Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Has anyone tried Simplisafe?
Old 06-21-2017, 04:55 PM   #1
Recycles dryer sheets
pullmyfinger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Redmond
Posts: 260
Has anyone tried Simplisafe?

I tried to respond to an old thread on home alarm systems but it was too old.

We now need a cellular based system and ADT will increase our monthly rate from $35 to $50/mo and also charge for additional installation. Simplisafe looks like a decent deal on their website and there is currently an American Express offer. Does anyone have experience with them? Thanks in advance.
__________________
Retired in 2014 at 45.
pullmyfinger is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 06-21-2017, 04:59 PM   #2
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: New York City
Posts: 2,838
Quote:
Originally Posted by pullmyfinger View Post
I tried to respond to an old thread on home alarm systems but it was too old.

We now need a cellular based system and ADT will increase our monthly rate from $35 to $50/mo and also charge for additional installation. Simplisafe looks like a decent deal on their website and there is currently an American Express offer. Does anyone have experience with them? Thanks in advance.
No, but i found a mom and pop alarm company, they charge me $20 a month for the alarm monitoring. I had the house wired for alarms when it was built, so no contracts , but i was getting hosed for $40 month from one of the big boys before i found the mom and pop company.
__________________
Withdrawal Rate currently zero, Pension 137 % of our spending, Wasted 5 years of my prime working extra for a safe withdrawal rate. I can live like a King for a year, or a Prince for the rest of my life. I will stay on topic, I will stay on topic, I will stay on topic
Blue Collar Guy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 05:42 PM   #3
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
ExFlyBoy5's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: ATL --> Flyover Country
Posts: 6,649
Yep...have had Simplisafe since 2012 and at my Dad's place since 2013. It works flawlessly and the price is great. I would highly recommend them.
__________________
FIRE'd in 2014 @ 40 Years Old
Professional Retiree
ExFlyBoy5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 05:56 PM   #4
Confused about dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by ExFlyBoy5 View Post
Yep...have had Simplisafe since 2012 and at my Dad's place since 2013. It works flawlessly and the price is great. I would highly recommend them.
+1
We've had them for 5 years or so and have been quite happy.
ivorybird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 05:56 PM   #5
Recycles dryer sheets
chilkoot's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: The sticks
Posts: 314
Have had Simplisafe for about a year now and no complaints. A cinch to install and $15/mo monitoring. A few false alarms, but those had to do with an unfortunate interaction between the sensor magnets and metal mini-blinds. Not really a fault in the product.
__________________
I’m not much on seizing the day. I just kind of poke it with a stick.
chilkoot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 05:59 PM   #6
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
euro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 2,307
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue Collar Guy View Post
No, but i found a mom and pop alarm company, they charge me $20 a month for the alarm monitoring. I had the house wired for alarms when it was built, so no contracts , but i was getting hosed for $40 month from one of the big boys before i found the mom and pop company.
We have a system that was put in by a local company when we built out home almost 30 years ago. They have been charging $20 a month since 1991and have changed the actual monitoring company a couple of times but never booted up the price (the monitoring technology must have gotten so much more efficient over the years that they can still make it work at the same price). So, it's a mom and pop shop too, but they don;t actually do the monitoring (good thing!!!)
euro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 06:46 PM   #7
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Fair Lawn
Posts: 2,940
I'm also a satisfied SimpliSafe customer.
mystang52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 07:18 PM   #8
Recycles dryer sheets
pullmyfinger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Redmond
Posts: 260
Thanks so much everyone for the feedback!
__________________
Retired in 2014 at 45.
pullmyfinger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 07:52 PM   #9
Moderator
Jerry1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 9,101
Quote:
Originally Posted by pullmyfinger View Post
Thanks so much everyone for the feedback!
Yes, thank you. I just bought a system a few weeks ago and now that the painting is done, I'm about to install. Good to hear more good reviews supporting what I had read.

Trying to decide whether or not it's worth it for the service. My main goal is know if someone comes in while I'm there (confirmation of bump in the night) and to make sure I don't walk in unexpectedly on someone. I think the service will have little impact on what a thief does. I suspect once they hear the alarm, they will take what they can and get, not knowing if police have been called.
Jerry1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2017, 08:11 PM   #10
Recycles dryer sheets
Mo Money's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: .
Posts: 382
I have an old-school alarm. Bargained down the monitoring costs. My neighbor got Simplisafe a couple of months ago and is pleased.
__________________
“We always may be what we might have been.” -- Adelaide Anne Procter
Mo Money is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2017, 06:33 AM   #11
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
folivier's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,986
I installed a Fortress Security system last year and am pleased with it. It is one of the very few that doesn't require monitoring. I self monitor using a cellular card that sends a text on a programmed event. The newest model also can use wifi in addition to the sim.
__________________
You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
folivier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2017, 07:09 AM   #12
Moderator
Aerides's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 13,879
Get some new house window stickers and signs from ADT before you swap. 90% of the benefit of an alarm is the deterrent of advertising that you have one.

