Has anyone tried Simplisafe?

[pullmyfinger]

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.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

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.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

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.

 

[ivorybird]

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.

 

[chilkoot]

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.

 

[euro]

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!!!)

 

[mystang52]

I'm also a satisfied SimpliSafe customer.

 

[pullmyfinger]

Thanks so much everyone for the feedback!

 

[Jerry1]

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.

 

[Mo Money]

I have an old-school alarm. Bargained down the monitoring costs. My neighbor got Simplisafe a couple of months ago and is pleased.

 

[folivier]

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.

 

[Aerides]

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).

 

[Whisper66]

...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/inaction1/pubs/FalseBurglarAlarms.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."

 

[H2ODude]

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.

 

[Sunset]

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]

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.

 

[johnnyfuego]

+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...

 

[Sunset]

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.