUTHORITIES ARRIVE

Hi Mike, thats why you also need to put up big sirens.

what if the alarm dosent scare them off??

great information... thanks... the cell piece is something I didn't know