Put up the blue signs from ADT, then swap to the other service (no, they won't make you give the signs back).
Aerides is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2017, 07:14 AM   #13
Full time employment: Posting here.
Whisper66's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Houston
Posts: 957
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry1 View Post
...Trying to decide whether or not it's worth it for the service. My main goal is know if someone comes in while I'm there (confirmation of bump in the night) and to make sure I don't walk in unexpectedly on someone. .....
We have same goal and chose to have the system with local alarms but not the service to call company or police. Instead we have cell phones with police emergency #on speed dial, improved our door/window locks and placed self defense devices around the home (mainly pepper spray). Local police found say they (a) have so many false alarms that they can't respond as we might expect and (b) it's pretty unlikely they would arrive in time to stop a typical burglary. To see the bigger picture of the challenge for police, see report below:

From:https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/cd_rom/i...glarAlarms.pdf "The vast majority of alarm calls–between 94 and 98 percent–are false (higher in some jurisdictions). In other words, reliability of alarms, which can be measured using these false rates, is generally between 2 and 6 percent. Nationwide, false alarms account for 10 to 25 percent of all calls to police."
Whisper66 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2017, 07:26 AM   #14
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,495
We're on a cul de sac w retirees and work from homes in over half the houses so not too worried, but wanted something. Never been a break in on street in 20 years. Had a monitored system in prior house and got tired of false alarms and paying the fees.

Just this week installed three exterior monitors from Blink. Amazing little cameras, send notices to phone if motion detected recording starts when "armed". My assumption is that if thief approaches and sees little blue LED blinking, he'll find somewhere else. Nice thing is they require no wiring (batteries supposed to last 2 years) and all in was $300. Even work in dark, but likely will put some low power LED lights by all three to improve resolution.
H2ODude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2017, 08:18 AM   #15
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Sunset's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 17,012
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry1 View Post
Yes, thank you. I just bought a system a few weeks ago and now that the painting is done, I'm about to install. Good to hear more good reviews supporting what I had read.

Trying to decide whether or not it's worth it for the service. My main goal is know if someone comes in while I'm there (confirmation of bump in the night) and to make sure I don't walk in unexpectedly on someone. I think the service will have little impact on what a thief does. I suspect once they hear the alarm, they will take what they can and get, not knowing if police have been called.
With simplesafe you don't need to have it monitored, and you can turn on/off the monitoring as needed.

Example: You only want to wake up at night to alarm if someone breaks in or you kids come home - no monitor and $0.00 per month cost.

Then you decide to go on vacation for a few weeks, so you phone simplesafe a few days before and they turn it on monitoring $14.99 / month.
When you get back, you phone them and turn it off $0.00 per month..
Sunset is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2017, 08:21 AM   #16
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Sunset's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 17,012
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry1 View Post
Yes, thank you. I just bought a system a few weeks ago and now that the painting is done, I'm about to install. Good to hear more good reviews supporting what I had read.

Trying to decide whether or not it's worth it for the service. My main goal is know if someone comes in while I'm there (confirmation of bump in the night) and to make sure I don't walk in unexpectedly on someone. I think the service will have little impact on what a thief does. I suspect once they hear the alarm, they will take what they can and get, not knowing if police have been called.
From the few videos on the Internet of alarm systems in general, the thieves run like crazy when the alarm siren goes off, as they need to get out, and be a block or two away before cops show up, or neighbor watches them out a window.

They cannot stay and continue to browse through the house as they have no idea if cops are on the way.
Sunset is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-23-2017, 12:19 PM   #17
Recycles dryer sheets
johnnyfuego's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Bastrop
Posts: 88
+1. It sure gave me peace of mind when I traveled for a month. My place is small, so there was a bit of overkill to use the motion sensor, so I put it in my shop. I forgot that I had it armed and tripped it the other day. My phone rang with an unfamiliar number and I assumed it was a telemarketer thus I did not answer. As I approached the house, I heard the base station alarm blaring and then it dawned on me, 'oh crap! That number was the monitoring service!' I called back, gave them my password and they called police dispatch to cancel police response. I felt pretty silly but the folks at Simply Safe were very nice. I keep the remote by my bed with panic alarm on it if anything to use as a make shift 'I've fallen and I can't get up' type gizmo...
johnnyfuego is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-23-2017, 02:56 PM   #18
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Sunset's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 17,012
The simplisafe system uses cell technology, so if the bad guys cut your phone line, it still works.
If they cut your power, it still works as the base has a battery backup built in, and all the sensors are on batteries.

For my place, the cell reception was poor, so I plugged it into the landline, when I called to turn on monitoring (we had it about 2 months by then). They noticed and I explained the bad cell reception, as the base station would tell me it got disconnected (it speaks verbally).
They sent me a different cell provider circuit and I replaced the one in the base station (easy) and returned the old one in the post-paid envelope provided, all at no charge !!

Great customer service.

Now mine works perfectly on the cell technology.
Sunset is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Has anyone tried the True Back? Buckeye Health and Early Retirement 3 04-05-2009 10:04 PM
Has Anyone Tried NoLoadFundX? Patrick FIRE and Money 59 04-08-2008 12:10 PM
has anyone tried to get you to spend more? lazygood4nothinbum Life after FIRE 24 11-21-2007 09:47 AM
Has anyone tried ING's Account Gateway? Cbear1883 FIRE and Money 1 08-14-2007 02:46 PM
Has anyone tried this? ewg FIRE and Money 23 02-01-2004 01:11 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:33 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.